War in Sudan: Humanitarian, fighting, control developments, August 2025

The largest humanitarian crisis in history has resulted from the Sudanese armed forces’ (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces’ (RSF) paramilitary.

Despite now entering its third year, estimates suggest that tens of thousands of people have lost their lives in combat and thousands more have lost their lives in the war.

This month saw a lot of significant military and political developments. The most significant updates are:

Military and combat control

• The SAF, which it took from the RSF in March, is regaining control of Khartoum, the capital. In addition to Port Sudan, Sudan’s capital and eastern region, is located in the Red Sea.
• The RSF is in charge of the Kordofan region and Darfur’s sprawling western region, which are both in the RSF’s hands.
• El-Fasher, the SAF’s final Darfur garrison, is still under the RSF’s control as it continues to rule the country’s capital. The RSF will be in power over a portion of western Sudan, roughly the size of France, if El-Fasher is toppled.
• El-Fasher and nearby displacement camps, including the Abu Shouk camp, where 190, 000 people from around Darfur have sought shelter, have seen more attacks from the RSF.
• According to recent satellite imagery obtained by the Yale Humanitarian Research Hub, it has also constructed enormous sand berms from the north, west, and east around El-Fasher, effectively creating a “kill-box.”
• By collaborating with a new ally, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), led by Abdelaziz al-Hilu, the RSF is attempting to expand its influence in Kordofan. In February, the two organizations forged a military alliance to combat the SAF.
• The RSF maintains control of the majority of West and South Kordofan, giving them access to South Sudan cross-borderally with the SPLM-N.
• El-Obeid, the most important city in North Kordofan, is under the control of SAF, which the RSF is occupying. El-Obeid must be kept by the SAF to prevent the RSF from threatening central Sudan.

Humanitarian crisis

• According to UNICEF, the RSF has ejected 260, 000 civilians in El-Fasher, including 130, 000 children, making the area an “epicentre of child suffering.”
• Even this is running out, but the majority of them are surviving on animal fodder known as ambaz, which is the leftover from pressed oil seeds like peanuts, sesame, and sunflowers, to grind into a paste.
• According to figures released by Relief International and shared with Al Jazeera, about one-third of the children in Mellit, a city close to El-Fasher, are reportedly severely malnourished. That is more than twice the threshold for a malnutrition emergency according to the World Health Organization.
• According to Adam Rojal, the spokesperson for internally displaced people in Darfur, a cholera outbreak is aggravated by the humanitarian crisis in the vast region of the country. He claimed on August 30 that the water-borne illness had claimed the lives of nine people that day and had infected 143 others, totaling 382 deaths since the epidemic first emerged in June 2025.
• Due to road closures and bureaucratic obstacles, food convoys from the UN and other nongovernmental organizations rarely arrive in Darfur. Both sides are accused of using food as a weapon by human rights activists and local activists.
• No food convoys have been dispatched to North Darfur in more than a year, despite the World Food Programme’s declaration to provide electronic cash assistance to the region’s vulnerable population.
• A drone strike on a UN food convoy hit North Darfur on Friday, the second-aid convoy in three months. The attack was blamed on RSF and SAF, respectively.
• Due to the RSF’s siege on Dilling and Kadugli, South Kordofan is experiencing a similar hunger emergency.

political and diplomatic developments

• On August 31 in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo reportedly sworn in as the parallel “Peace government” president. A drone strike was carried out on the same day by SAF.
• According to Sudanese experts and media outlets, SAF Commander-in-Chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and a US adviser reportedly met in Switzerland in mid-August to discuss a strategy to end the conflict. The talks have not been confirmed by the US.
• A week after the secret meeting, al-Burhan retired a number of senior military personnel, some of whom reportedly belong to Sudan’s political Islamist movement, which had been in power for 30 years under former president Omar al-Bashir. According to experts, al-Burhan is being pressured by outside forces to lessen the influence of well-known figures in the al-Bashir government.