Good morning. Against the backdrop of continued international indifference, a conference on Sudan’s devastating civil war in London yesterday might be counted as progress of a kind: it brought 17 countries, as well as the EU and African Union, together, was accompanied by some new pledges of aid, and was billed as an effort to build a new consensus on a way forward.
But with neither of the nation’s warring parties present – and some of the attendees believed to be covertly fuelling the conflict – there were good reasons for scepticism. The talks broke up without a joint communique on what should happen next or a new contact group to facilitate ceasefire talks, a major diplomatic setback. Meanwhile, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, accused of genocide, declared the establishment of a rival administration to that run by the country’s armed forces, with a bitterly ironic name: “the government of peace and unity”.
Two years into the war which is now described as the world’s “largest humanitarian crisis”, today’s newsletter explains the state of the conflict, what the conference was supposed to achieve, and why Sudan is treated as a forgettable catastrophe. Here are the headlines.
Five big stories
Economy | UK inflation dropped to 2.6% in March, increasing the pressure on Bank of England policymakers to cut interest rates next month. Prices growth was weak ahead of an expected rise in April as households begin to pay higher council tax and utility bills.
Carer’s allowance crisis | Ministers have announced an overhaul of the way carer’s allowance overpayments are checked in an attempt to fix the failing system, which has left thousands with life-changing debts, fines and criminal records.
UK politics | The UK’s largest teaching union has called Reform UK “far-right and racist” and its leader has dismissed Nigel Farage as “a poundshop Donald Trump,” as the union pledged funds to oppose the party’s candidates in elections.
Technology | Researchers from China are to be allowed access to half a million UK GP records despite western intelligence agencies’ fears about the authoritarian regime amassing health data, the Guardian can reveal.
Mountaineering | Honeypot locations posted on social media and poor-quality navigation apps are likely to be responsible for a record number of callouts for mountain rescue services, analysis reveals. Rescues jumped by 24% between 2019 and 2024, with the sharpest rise among 18-24-year-olds.
In depth: ‘We don’t see the level of attention on Sudan as we do for other crises’
The proximate cause of the war in Sudan was a power struggle between two generals, Sudanese army leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti (pictured above), the leader of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). But its origins go back much further.
The RSF was officially formed in 2013 from the remnants of the Janjaweed militia, deputed by Sudan’s former authoritarian leader Omar al-Bashir to suppress a tribal rebellion in the Darfur region. That operation that ended with the genocide of up to 300,000 people.
After Bashir was toppled by mass protests in 2019, a civilian-military power sharing agreement was struck that was supposed to be the start of a transition to democracy. Instead, Burhan staged a coup with the support of Hemedti and the RSF. But tensions between the two sides over the RSF’s prospective integration into the regular armed forces turned into an outbreak of violence in the capital of Khartoum, and the conflict quickly spread across the country.
Both Hemedti and Burhan claim to want to oversee a transition to democracy once their opponent is vanquished; but both appear to ultimately want dominance over the Sudanese state. While both sides have been accused of a litany of human rights violations and war crimes against civilians, the US, UN and others have determined that the RSF has committed genocide and mass rape against ethnic Masalit and non-Arab communities in Darfur.
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What is the current state of the war in Sudan?
Rachel Savage’s timeline is a useful guide to the last two years of fighting; today, Sudan is split in two. The army mostly controls the north and the east, while the RSF has largely retreated to its stronghold in the west. Last month, after a relentless campaign, the army recaptured most of Khartoum, a victory of huge symbolic and practical significance. In this piece, Nesrine Malik reflects on the apocalyptic landscape that the RSF left behind, of “a city ravaged by unimaginable horror”.
The most visible current flashpoint is in El Fasher, the last major city in Darfur that remains in the hands of the army. The RSF has been laying siege to the city since May last year. This piece published yesterday, recounting the testimony of people who recorded videos on phones smuggled in by the BBC, describes relentless artillery fire and looting, with even refugee camps coming under attack.
On Saturday, NGOs and the UN said that RSF forces had attacked two camps while nominally searching for army fighters. Relief International, the charity which ran the last remaining clinic at Zamzam camp, said that its entire medical staff there were killed after being specifically targeted by RSF forces who broke in on Friday evening. About 400,000 people who were living at Zamzam camp have been displaced since the weekend, and the UN estimates that the death toll now stands at more than 400.
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How severe is the impact on civilians?
Sudan is facing the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. More than 11 million people have been displaced internally, with another 3.8 million fleeing the country, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimated last week. About 20.3 million people, more than 40% of the population, require urgent health assistance, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), with malaria, dengue, measles and cholera rife.
More than a third of hospitals are non-functional, and about 19 million children are out of school. The World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that almost 25 million people are enduring acute food insecurity, with 638,000 facing famine – the worst level anywhere in the world. There have also been reports of “staggering” levels of sexual violence, including sexual enslavement and the rape of children and the elderly. While the available data is limited, Unicef assesses that the number of people at risk of gender-based violence has tripled to 12.1 million since the war began.
Estimates of the death toll have varied widely. Last year, US special envoy Tom Perriello said that up to 150,000 have been killed. But a November study by the Sudan Research Group at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found that as many as 90% of deaths in Khartoum state have not been recorded, implying a higher wider toll.
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How has the international community responded?
“We don’t see the level of international attention on Sudan as we do for other crises,” Leni Kinzli of the WFP told Rachel Savage. “Sudan is – I wouldn’t even call it forgotten – it’s ignored.”
The irrefutable evidence for that assertion is the funding from international donors to tackle Sudan’s most urgent humanitarian needs. The UN estimates that about $4.2bn is required to fund key projects tackling famine, displacement, Sudan’s shattered essential services, and disease – but so far, 90% of that has not been funded.
