The UN Women on Tuesday called for urgent action to protect and prioritize women and girls in Sudan, where the ongoing conflict and deepening hunger crisis have left millions in peril.

"For over two consecutive years, every front line in Sudan has cut through the bodies, homes, livelihoods, and futures of women and girls, who have endured the sharpest edge of Sudan's horrific conflict," Anna Mutavati, UN Women regional director for East and Southern Africa, told journalists in Geneva.

According to the UN Women's latest Gender Dimensions of Food Insecurity in Sudan alert, nearly 11 million women and girls are now acutely food insecure.

"Simply being a woman in Sudan is a strong predictor of hunger," Mutavati said.

As fighting intensifies in El Fasher and food insecurity spreads across Darfur, women and girls face "extreme hunger, displacement, death, and sexual and gender-based violence," she added.

The situation has further deteriorated with famine officially declared by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) in El Fasher and Kadugli as of November.

According to UN Women's findings, 73.7% of women "do not meet minimum dietary diversity, reflecting extremely poor diets and a heightened risk of malnutrition."

Mutavati stressed the urgent need to ensure that the specific needs of women and girls are addressed in humanitarian responses, emphasizing that they are among the hardest hit by Sudan's escalating crisis.

She also called for an immediate halt to all violence in Sudan, safe corridors for women, girls, and all civilians, prioritization of women and female-headed households in food assistance, and restoration and rebuilding of their livelihoods by humanitarian actors.

"All parties to protect women and girls and uphold their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law," she said. "UN Women urges donors to recognize, resource, and partner with women-led organizations."

Sudan faces a worsening humanitarian crisis amid a bloody conflict between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since April 2023, which has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions of people.

On Oct. 26, the RSF seized control of El-Fasher and committed massacres, according to local and international organizations, amid warnings that the assault could entrench the country’s geographical partition.

The displaced families, totaling about 16,200 people, are “in urgent need of food, medicine, clean water, sanitation, shelter materials, and psychological support,” the General Coordination for Displaced Persons and Refugees said in a statement.

It warned that the displaced civilians “are facing worsening conditions as basic needs continue to rise.”

The displacement followed the RSF takeover of El-Fasher on Oct. 26, committing massacres of civilians, according to local and international organizations.

On Friday, the medical group Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported a sharp increase in malnutrition cases among displaced civilians from El-Fasher.

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), more than 81,000 people have fled El-Fasher and surrounding areas since Oct. 26.

Since April 15, 2023, the Sudanese army and the RSF have been locked in a war that regional and international mediations have failed to end. The conflict has killed thousands of people and displaced millions of others.

In a statement, the IOM said its teams operating under the Displacement Tracking Matrix program estimated that out of those displaced from North Kordofan, 580 fled Bara and 625 left Umm Ruwaba. 

It added that the displaced moved to various locations within North Kordofan and to several towns in White Nile state in southern Sudan.

The latest wave of displacements follows a series of earlier movements in North Kordofan, where 36,625 people were displaced between Oct. 26-31, according to the organization.

In a separate statement, the IOM said 360 people were displaced in South Kordofan state, including 180 from Al-Abbasiya and 180 from Delami, who moved to other areas within the state and to Tandalti in White Nile state.

On Thursday, Sudanese authorities reported casualties from a drone attack by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Zareba al-Sheikh al-Burai in North Kordofan.

Meanwhile, the Sudan Doctors Network said the RSF killed 38 civilians in the town of Umm Dam Haj Ahmed in the same state.

On Monday, the RSF also attacked Umm Dam Haj Ahmed, committing violations against civilians and triggering the displacement of about 1,850 people due to insecurity, according to Sudanese authorities.

The RSF recently seized control of Bara amid its war with the Sudanese army but denies targeting civilians.

On Oct. 26, the RSF seized control of the city of El-Fasher in North Darfur state and committed massacres against civilians, according to local and international organizations, amid warnings that the assault could entrench the geographical partition of Sudan.

On Wednesday, RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as “Hemedti” admitted that “violations” had occurred by his forces in El-Fasher, claiming that investigation committees had been formed.

Since April 15, 2023, the Sudanese army and the RSF have been locked in a war that regional and international mediations have failed to end. The conflict has killed 20,000 people and displaced more than 15 million as refugees and internally displaced persons, according to UN and local reports.

At war with the regular army since April 2023, the RSF seized al-Fashir on Sunday, pushing the army out its last stronghold in the western Darfur region after a grinding 18-month siege.

Since the city’s fall, reports have emerged of summary executions, sexual violence, attacks on aid workers, looting and abductions, while communications remain largely cut off.

A report by Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab on Friday said fresh images gave them reason to believe much of the population may be “dead, captured, or in hiding.”

The lab identified at least 31 clusters of objects consistent with human bodies between Monday and Friday, across neighborhoods, university grounds and military sites.

“Indicators that mass killing is continuing are clearly visible,” the lab said.

