The Facts

• Nearly 47,000 people have been displaced from their homes in the past week, mostly to neighboring states, and at least 30 villages have been attacked, according to UN reports.UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Monday warned that the Sudanese people were living a “nightmare” of hunger, disease, and ethnic violence amid the world's largest displacement crisis. Guterres, however, also said that the conditions were not right yet to deploy a UN force.

• The violence in Gezira state escalated after a key RSF commander, Abu Aqleh Keikal, reportedly defected to government forces on October 20, marking the first such defection in the 18-month conflict.Guterres sought "decisive action" by ally-turned-rival generals Abdel-Fattah al Burhan, heading the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to end the violence. He said 18 months into the war, 25M people now need humanitarian aid.

• The ongoing war in Sudan, which began in April 2023, has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced more than 11 million, and triggered a devastating humanitarian and health crisis.The UN has reported that since fighting erupted between the army (SAF) and the paramilitary RSF in April 2023, at least 12,260 people having died and over 33K injured. Mass killings and sexual violence are reportedly ravaging the country, leaving the people distraught.