SIHMA

Researching Human Migration across Africa

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15 Jul

The Sudan Civil War: Barriers Across Borders

The Sudan Civil War is a raging conflict whose intense fighting has created the worst Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) crisis in history (UNHCR, 2025). After two years of war, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center reports that over 11.6 million people are displaced within Sudan, and another four million have fled the country (IDMC, 2025). The central countries that are accepting forcibly displaced Sudanese are the Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, South Sudan, and Uganda (WFP, 2025). For Sudanese refugees, there is no explicitly correct answer as to which of the aforementioned countries is the safest option. 

EGYPT

Out of all Sudan’s neighbors, Egypt has the second-largest population and the highest GDP, which helps explain the 1.5 million Sudanese who have taken refuge in the ancient land. However, after initially allowing VISA free entry, Egypt has ramped up its border policies and adopted conservative laws, such as its new Asylum Law adopted in 2024 which gives the country the right to revoke refugee statuses while criminalizing migration, allowing authorities to either detain or deport Sudanese refugees (Refugees International, 2025).

LIBYA

Egypt is the ideal country for Sudanese refugees to reach Europe from, unlike its neighboring countries. However, due to the current crackdown on migration, refugees have been forced to flee towards the tumultuous human trafficking hub of Africa, Libya. Since the 2011 Civil War, Libya has faced constant government instability, allowing for illicit economies such as human smuggling to flourish. Now, the civil war in Sudan is only expanding Libya’s underground network and increasing the danger for Sudanese refugees in Libya (Herbert, 2025). 

ETHIOPIA

The country with the highest population on Sudan’s border is Ethiopia, which is also home to one of Africa’s largest economies. Even though the country is one of the most stable and prosperous in Africa, a recent civil war has put thousands of Sudanese refugees at risk. Right on the border of Ethiopia and Sudan is the Amhara region, a regional state of Ethiopia, home to the Fano fighters. This militia group broke out into fighting with the Ethiopian army two years ago and continues to this day. Human Rights Watch claims that most Sudanese refugees initially went to “two refugee camps in the Amhara region, where local gunmen and militias carried out killings, beatings, looting, abductions for ransom, and forced labor” (Human Rights Watch, 2025). 

CHAD

Chad is a country that borders Sudan’s western region, Darfur, the primary stronghold for RSF forces, which experiences the most violence from the conflict. As a result, Chad, whose economy is 26 times smaller than Egypt, the host of the most Sudanese refugees, has accepted around a million Sudanese fleeing from conflict, making it the second largest host country for Sudanese refugees (WFP, 2025). With Chad also accepting refugees from conflicts in West Africa, the country is beginning to reach a breaking point where it cannot sustain the rapid influx of refugees.

SOUTH SUDAN

The last major host for Sudanese refugees is South Sudan, standing with Egypt and Chad as the top three host countries for people fleeing the Sudan civil war. South Sudan is infamous for being one of the poorest countries in the world, ranking low in terms of GDP, average income, human development, and other key indicators (Human Rights Research Center, 2025).  The worst situation for Sudanese Refugees may lie in South Sudan, as Abel Whande, CARE South Sudan Director, warns, “It is an intolerable truth that families escaping unimaginable horrors are finding themselves in an even more desperate situation here in South Sudan” 

 

Every country that borders Sudan presents a situation that includes conflict, crime, hunger, instability, and insecurity. None of the previously mentioned countries hosts a situation that can be described as ideal for refugees. The sheer scale of Sudan’s crisis, 4 million refugees, 11.6 million IDPs, and 24.6 million food insecure, requires more international aid and support, but has only seen funding cuts and stricter migration policies (UNHCR, 2025), (WFP, 2025). The African countries around Sudan simply do not have the resources to help Sudan on their own, and the complete lack of adequate international support is perpetuating death, starvation, sexual violence, and childhood trauma on a staggering scale, and will continue unless international attention shifts onto the situation, and aid is finally provided.

The full article will be available on the Online Resource tab.

Photo Credit - World Food Programme

References

  • Sudan Tribune. (2024, June 24). Ethiopian militias making new incursions on Sudan border, official says 

 

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