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STORY: UNHCR / SUDAN THREE YEARS WAR
TRT: 09:51
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNHCR ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: ARABIC / MASSALIT / FRENCH / NATS
DATELINE: 18 APRIL 2026, GAGA SETTLEMENT, CHAD / 01 APRIL 2026, OURE CASSONI, CHAD / 10 FEBRUARY 2026, RENK, JODA BORDER, SOUTH SUDAN / 09 FEBRUARY 2026, UNHCR TRANSIT CENTER, RENK, SOUTH SUDAN / 07 DECEMBER 2025, KHARTOUM, SUDAN /
07 DECEMBER 2025, AL DABBAH, SUDAN
18 APRIL 2026, GAGA SETTLEMENT, CHAD
1. Wide shot, Gaga settlement
2. Wide shot, Guisma outside her kitchen
3. Med shot, Guisma entering the kitchen
4. Close up, Guisma in the kitchen
5. Med shot, Guisma preparing a meal in the kitchen
6. Close up, Guisma adding spices to her pot
7. SOUNDBITE (Massalit) Guisma Bachir Abdallah, Sudanese Refugee:
“We don’t know when things will change, but we place our hope in God. There are difficulties, but the children go to school; they are learning to read and write, and it is good to gain knowledge. I did not go to school, but I am happy for my children because they are able to go.”
8. Wide shot, Guisma serving her children food outside their house
9. Wide shot, Guisma’s family eating outside their house
10. Med shot, family having a meal
11. Close up, Guisma’s face while standing outside
12. Wide shot, Guisma standing outside her house
13. Med shot, Guisma’s children checking their books before school
14. Wide shot, Guisma’s children leaving for school
15. Wide shot, GV’s of Gaga settlement
16. Wide shot, Shaima leaving her house, walking to the women’s centre
17. Med shot, refugee women making liquid soap
18. Wide shot, women gather at the centre making soap
19. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Shaima Abdelhadi Haroun, Sudanese Refugee:
“We arrived in Gaga in 2023 at the start of the war. What has changed is that we lost many of our belongings in Sudan. When we arrived at the camp, we were spared from the war and the crackle of gunfire. We are gradually getting used to life here; Chad welcomed us, and the humanitarian organizations provided us with shelters.”
20. Med shot, women working at the centre
21. Med shot, Shaima talking with other women
22. Med shot, women closing the soap bottle
23. Med shot, bottles being arranged
24. Close up, packaged soap bottles being arranged
25. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Shaima Abdelhadi Haroun, Sudanese Refugee:
“We formed a group of 20 women from the different blocks of the camp. We discuss issues that affect us in order to improve our daily lives, because the assistance we received was not enough. That is how we make and sell soap, sharing the profits among the 20 women in the group.”
26. Various of women at the centre making table mats
01 APRIL 2026, OURE CASSONI, CHAD
27. Wide shot, makeshift shelters
28. Wide shot, Siham washing dishes in front of her shelter
29. Various scenes of Siham washing dishes
30. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Siham Mahmoud, Sudanese Refugee:
“It’s incredibly hard to think back on it. The attack on El Fasher caused so much suffering, violence, and rape that it could drive a person mad. But thank God, it was our faith that kept us going. Without faith, many would have broken down.”
31. Med shot, Siham going to fetch water
32. Wide shot, Siham walking past empty water containers in line
33. Med shot, empty water containers at the water point
34. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Siham Mahmoud, Sudanese Refugee:
“To be honest water is very hard to come by at this site. If you have money, some people sell 25 litre jugs for 1,000 Sudanese pounds. This water is used for drinking and washing clothes. The water supplied by the distribution system is insufficient because of the large number of people. Even though there are two distributions a day, there are times when people go twenty days without water.”
35. Wide shot, Siham buying water from a donkey-cart
36. Med shot, children selling water from their donkey-cart
37. SOUNDBITE (French) Oumar Mahamat Abdelatif, Head of Field Unit, Oure Cassoni:
“The water problem at Oure Cassoni, is the lack of boreholes. We are dealing with 113,000 people. So, as you can see, for 113,000 people, we must at least meet global standards—at least fifteen litres per person per day for all these people—on top of the host population that also comes to draw water from the Oure Cassoni site.”
