06-08-2026 John Jessup
OMDURMAN, Sudan — Four years of violent warfare between factions of the Sudanese military have spawned the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Estimates range between 12 million and 14 million people who have been forcibly displaced. Even more, approximately 20 million people face severe hunger. That’s more than a third of the entire population. And anywhere between 60,000 and 400,000 lives have been claimed since the fighting began in 2023.
The overwhelming majority of the suffering has fallen on civilians, bystanders of the power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The latter is the successor to the notorious Janjaweed Arab militia responsible for the genocide in Darfur in the early 2000s.
While women and children are the most vulnerable victims — often preyed upon for violent sexual attacks or recruited as child soldiers — Christians also are among the communities hardest hit in Sudan.
“Christians in the midst of this volatility are often last in line,” explained Ryan Brown, CEO of Open Doors US, a nonprofit that highlights Christian persecution worldwide. “If there is any type of aid to be made available, very rarely would that be provided to Christians. If there is any type of safe havens that are being granted from all the violence, Christians are often not welcome in.”
Open Doors recently ranked Sudan as the fourth-worst country in the world for Christian persecution, up one spot over the previous year as advocacy groups warn attacks against Christians have intensified as the war spreads.
“Historically, persecution was concentrated in rural areas,” Brown said. “That’s no longer the case. It’s now rampant throughout the country, including urban areas that once served as safe havens for Christians.”
According to the U.S. State Department, more than 160 churches have been damaged or destroyed since the war began. Churches and mosques have reportedly been looted, confiscated, or turned into military barracks and weapons depots by armed groups.
In Omdurman, visible scars of the war remain etched into the walls of Mar Mina Church — now riddled with bullet holes. The church is part of Sudan’s ancient Coptic Christian community.
One month after fighting erupted in the capital of Khartoum, RSF fighters stormed the Church of the Martyrs during a prayer gathering, according to church officials.
“They smashed the doors and started beating everyone inside,” said Safein Nazer, a church deacon.
Nazer said the gunmen looted valuables, dug up graves in the churchyard searching for gold, and targeted girls living in the church orphanage, some as young as 11 years old.
“I confronted them,” Nazer recalled. “One of them hit me from behind and shot me in the leg.”
Though he survived and later recovered from his injuries, Nazer said the church narrowly avoided a far greater tragedy.
“They demanded one of our vehicles, because they wanted to take the orphans,” he told CBN News. “Thank God the car wouldn’t start, and they couldn’t take the girls.”
In the middle of the violent ordeal, Nazer said his faith endured. “God was present in the midst of war and suffering,” he said. “He strengthened our faith.”
Both the Sudanese military and RSF forces have been accused of targeting churches and seizing religious properties.
During a press tour with foreign journalists organized by the ONE Campaign, Sudanese Prime Minister Kamil Idris denied claims of religious intolerance.
“The strength of this nation depends on its diversity,” Idris said. “Sudan will insist that religious diversity is sacrosanct and protected by the constitution.”
Government officials have recently sought to project that message internationally, including Idris’s recent outreach to meet with Pope Leo at the Vatican.
Some members of the Sudanese Council of Churches, a nongovernmental umbrella organization representing Christian denominations, also reject claims of systematic persecution.
“We are really free, even before the war,” said Bishop William Sirdar Brown, a representative of the Sudanese Council of Churches.
Brown told CBN News the claims of persecution are overblown, suggesting that some pastors emphasizing persecution narratives are motivated by a desire to immigrate abroad to places like Europe. That characterization differs from what some watchdog groups have identified and CBN News has reported for decades.
Pastor Kuwa Shamal of the Sudan Church of Christ accused the council of churches of aligning too closely with the government and marginalizing denominations critical of the war.
“The SCC has links with the government,” Shamal said. “That is why they do not want to recruit us.”
Shamal said several churches were expelled from the council after publicly opposing the conflict.
He also described his own imprisonment under Sudan’s former government, where he spent years detained after authorities accused him of espionage because of connections to Christians outside Sudan. The charges were later dismissed.
Christians make up roughly five percent of Sudan’s population, and rights groups say they are often viewed with suspicion by authorities and among the Muslim majority population.
Even amid persecution and displacement, Christian organizations continue humanitarian work throughout the country.
World Vision, a Christian aid group, says it has assisted nearly five million Sudanese since the war began, focusing primarily on women and children.
Inos Mugabe, who serves as operations director of World Vision in Sudan, described the devastating realities facing survivors of sexual violence, including teenage girls raped by militia members.
