UN Reports: What the Latest Violence in Sudan Means for Future Peace

The army and a branch of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) commanded by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu resumed battle last week in the states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile.

According to Clementine Nkweta-Salami, a United Nations resident and humanitarian coordinator in Sudan, at least 80 people have reportedly died in the battle in Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan state.

In a statement, the top UN official in the nation said, "I condemn the reported use of women and children as human shields in Kadugli, the obstruction of humanitarian aid, and the detention of civilians including children."

Since April 2023, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and Sudan's army have been engaged in a struggle for control of the nation, resulting in a massive humanitarian crisis.

Hilu’s unaffiliated group of the SPLM-N has clashed with both since the war broke out.


The SPLM-N and the army have accused one another in recent days of attacking people and initiating operations in an effort to seize territory.


With millions of people denied access to life-saving aid, the UN warned that the rising violence would only make the already grim humanitarian situation worse.


"In parts of South Kordofan, where families are surviving on dangerously limited food supplies and malnutrition rates are rising sharply, the consequences of food insecurity are already being felt," the statement released on Thursday stated.

In South Kordofan and Blue Nile, an estimated half a million people are at risk of starvation, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification.

Famine has already been proclaimed by the UN-backed assessment in areas of the Nuba Mountains where SPLM-N still has a presence.

Tens of thousands have been dead, 12 million have been displaced, and over 26 million have experienced severe food shortages nationwide as a result of conflict that began in April 2023.