38. Wide shot, boy with donkey-carts selling water
39. Med shot, water containers being filled
40. Med shot, girl putting her water container on a donkey
41. Wide shot, girl on a donkey taking her water home
10 FEBRUARY 2026, RENK, JODA BORDER, SOUTH SUDAN
41. Wide shot, border crossing between Sudan and South Sudan
42. Med shot, stop sign at the crossing
43. Close up, South Sudan flag
44. Wide shot, People walking at the border crossing
45. Med shot, UNHCR staff talking with people at the border
46. Various shots, little girls washing clothes at a water point
47. Med shot, girl waking clothes
48. Wide shot, Sudanese family seated outside temporary accommodation at the transit site
49. Various shots, slow-mo, Sudanese man
09 - 10 FEBRUARY 2026, UNHCR TRANSIT CENTER, RENK, SOUTH SUDAN
50. Wide shot, UNHCR Transit centre
51. Med shot, UNHCR staff sitting and talking with returnees and refugees
52. Med shot, girl knitting at the transit centre
53. Med shot, Sudanese woman at the centre
54. Various shots, people at a water point
55. Wide shot, refugees, and returnees gathered outside with their belongings getting ready to embark on a bus
56. Wide shot, truck full of returnees and refugees departing to the port.
57. Med shot, people’s belongings waiting to be put on the truck
28. Med shot, people loading the bags on the truck
29. Wide shot, people getting onto the truck
30. Med shot, refugees, and returnees climbing onto the truck
31. Wide shot, truck with refugees/ returnees leaving for the port
07 DECEMBER 2025, KHARTOUM, SUDAN
32. Wide shot, destroyed buildings in Khartoum
33. Med shot, bombed out mosque in the city
07 DECEMBER 2025, AL DABBAH, SUDAN
34. Wide shot, warehouse with UNHCR items
35. Wide shot, truck loaded with UNHCR tents
36. Med shot, truck with UNHCR tents
As the crisis in Sudan moves into its fourth year, fighting still rages in large parts of the country, causing new displacement and extending the daily tragedy for millions of people with no clear end in sight.
Since the war started in April 2023, some 14 million people have been forced to flee, with 9 million remaining displaced inside Sudan and 4.4 million across borders. For many, displacement has been a repeated and exhausting cycle of flight to relative safety, only to flee again. Today, one in four Sudanese is displaced.
Violence is ongoing in much of Darfur, the Kordofans and Blue Nile State. Recent increased use of air bombardments and drones has sent more people fleeing. Human rights violations continue to occur, including conflict-related sexual violence, forced recruitment, arbitrary arrests, massacres and more.
Civilians are particularly at risk, with frequent reports of harassment, violence and abductions taking place en route to safety.
Guisma Bachir Abdallah first arrived at the Gaga settlement, which hosts 42,000 refugees in
2023.
SOUNDBITE (Massalit) Guisma Bachir Abdallah, Sudanese Refugee:
“We don’t know when things will change, but we place our hope in God. There are difficulties, but the children go to school; they are learning to read and write, and it is good to gain knowledge. I did not go to school, but I am happy for my children because they are able to go.”
Women and girls continue to face heightened risks of sexual violence, exploitation, and abuse, particularly as they move through insecure areas. The collapse of health systems, law enforcement, and justice mechanisms has created a climate of widespread impunity. Survivors of gender-based violence face significant barriers to reporting incidents and accessing medical, psychosocial, and legal services, further reinforcing the cycle of abuse and underreporting.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Shaima Abdelhadi Haroun, Sudanese Refugee:
“We arrived in Gaga in 2023 at the start of the war. What has changed is that we lost many of our belongings in Sudan. When we arrived at the camp, we were spared from the war and the crackle of gunfire. We are gradually getting used to life here; Chad welcomed us, and the humanitarian organizations provided us with shelters.”