Survivors from al-Fashir who reached the nearby town of Tawila have told AFP of mass killings, children shot before their parents, and civilians beaten and robbed as they fled.

Hayat, a mother of five who fled El-Fasher, said that “young men travelling with us were stopped” along the way by paramilitaries and “we don’t know what happened to them.”

The UN said more than 65,000 people have fled El-Fasher but tens of thousands remain trapped.

Around 260,000 people were in the city before the RSF’s final assault.

The RSF claimed to have arrested several fighters accused of abuses on Thursday, but UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher questioned the RSF’s commitment to investigate violations.

Both the RSF and the army have faced war crimes accusations over the course of the conflict.

Al-Fashir’s capture gives the RSF full control over all five state capitals in Darfur, effectively splitting Sudan along an east-west axis, with the army controlling the north, east and center.

The 34th Arab League Summit called on Saturday for the “urgent and unhindered” delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza and condemned Israel's ongoing attacks in Syria.

"We urge the international community, especially influential nations, to fulfill their moral and legal responsibilities by exerting pressure to end the bloodshed and to ensure the unhindered delivery of urgent humanitarian aid to all affected areas in Gaza," the summit's final statement read.

The Arab leaders further condemned “the ongoing Israeli attacks on Syrian territory, violations of its sovereignty, and attempts to undermine and destroy its national capabilities. We call upon the international community and the UN Security Council to apply pressure to halt these attacks and to respect the sovereignty of nations.”​​​​​​​

The 34th Arab League Summit began in Baghdad, with Israel’s war on Gaza dominating the talks besides other regional issues. It is Iraq's fourth summit and first since 2012.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

At least 44 civilians were killed and 28 wounded in an attack by a faction of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) led by Abdelaziz al-Hilu on Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan state in southern Sudan, authorities announced Monday.

The SPLM-N has been fighting the Sudanese army in South Kordofan and Blue Nile since 2011, demanding special status for the two regions.

According to a Sudanese government spokesperson, SPLM-N forces shelled Kadugli with artillery fire Monday morning, causing casualties among civilians, including women and children. Among the dead was Imam Nizar Mohamed Tom, a preacher at the historic Kadugli Old Mosque.

South Kordofan Governor Mohamed Ibrahim Abdel Karim condemned the attack, describing it as “a brutal aggression against civilians.”

He said the Sudanese army responded effectively, inflicting heavy losses on the rebels in terms of personnel, vehicles and equipment, while also seizing weapons and ammunition.

Sudanese military commander Faisal Mukhtar of the 14th Infantry Division said the armed forces had regained control of the situation in Kadugli.

The SPLM-N has yet to comment on the attack.

This escalation in South Kordofan comes as the Sudanese army expands its control in Khartoum and Al Jazirah states, where it has been engaged in a brutal conflict with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since April 2023.

The war has resulted in more than 20,000 deaths and displaced nearly 14 million people, according to the UN and Sudanese authorities. However, research from a US university suggests the death toll may be as high as 130,000.

International organizations continue to warn of an impending humanitarian catastrophe as fighting has spread to 13 of Sudan’s 18 states, pushing millions toward starvation and death due to food shortages.

The UN human rights chief on Friday warned that the conflict in Sudan is taking "an even more dangerous turn" for civilians amid reports of dozens killed in ethnically targeted attacks in Al Jazirah and an imminent battle for control of Khartoum.

The conflict between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, continuing since April 2023, has claimed thousands of lives and forced millions from their homes.

"As the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) battle for control at all costs in the senseless war that has raged for close to two years now, direct and ethnically motivated attacks on civilians are becoming increasingly common," Volker Turk said in a statement.

Turk stressed that the situation for civilians in Sudan is already "desperate," and "there is evidence of the commission of war crimes and other atrocity crimes."

"I fear the situation is now taking a further, even more dangerous turn," he warned.

According to the UN human rights office, in the last week alone, at least 21 deaths in just two attacks in Al Jazirah state were documented. The office said that the actual number of attacks directed at civilians and of civilians killed are "very likely higher."

"Retaliatory attacks – of shocking brutality – on entire communities based on real or perceived ethnic identity are on the rise, as is hate speech and incitement to violence. This must, urgently, be brought to an end," Turk said.

The office said that "serious concerns" also persist for civilians in North Darfur, where "ethnically motivated attacks by the RSF and its allied Arab militias against African ethnic groups, particularly the Zaghawa and the Fur, continue to exact a horrific toll."

Turk renewed his call on both parties to uphold obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law, saying attacks must never be directed against civilians.

He also warned that the proliferation of militia recruitment and mobilization of fighters, largely along ethnic lines, risks "unleashing a broader civil war and inter-communal violence."

"The SAF and the RSF are responsible for the actions of groups and individuals fighting on their behalf," he said. "The SAF and RSF must take immediate measures to ensure the protection of all civilians, including by taking all feasible measures to avoid or at the very least minimise harm to civilians in the conduct of hostilities."