“What does it mean for a 15-year-old girl to become pregnant in a place where there is no healthcare, no food, no education, no shelter, and no clean water?” Mugabe asked. “The stories are on and on like that.”
Despite the danger, many pastors and church leaders remain undeterred.
“They’re not asking us to remove them from persecution,” White said. “They’re asking us to stand with them so they do not falter in their faith or in the work they believe they are called to do.”
As foreign weapons and funding continue to fuel the military civil war, hopes for peace remain uncertain.
Faith McDonnell, who previously worked on peace efforts tied to Sudan’s earlier civil war and the creation of South Sudan, said the world risks abandoning Sudan at a critical moment.
“It’s a betrayal of people who want nothing more than a life not dominated by fleeing, violence, and loss,” McDonnell said. “And it’s also a betrayal of God, because God has plans for Sudan and South Sudan.”
Pray for Sudan and South Sudan and Christians
Sudanese civil war (2023–present)
Since April 2023, there has been a civil war in Sudan between two primary factions of the country’s military government. The conflict involves the internationally recognized government of Sudan, controlled by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) under General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, against the rival Government of Peace and Unity, led by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group, commanded by General Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo, also known by his nom de guerre Hemedti. Smaller armed groups have also taken part on both sides, most notably Sudan Liberation Movement splinter groups, the Tamazuj militia, and the Darfur Joint Protection Force.
Fighting began on 15 April 2023 following a power struggle within the transitional administration established after the 2021 coup. As of 5 February 2025, the conflict has forcibly displaced 12 million people, with 3.5 million fleeing the country as refugees, making it one of the largest displacement crises in recent history. The conflict has also seen heavy influence from foreign powers, especially Russia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia,[48] Iran,Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates,[52] while also experiencing effects from the spillover of neighboring conflicts in the Central African Republic (CAR),[53] Chad[54] and Libya.
The current war erupted amid tensions regarding the integration of the RSF into the Sudanese Army following the 2021 coup. Initial RSF attacks targeted government sites in the capital, Khartoum, and other cities. The conflict began with the Battle of Khartoum, Fighting then spread to the Darfur region. The capital region was divided between the two factions, and al-Burhan relocated his government to Port Sudan. International efforts, including the 2023 Jeddah Declaration, failed to stop the fighting, while various rebel groups entered the war: the SPLM–North attacked the SAF in the south; the Tamazuj movement joined the RSF; and the SAF gained support from factions of the Sudan Liberation Movement and Justice and Equality Movement.
By late 2023, the RSF controlled most of Darfur and advanced on Khartoum, taking over most of the capital, Kordofan and Gezira. The SAF regained momentum in 2024, making gains in Omdurman and retaking Khartoum by March 2025. Despite negotiations, no lasting ceasefire has been reached, and the war continues with severe humanitarian consequences and regional implications. In October 2025 the city of El Fasher fell, giving the RSF control over the SAF’s last stronghold in Darfur. During and after its capture, the city and neighboring villages were the target of what some experts called a genocidal massacre. Beginning on 26 October, these attacks led to estimated number of between 60,000 and 70,000 dead.Using satellite information, other estimates have been as high as 150,000 dead, making this the most lethal massacre in the 21st century. A UN investigator later told DW that the atrocities bear the hallmarks of genocide.
Sudan faces one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises, with widespread famine and 25 million people suffering from severe food insecurity.Four million children are acutely malnourished, including 770,000 at imminent risk of death and famine has been confirmed in several regions. The country faces extreme shortages of water, medicine and aid access, widespread hospital closures, disease outbreaks, mass displacement, looting of humanitarian supplies, and the near-collapse of education and infrastructure, leaving half the population in urgent need of assistance. The total death toll of the war comprises fatalities from violence, starvation and disease; thousands remain missing or were killed in targeted massacres primarily attributed to the RSF and allied militias. 61,000 people have died in Khartoum State alone, of whom 26,000 were direct victims of violence. Sexual violence has been widespread. UN Under-Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher described Darfur as the “epicenter of human suffering in the world”.
There have been calls for more aid, legal protections for humanitarian workers, refugee support and an end to international arms supplies to the RSF, particularly from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The U.S., UK, EU and Canada imposed sanctions on entities linked to both factions for ceasefire violations and human rights abuses. Despite denials, the UAE has been found to have violated these sanctions by shipping Chinese weaponry to the RSF,[68] which largely funds its operations through gold exports to the UAE. Many civilians in Darfur have been killed as part of the Masalit genocide. On 7 January 2025, the U.S. formally determined that the RSF and its allied militias committed acts of genocide.