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Shaima Abdelhadi Haroun, Sudanese Refugee:
“We formed a group of 20 women from the different blocks of the camp. We discuss issues that affect us in order to improve our daily lives, because the assistance we received was not enough. That is how we make and sell soap, sharing the profits among the 20 women in the group.”
Millions of children have now spent three years of their childhood in displacement, with far reaching consequences for their futures. Most have had little to no access to school. Over 58,000 children arrived alone in neighbouring countries, separated from their families in flight, often injured and deeply traumatized.
Neighbouring countries hosting the majority of Sudanese refugees – particularly Chad, Egypt, and South Sudan – are at breaking point. Arrivals from Darfur into Chad continue, while South Sudan struggles to support Sudanese refugees and almost 1 million South Sudanese who have arrived since April 2023 amid its own growing crisis. Dwindling assistance and limited opportunities across all host countries leave many with impossible choices.
Oure Cassoni hosts 114,000 Sudanese refugees, including 77,000 who have arrived since the conflict in Sudan resurged in April 2023. Around 18,000 – most of them women and children, who have arrived following the attack on El Fasher in October 2025.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Siham Mahmoud, Sudanese Refugee:
“It’s incredibly hard to think back on it. The attack on El Fasher caused so much suffering, violence, and rape that it could drive a person mad. But thank God, it was our faith that kept us going. Without faith, many would have broken down.”
They are living in makeshift shelters in the dry riverbed (wadi), in dire conditions, exposed to extreme heat during daytime and insecurity at night.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Siham Mahmoud, Sudanese Refugee:
“To be honest water is very hard to come by at this site. If you have money, some people sell 25 litre jugs for 1,000 Sudanese pounds. This water is used for drinking and washing clothes. The water supplied by the distribution system is insufficient because of the large number of people. Even though there are two distributions a day, there are times when people go twenty days without water.”
Water access in the camp is one of the most critical and persistent problems refugees face. Oure Cassoni is in a dry, desert region of eastern Chad where natural water sources are extremely scarce, so most of the supply depends on boreholes and water trucking by humanitarian agencies. As the population has surged with new arrivals fleeing conflict in Sudan, these systems have been overwhelmed.
SOUNDBITE (French) Oumar Mahamat Abdelatif, Head of Field Unit, Oure Cassoni:
“The water problem at Oure Cassoni, is the lack of boreholes. We are dealing with 113,000 people. So, as you can see, for 113,000 people, we must at least meet global standards—at least fifteen litres per person per day for all these people—on top of the host population that also comes to draw water from the Oure Cassoni site.”
At the same time, many displaced Sudanese are returning to areas where fighting has largely abated. Some 80 percent of these were internally displaced people, alongside 870,000 refugees from neighbouring countries. Most returns are to Al Jazeera and Sennar states, with almost 1.5 million returning to Khartoum, where conditions are dire; infrastructure and basic services have been largely destroyed, the economy shattered and the social fabric torn apart. It is crucial to support returnees to mitigate risks of further displacement.
There is also a growing number of Sudanese making the dangerous journey through Libya to Europe. Over 14,000 Sudanese arrived in Europe between 2024 and 2025, a 232 percent increase since the conflict began. These movements are not driven by choice or convenience but as a response to the lack of prospects for peace, and unmet needs in Sudan and across borders.
Peace, or at a minimum, better-funded humanitarian and development responses, are urgently needed to support Sudanese to live in dignity wherever they are.
Three years on, Sudan, the world’s largest displacement crisis and one of the worst protection emergencies, continues unfolding in the wake of a severe global funding crunch. Aid agencies, including UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, have so far received 16 per cent of the $2.8 billion required to deliver assistance inside Sudan, and 8 per cent of $1.6 billion for the regional refugee response.
Without renewed and sustained global attention and support, the suffering and risks will only grow for the millions displaced and for the wider region, making this crisis even more destabilizing and costly to resolve. A cost that Sudan, and the world, cannot afford to bear.
