Reuters published on 14 August 2026 an article titled "650,000 Refugees in South Sudan Could Lose Food Aid Within Weeks Due to Funding Squeeze, Say UN Agencies" by Olivia Le Poidevin.
Staff with the World Food Program and UN High Commission for Refugees report that 650,000 refugees in South Sudan, most of them from conflict in neighboring Sudan, may no longer receive food assistance due to a shortage of international funding.
The Associated Press published on 12 August 2026 an article titled "Thousands Flee Yearslong Drought in Somalia as Hunger Deepens and Aid Shrinks" by Mohamed Sheikh Nor and Omar Faruk.
About two million people in southern Somalia are facing emergency levels of food insecurity as a result of drought over the past four years. EL Nino conditions are likely to exacerbate the situation by creating flooding during Somalia's October to December rainy season. International food assistance is in short supply.
The Council on Foreign Relations Global Conflict Tracker posted on 12 June 2026 an updated background piece titled "Instability in South Sudan."
Ten million South Sudanese--nearly 84 percent of the population--need humanitarian assistance, as reports of airstrikes on civilian areas, sexual violence, and forced recruitment have escalated since March 2025.
Abren, a group of Ethiopian Americans in the Washington area, posted on 18 June 2026 a commentary titled "Ethiopia's Road Ahead: Politics After the 2026 Election."
This commentary provides an overview of the national elections that took place in Ethiopia earlier this month. It assumes a landslide victory for Abiy Ahmed's Prosperity Party but highlights several problems that occurred during the elections. Abren predicts the acceleration of market liberalization and a continuing effort by the government to obtain access to the sea.
The Committee to Protect Journalists published on 29 May 2026 an article titled "'Under the Shadow of Fear': Censorship Is Ethiopia's Real Election Story, Journalists Say."
Intimidation of the press is becoming the norm in the runup to Ethiopia's national elections. Numerous reporters have experienced a variety of challenges as they attempt to cover the elections.
Ethiopia Insight published on 26 May 2026 a commentary titled "Pretoria's Unfinished Peace Is Fueling Tigray's New Crisis" by Fikru Kidane, a Tigrayan analyst living in the United States.
The new tensions in Tigray Region are rooted in the aftermath of the Pretoria Agreement that ended the last war in Tigray. Key elements of the agreement remain unimplemented. The author argues that pressure to engage in new dialogue does not replace the need to put pressure on all parties to implement the Pretoria Agreement.
The Middle East Monitor published on 12 May 2026 an article titled "Nearly 50,000 Displaced in Sudan's Blue Nile State Since Start of 2026."
The International Organization for Migration reported that almost 50,000 people have been displaced since the beginning of 2026 in Sudan's Blue Nile State as a result of fighting between the Sudan Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. Blue Nile State borders both Ethiopia and South Sudan.
The Christian Science Monitor published on 15 April 2026 an article titled "After 3 Years of War, Sudanese Civilians Pay the Price" by Sophie Neiman and Guy Peterson.
This account focuses on the Sudanese conflict in the Nuba Mountains where the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces is aligned with the SPLM-N against the Sudan Armed Forces.
The New York Times published on 15 April 2026 an article titled "Sudan Enters Fourth Year of War Amid World's Most Severe Humanitarian Crisis" by Ephrat Livni ad Declan Walsh.
The article describes the humanitarian crisis as Sudan enters its fourth year of civil war. The international community recently pledged $1.3 billion in funding for Sudan, but only peace can bring this humanitarian disaster to a close.
The New York Times published on 15 April 2026 a guest essay titled "I have Watched the Catastrophe of My Country Be Reduced to Nothing" by Mohammed Ahmed.
The author takes issue with those who call what is happening in Sudan a "civil war." He argues it is "a resource war fought by proxy, playing out against the world's indifference." About the only thing sustaining Sudan today is communal mobilization or self-help by ordinary Sudanese.
UN News published on 10 April 2026 an update titled "Sudan: 14 Million Displaced; Hunger and Attacks on Health Continue as War Enters Fourth Year."
Some 14 million people, or a quarter of the population, have been forced to flee, with 9 million remaining displaced inside Sudan and 4.4 million as refugees mostly in Chad, South Sudan, and Egypt. In addition, 21 million Sudanese now face acute food insecurity, including 6.3 million in the direst state of food emergency. Over 40 percent of Sudan's population require urgent health assistance and disease outbreaks are widespread.
