The 2026 Sudan Regional Refugee Response Plan (RRRP), led by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, seeks $1.6 billion to deliver lifesaving assistance to 5.9 million people affected by the Sudan crisis across seven neighbouring countries: Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, South Sudan and Uganda. The plan prioritises support for an estimated 470,000 new refugees expected to cross borders this year, as well as thousands stranded in border areas who have so far received only minimal assistance.
The conflict in Sudan erupted in mid-April 2023, when fighting broke out between the national army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in a violent power struggle. Since then, Sudan has become the world’s largest displacement crisis, with millions forced from their homes amid collapsing essential services and restricted humanitarian access. UNHCR’s Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, Mamadou Dian Balde, described the situation as the worst humanitarian crisis globally, compounded by one of the most severe funding shortages in decades.
As violence persists in multiple regions of Sudan, thousands of people continue to flee across borders each week, often arriving in areas that were already economically fragile before the crisis. Host governments and local communities have shown solidarity, but their capacity to cope is increasingly strained. Approximately 4.3 million Sudanese refugees are currently displaced across the region, with the majority residing in Egypt and eastern Chad.
Egypt alone hosts around 1.4 million Sudanese refugees, with registered figures nearly quadrupling since 2023. However, severe funding cuts have forced the closure of two out of three refugee registration centres, limiting access to protection services. Funding per refugee per month has significantly declined, reducing the scope of assistance available. In eastern Chad, tens of thousands of refugee families lack adequate shelter, and hundreds of thousands are awaiting relocation from precarious border conditions. In Uganda, clinic closures and the suspension of key nutrition programmes in refugee settlements have heightened health risks for vulnerable populations.
Despite mounting needs and shrinking resources, the 2026 response plan aims to continue supporting host countries in delivering essential services, including food, shelter, healthcare and protection for newly arrived and vulnerable refugees. UNHCR has warned that the growing gap between humanitarian needs and available funding threatens both immediate emergency responses and longer-term solutions, and has called for stronger international support to address persistent underfunding in countries hosting people fleeing Sudan.
