Protracted armed conflicts in Sudan, Yemen and the Democratic Republic of Congo and escalating gang violence in Haiti are fuelling hunger and displacing people and show no signs of ebbing in 2025.
Here’s how the four countries are struggling with urgent humanitarian crises that lack enough attention and funding.
Sudan
War in Sudan has created the world’s largest displacement of people, with more than 12 million people forced from their homes since the fighting began in April 2023.
The civil war, pitting the Sudanese army against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has rapidly spread from the capital Khartoum to areas such as Darfur and states including Sennar, Al Gedaref, Al Jazirah and Blue Nile.
The United Nations estimates up to 15,000 people have been killed in Darfur alone. More than 8 million Sudanese are displaced within the country, and more than 3 million have become refugees in neighbouring countries, including Chad, Egypt and South Sudan.
Human rights groups, including a UN-mandated mission, accuse both sides of widespread rights abuses, including rape, torture and arbitrary arrests. The paramilitary RSF is also accused of ethnic cleansing in Darfur.
The war has also led to a catastrophic food crisis. The UN declared famine in the North Darfur region in August. This means that people are already dying from hunger and related conditions such as malnutrition and infection.
Around 25 million people in Sudan – more than half the population – face acute hunger, with children most at risk of developing severe acute malnutrition.
Yemen
Yemen is experiencing one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises, primarily due to a combination of ongoing conflict, economic collapse and underdevelopment.
The UN says 19.5 million people - almost half the country’s population - are in need of assistance.
The crisis began escalating in 2015 when a civil war broke out between Houthi rebels, who control the capital Sana’a and much of the north, and the internationally recognized government. The conflict has drawn in regional powers, notably Saudi Arabia and Iran, exacerbating the situation.
The warring parties agreed to a de facto truce in 2022, but flare-ups continue.
Widespread destruction of infrastructure, including hospitals, schools and essential services, have severely limited people’s access to basics such as healthcare, clean water, electricity and education.
A blockade imposed by the Saudi-led coalition has further restricted the flow of food, medicine and fuel, leading to shortages and inflated prices.
Yemen’s economy has collapsed, with millions losing their livelihoods. The rial currency is in meltdown as oil and gas exports remain obstructed. The cost of food has increased by 28 per cent this year.
This has led to widespread poverty, making it difficult for families to afford food and basic necessities.
A banking crisis has prevented people from accessing their deposits, further straining fragile business operations and delaying major humanitarian programmes.
Political instability and the breakdown of social services have displaced around 4.5 million Yemenis.
Democratic Republic of Congo
Despite its fertile agricultural lands, abundant water and mineral resources, the Democratic Republic of Congo has faced decades of conflict, multiple disease outbreaks and the fallout from climate change, and that has fuelled poverty and hunger.
Fight for control over the country’s coltan mines and other metals between armed groups and the military has displaced more than 7 million people.
Already grappling with epidemics of measles and Ebola, the Democratic Republic of Congo was hit by a Mpox outbreak in 2024 that claimed the lives of more than 1,000 people and spread to several African countries.
In February, the country experienced its worst floods in 60 years, wiping out thousands of homes and hectares of farmlands.
According to the UN World Food Programme, about 25.6 million people, a quarter of the country’s population, are currently facing a food crisis.
Disease and hunger could worsen the humanitarian disaster in the Central African nation next year and have long-term implications for the country’s development and stability.
Haiti
Gang violence and a political crisis in Haiti has resulted in catastrophic humanitarian consequences in the Caribbean nation.
Gun battles between gangs and the police in and around the capital Port-au-Prince have forced over 700,000 people, more than half of whom are children, to flee their homes.
Many of Haiti’s displaced live in makeshift settlements, with little to no access to basic services.
About 5 million people in Haiti, nearly half of the country’s population, face acute hunger that is exacerbated by inflation, poor harvests and extreme weather events like hurricanes.
A coalition of gangs known as Viv Ansanm has cemented its hold over the country, while the political leadership is wracked by infighting. A long-delayed foreign security mission has made scarce progress.
Gangs have taken over much of Port-au-Prince and expanded into nearby regions, where they are accused of indiscriminate killings, gang rapes, ransom kidnappings and causing critical food shortages.
In just one weekend in early December, about 180 people were killed by gangs in the capital’s Cite Soleil slum neighbourhood.
Haitian women and children bear the disproportionate burden of the surge in violence in gang-controlled neighbourhoods, including rape and forced recruitment into gangs.
According to the UN’s children agency UNICEF, up to half of all members in armed groups are children who are “trapped in a vicious cycle.”
This story was published with permission from Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, climate change, resilience, women’s rights, trafficking and property rights. Visit https://www.context.news/.
