Senior UN political and humanitarian officials briefed the Security Council on 22 December 2025, highlighting a sharply deteriorating situation in Sudan marked by indiscriminate attacks, expanding territorial gains by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and escalating dangers for civilians, aid workers, and peacekeepers. The conflict, which began in April 2023 amid a power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF, has spread nationwide, devastating cities, displacing millions, and pushing regions including Darfur into famine conditions.
Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Khaled Khiari confirmed fears that the dry season would intensify fighting, stating that civilians are enduring immense suffering with no end in sight. Recent weeks have seen the conflict centre on Kordofan, where the RSF captured Babanusa in West Kordofan on 1 December and Heglig, a key oil field in South Kordofan, on 8 December. Towns such as Kadugli and Dilling are now under siege, with ongoing shelling and drone strikes, while SAF personnel have withdrawn to South Sudan and South Sudanese forces have moved in to protect the Heglig oil infrastructure. Khiari warned that these developments increase the conflict’s regional complexity and could draw neighbouring countries into wider hostilities.
UN officials reported a disturbing rise in drone attacks targeting civilians, aid workers, and peacekeepers. On 4 December, a kindergarten and a hospital in Kalogi, South Kordofan, were struck, killing over 100 people, including 63 children. On 13 December, a UN logistics base in Kadugli was hit, killing six Bangladeshi peacekeepers serving with the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) and injuring nine others. UNISFA has launched an investigation, and all UN personnel have been evacuated from Kadugli. Attacks against peacekeepers may constitute war crimes, UN officials stressed.
The humanitarian crisis continues to deepen. Hundreds have fled villages in South Kordofan, with over 15,000 displaced to White Nile state since late October. In Darfur, more than 107,000 people were displaced from El Fasher and surrounding areas between late October and early December, while at least 2,500 new arrivals in South Darfur’s Sheria locality require urgent food, health, and relief support. Healthcare facilities have been heavily targeted, with 65 attacks this year killing over 1,600 people.
Edem Wosornu, Director of Crisis Response at OCHA, highlighted the widening suffering, particularly in Kordofan, and the growing risks to aid workers, whose safety is being compromised and whose relocation is affecting lifesaving programmes. Reports of mass killings and sexual violence continue from Darfur, including atrocities during the RSF’s April offensive on the Zamzam displacement camp.
UN officials called on the Security Council to act decisively to protect civilians, ensure humanitarian access, and push for an immediate cessation of hostilities. Wosornu urged the Council to send a strong message that attacks on civilians and violations of international humanitarian law will not be tolerated. Khiari emphasized that international backers of both sides should leverage their influence to halt the fighting and support a Sudanese-led political process, underscoring the UN’s commitment to ending the violence for the sake of Sudan’s people and regional stability.
