The United Nations has issued a stark warning regarding the brutal war in Sudan, highlighting a significant intensification since the start of the year. UN rights chief Volker Turk cautioned about the "increasing ethnicisation of the conflict" between the regular armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a conflict that has plagued Sudan since April 2023. This "forgotten" conflict has already claimed tens of thousands of lives and led to the displacement of millions, with the situation deteriorating further.

A fresh report from Turk's office detailed how the war expanded and intensified during the first six months of 2025, adopting increasingly ethnic and divisive dimensions. This has had a devastating impact on the civilian population. Li Fung, the rights office representative for Sudan, specifically noted that in North Darfur, "violence is being directed on an ethnic basis," a development described as "very, very worrying."

The conflict has effectively bisected the country, with the army maintaining control over the north, east, and centre, while the RSF exerts dominance over parts of the south and nearly all of the western Darfur region. The first half of the year was marked by a continued prevalence of sexual violence, indiscriminate attacks, and widespread retaliatory violence against civilians, often along ethnic lines. New and concerning trends include the deployment of drones in attacks on civilian sites, and the spread of conflict into the north and east of the country, areas previously largely spared.

The UN rights office has documented the deaths of at least 3,384 civilians in the conflict during the first six months of 2025, acknowledging that the actual numbers are likely much higher. This figure alone represents approximately 80 percent of the total killings documented in the entirety of the previous year. Of these, at least 990 civilians were killed outside direct hostilities, including through summary executions. A notable surge in summary executions was observed between February and April in Khartoum, following government forces' recapture of territory from the RSF, which subsequently led to "campaigns of apparent reprisals against alleged collaborators."

Beyond the direct violence, the conflict has engendered what the UN describes as the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Famine has been declared in several areas, and the country is grappling with a severe cholera outbreak. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), citing Sudanese authorities, reported that over 2,500 individuals have already succumbed to this acute intestinal infection, a number that is expected to rise significantly, according to Patrick Youssef, ICRC's regional director for Africa.

In light of the escalating crisis, Volker Turk has urged for a swift resolution to the conflict. He emphasized that "Many more lives will be lost without urgent action to protect civilians and without the rapid and unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid," underscoring the critical need for international intervention and support to alleviate the suffering in Sudan.