The biggest donor, the United States, has recently frozen humanitarian assistance as part of Donald Trump’s attack on development organisation USAid. As a direct result, 1,100 emergency food kitchens across the country have been closed, affecting almost 2 million people.
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What were the London talks about?
There was no immediate prospect that yesterday’s conference, co-chaired by the UK, EU and African Union, will lead to peace: neither the RSF nor the army were invited. But it was at least hoped that some kind of agreed path forwards might be found. In this report, Patrick Wintour wrote: “Officials had said the conference did not constitute an attempt at mediation or aid-pledging, but instead intended to build greater political coherence about Sudan’s future among the many countries that have claimed a stake in the country.”
While the UK and EU both announced increases in aid, they are still small against the scale of the need. And the impossibility of settling on a communique that everyone present could agree to underlined how entrenched even the external actors in Sudan continue to be.
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Who are the key outside countries?
On one side, the United Arab Emirates, Chad, and Kenya all face controversy over their apparent backing for the RSF. On Monday, Mark Townsend reported that a leaked internal UN report had tracked multiple suspicious flights from UAE to Chad, though without direct evidence of arms transfers; Kenya hosted RSF officials at a conference supporting the formation of a parallel government along the lines of Hemedti’s announcement yesterday.
The UAE, believed to be the RSF’s most significant external backer, vociferously denied the allegations against it. But it has longstanding ties to the group and is the primary conduit for the sale of Sudanese gold, both via official and illegal routes. It has also deployed RSF mercenaries in its war in Yemen.
Meanwhile, officials from Egypt and Saudi Arabia, both supporters of Burhan, were also at the conference – and a daylong argument between those two countries and the UAE ended without any agreement. It was left to the co-chairs to issue a statement calling for a “peaceful solution” and rejecting “all activities, including external interference, that heighten tensions or that prolong or enable fighting”. Two years in, that still looks a distance away.
What else we’ve been reading
After the devastating Russian missile attack that killed at least 35 people in Sumy on Sunday, Luke Harding finds a city overcome with grief and anger. “Give me a weapon. Any weapon. I want to kill those butchers in Moscow,” says Anatolii Prykhodko, whose brother-in-law died in the attack. “They have murdered so many people.” Anastasia Vlasova’s pictures are also remarkable. Archie
After previously cosying up with Elon Musk, Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni is turning on the charm in Washington for Donald Trump. But why, and to what end? Angela Giuffrida breaks it down in this piece. Charlie Lindlar, acting deputy editor, newsletters
Hard to see the news on Lauren Sánchez and Katy Perry blasting into space and not wonder what Marina Hyde made of it, although honestly the quotes do the heavy lifting. “Space is going to finally be glam,” Katy Perry said. “We are going to put the ‘ass’ in astronaut.” Archie
In a stunning Guardian long read, Giles Tremlett investigates the case of an anonymous young woman whose body was found on the Spanish border in 1990 – and the 30-year campaign to understand her fate, and find closure. Charlie
Gay men, increasingly the gatekeepers of cultural relevance, have been wooed by stars from Lady Gaga to Charli xcx to Chappell Roan. But why are they uniquely meh on Taylor Swift? Joe Stone, an avowed Swiftie, has the answer. Charlie
Sport
Football | Aston Villa’s Champions League run ended with defeat by Paris St-Germain on an epic night in the West Midlands, with PSG losing 3-2 on the night but winning the tie 5-4 on aggregate. In the night’s other tie, a hat-trick for Serhou Guirassy gave Dortmund a 3-1 win against Barcelona on the night – but it was not enough to prevail, with the Spanish side winning 5-3 on aggregate.
Football | Two goals from Caitlin Foord and one apiece from Stina Blackstenius, Beth Mead and Victoria Pelova secured a 5-1 win for Arsenal against Leicester in the Women’s Super League.
Cricket | After the first match of the county cricket season, the Division One table is full of surprises: Warwickshire, Sussex and Nottinghamshire lead the way, with fancied Surrey, Essex and Somerset still winless. Gary Naylor rounds up the talking points.
The front pages
The Guardian leads with “Largest teaching union describes Reform UK as ‘far-right and racist’. The Mirror reports on the bin strike, saying: “Sort out this mess”. The Telegraph reports that “Starmer’s EU reset risks US trade deal”, while the Times has “Officials scramble to save pharma from tariffs”. And the FT says “Wall Street banks reap $37bn after traders cash in on Trump volatility”.
The Mail runs with “Now China is handed access to NHS medical records”. In the i, it’s “11 million extra people will pay income tax after Reeves turns to UK’s pensioners for Budget help”. The Express reports on the funding of travel to a D-Day salute, saying “It’s a betrayal! Backtrack on travel pledge for our heroes”. Metro reports on the Blue Origin space flight, with: “Stars’ trek is a waste of Space”.
Today in Focus
Trump’s deportation ‘mistake’: the man trapped in a prison in El Salvador
Kilmar Ábrego García was deported, detained and flown to a notorious prison – before officials admitted they had made an error. Why is he still there? Maanvi Singh reports
Cartoon of the day | Pete Songi
The Upside
A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad
Benjamin Zephaniah is celebrated for his artistic contributions in many fields, yet his contributions in music remain somewhat overlooked.
On the occasion of what would have been his 67th birthday, many of his musical collaborators have come together to remember the remarkable impact he had on genres including trip-hop, jungle and dubstep – and, more profoundly, that which he had on them as people.
“He was just a down-to-earth, brilliant human being,” says electronic artist Natty of Zephaniah. It is that warmth which comes across most vibrantly in each of these half-dozen recollections. “I remember how strong he was, which made his passing even harder to accept,” Natty adds, “I’m so grateful to have known and learned from him.”
Bored at work?
And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.
