Sudan topped a watch list of global humanitarian crises released on Tuesday by an international aid group for the third year in a row as a devastating war grips the northeastern African country.
The International Rescue Committee said Sudan was at the top of its annual Emergency Watchlist, which included 20 countries at risk of worsening humanitarian crises in 2026.
The IRC called for scaling up global humanitarian funding, which has shrunk by 50 per cent in the outgoing year and is on track to become the deadliest year for humanitarians.
The list had the occupied Palestinian territories and South Sudan ranked second and third, respectively, due to debilitating humanitarian conditions. It also included Ethiopia, Haiti, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lebanon and Ukraine. Syria and Yemen, both riddled with civil wars for over a decade, were also listed.
Though the 20-country list represents just 12 per cent of the world’s population, it accounts for 89 per cent of those in need, with 117 million displaced people, the IRC said. The group expected the listed countries to host more than half of the world’s extremely poor by 2029, calling the crises a “New World Disorder” replacing “the post-WWII international system once grounded in rules and rights”.
The IRC said many of the conflicts were driven by struggles for power and profit. In Sudan, the group says, the warring parties and their international backers were benefiting from the gold trade, which has devastating impacts on civilians.