Most of the UN agencies have their main logistics hub in the United Arab Emirates. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz is impacting their ability to respond as humanitarian supply routes have been cut and shipping aid has become slower and more costly.
Prospect published on 1 April 2026 an article titled "Sudan's War in the Mountains" by Sophie Neiman.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) is using the Nuba Mountains as a thoroughfare to take territory controlled by the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) in the eastern part of Sudan. The Nuba Mountains have become a new frontline in the civil war. The RSF is aligned with the SPLM-N against the SAF.
Medicins san Frontieres just published a study titled "'There Is Something I Want to Tell You . . .' Surviving the Sexual Violence Crisis in Darfur."
Accounts of sexual violence in Darfur have surfaced most visibly during moments of intense fighting in Sudan's Darfur region, often along ethnic lines as a form of collective punishment, part of the broader pattern of atrocities inflicted on civilians. But in the long shadow of conflict, women and girls continue to face sexual violence as a routine and inescapable reality even after the fighting subsides: on roads, in markets, in fields, in their homes, and during displacement.
The testimonies shared in this report demonstrate that sexual violence in Darfur is both woven into daily life and has become a defining feature of the war itself. These voices leave no doubt as to the gravity of this crisis, revealing the scale, pervasiveness, and deliberate nature of sexual violence in Darfur.
Most of the perpetrators were armed, non-civilian men and the survivors often identified paramilitary Rapid Support Force fighters as the attackers.
The Rift Vally Institute published in October 2025 a study titled "Political Economy of Cash and Markets in Sudan" by Omer Egemi and Calum McLean.
Sudan is the world's largest displacement and humanitarian crisis. The study covers Khartoum, the political and economic hub of the country, and the two regions of Kordofan and Darfur in western Sudan during the period from February to April 2025.
Sudan's economy is largely controlled by warring parties, especially the Sudan Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The study analyses the political economy dynamics shaping Sudan's crisis with particular focus on aspects affecting cash and markets.
Ethiopia Insight published on 2 March 2026 a commentary titled "The Welkait Quagmire Neither Bullets nor Ballets Can Resolve" by Zola Moges, PhD in international law.
Welkait is a district that has been part of Western Tigray since the Tigray People's Liberation Front annexed it following the demise in 1991 of the Derg regime. Prior to that, Welkait was part of Amhara Region.
Welkait's strategic location at the intersection of Ethiopia's borders with Sudan and Eritrea complicates the ability to find a solution that manages to overcome long-standing ethnic, language, and cultural differences.
The author suggests as a solution creation of a self-administered territory that might take the form of a special autonomous zone or even an additional regional state with bilingual Amharic and Tigrinya administration.
Ethiopia Insight published on 20 February 2026 a commentary titled "Tigray Is Under Siege Again" by Kiros Nigus Thegay, a human rights advocate.
Siege-like conditions prevent Tigray Region from returning to normal. The author argues that the federal government is engaged in "weaponized starvation" and "economic sabotage."
The Heritage Institute for Policy Studies published in 2025 a study titled "From Risk to Response: Addressing the Climate-Conflict-Displacement Nexus."
Somalia consistently ranks among the world's most climate-vulnerable countries. Climate change is the primary driver of internally displaced people (IDPs) in the country. One in every 25 displaced individuals globally resides in Somalia. Climate-vulnerable states are also more likely to experience civil unrest and political instability.
AEI's Critical Threats Africa File posted on 12 February 2026 an article titled "South Sudan" by Michael DeAngelo.
The Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO) and the Nuer White Army militia launched a new offensive in Jonglei, Unity, and Upper Nile states in South Sudan. Forces from the government of South Sudan responded with a counteroffensive. Competing Sudan Armed Forces and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in Sudan may try to exploit the situation in South Sudan for advantage in their own civil war.
The International Crisis Group posted on 3 February 2026 a commentary titled "Flare-up in Tigray Highlights Risk of More War in Northern Ethiopia" by Magnus Taylor.
A new outbreak of conflict between Tigray Defense Forces, on one side, and Amhara militias and federal troops, on the other, underscores an escalating standoff between Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF). The federal government accuses the TPLF of forming a secret pact with Eritrea amid growing tensions between Addis Ababa and Asmara.
