Ziggy Ojiegbe

As Sudan’s war nears its fourth year, the UN refugee agency has launched a $1.6 billion appeal to support millions of people forced to flee the conflict.

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The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), together with 123 partners, unveiled the 2026 Sudan Regional Refugee Response Plan, which aims to deliver lifesaving assistance to 5.9 million people across seven neighboring countries: Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, South Sudan and Uganda.

The plan also anticipates that around 470,000 additional refugees will cross into these countries this year, while thousands more remain stranded in border areas with only minimal assistance. The conflict erupted in April 2023, when Sudan’s national army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces became locked in a violent power struggle that has since triggered what aid officials describe as the world’s largest displacement crisis.

Mamadou Dian Balde, UNHCR’s Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, said the fact that a fourth annual appeal is now required reflects both the unrelenting nature of the war and the growing strain on humanitarian operations. Speaking to journalists in Geneva, he described Sudan as the world’s largest displacement and worst humanitarian crisis, unfolding at a time of severe global funding shortages.

As fighting continues in several regions of Sudan, essential services inside the country have collapsed and humanitarian access remains limited. Thousands continue to flee across borders each week, often arriving in already struggling host communities where public services and economic opportunities were stretched even before the crisis began.

An estimated 4.3 million Sudanese refugees are now displaced across the region, most of them in Egypt and eastern Chad. Egypt alone hosts about 1.4 million Sudanese who have fled the war, with registered refugee numbers nearly quadrupling since 2023. However, funding shortfalls have forced UNHCR to shut two of its three registration centers in the country, limiting access to critical protection services. Monthly funding per refugee has also dropped sharply, from $11 to just $4.

Conditions are similarly dire elsewhere. In eastern Chad, more than 71,000 refugee families have yet to receive housing assistance, leaving them without safe shelter. Nearly 234,000 people are still awaiting relocation from precarious border areas. In Uganda, the closure of clinics and the suspension of key nutrition programs in the Kiryandongo settlement have increased the risk of disease among thousands of Sudanese refugees.

Despite these pressures, UNHCR says the 2026 plan will continue to support host governments in delivering essential services, including food, shelter, healthcare and protection for new arrivals and the most vulnerable refugees. Balde warned, however, that the widening gap between growing needs and shrinking resources threatens both immediate emergency response efforts and longer-term solutions.

For now, the agency is urging stronger international backing to address chronic underfunding and prevent further deterioration in conditions for those who have fled Sudan’s devastating war.