The Yemeni Journalists Syndicate said Sunday that Al-Qaeda killed 11 people, including journalist Mohamed Al-Maqri, who had been kidnapped by the terrorist group more than nine years ago.

"Journalist Mohamed Al-Maqri, who had been forcibly disappeared by Al-Qaeda since October 12, 2015, was among 11 individuals killed in a terrorist attack targeting numerous civilians," it said in a statement.

It noted that the victims were accused by Al-Qaeda of "spying against the mujahideen," a label the group uses for its fighters, and were executed as a result.

The syndicate called on "the relevant authorities to investigate the crime, prosecute the perpetrators, recover the journalist's body, and deliver it to his family."

Al-Maqri was abducted by Al-Qaeda while covering anti-Al-Qaeda protests in Mukalla, a city in Yemen’s Hadhramaut governorate.

From 2015 to April 2016, Al-Qaeda maintained control over Mukalla before being ousted.

The journalist's death has reignited calls for justice and accountability for crimes against media professionals in conflict zones.

A regional cooperation organization in East Africa on Thursday commended a landmark agreement between Somalia and Ethiopia that ended nearly a year of tensions following talks in the Turkish capital.

Workneh Gebeyehu, executive secretary of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), expressed his gratitude to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his instrumental role in hosting and facilitating the discussions that produced the Ankara Declaration late on Wednesday.

“This significant accord marks a substantial step towards strengthening the long-standing social fabric between the two sisterly nations and demonstrates a commitment to resolving bilateral issues amicably," Gebeyehu said in a statement.

Acknowledging Erdogan’s dedication to diplomacy and regional collaboration as a crucial factor in striking the deal, Gebeyehu emphasized the importance of “such diplomatic efforts in addressing shared challenges and fostering stability and prosperity in the Horn of Africa.”

The two East African countries have been at odds since Ethiopia struck a deal with Somalia's breakaway region of Somaliland on Jan. 1 to use its Red Sea port of Berbera. Türkiye has been working to end tensions between the two countries.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, and Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud held a news conference in the Turkish capital Ankara announcing the agreement reached during Türkiye-mediated peace talks.

In the joint declaration, the two African nations affirmed each other's sovereignty, unity and independence, committing to launch technical negotiations with Türkiye's facilitation by the end of February 2025 and conclude them within four months.

In 1991, Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia, leading to the establishment of two separate nations. The separation resulted in Ethiopia losing direct access to the Red Sea and key ports.

Senior representatives from the Sudanese army and rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces accepted invitations to meet separately with the UN secretary-general’s personal envoy, Ramtane Lamamra, Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman at UN headquarters in New York, told reporters.

Lamamra invited both parties to separate “proximity talks” on Thursday morning but “regrettably one of the delegations did not come to the session,” he said.

Dujarric would not say which delegation showed up, but he said Lamamra and his team met with those representatives, and invited both delegations to continue discussions on Friday.

“We urge the Sudanese delegations to rise to the challenge and engage in constructive discussions with the personal envoy for the sake of the Sudanese people,” he said.

Sudan plunged into conflict in mid-April 2023 when long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary leaders broke out in the capital, Khartoum, and spread to other regions including Darfur.

The UN says over 14,000 people have been killed and 33,000 injured. Rights activists say the toll could be much higher.

The war has also created the world’s largest displacement crisis with over 11 million people forced to flee their homes as well as allegations of rampant sexual violence and possible crimes against humanity, and international experts recently warned that 755,000 people are facing famine in the coming months.

Talks in Saudi Arabia’s port city of Jeddah between the Sudanese military and the Rapid Support Forces broke down at the end of last year.

After months of failed efforts to restart talks, Dujarric said the United Nations didn’t publicize the meeting because it doesn’t want to raise expectations.

“We and others have been trying to move this process forward,” he said. “We need to give it a little bit of breathing room and that’s why we’re not trumpeting all of this.”

Alessandra Vellucci, the UN spokeswoman in Geneva, said in an email that “The discussions seek to identify avenues for the advancement of the identified humanitarian and protection of civilian measures through possible local ceasefires, as requested by the Security Council.”

Confirming the death toll that occurred during an intense heatwave, the ministry said in a statement that, in accordance with the wishes of the deceased pilgrims' families, Saudi authorities had issued burial permits in Mecca for 68 of the deceased pilgrims who were not registered in Jordan's official Hajj quota.

The ministry's statement confirmed the death toll from the intense heatwave. It noted that, in line with the families' wishes, Saudi authorities had issued burial permits in Mecca for 68 of the deceased pilgrims, who were not part of Jordan's official Hajj quota.

It added that efforts are underway to secure burial permits for the remaining seven deceased.

Saudi Arabia sets quotas for the number of people allowed to perform Hajj from each country in order to manage the yearly pilgrimage, which routinely numbers in the millions.

The pilgrimage to Islam's holiest site, the Kaaba in the city of Mecca, is one of the five pillars of Islam. A Muslim is required to perform the Hajj at least once if they have the means.

Jordan's Hajj quota in 2024 was 8,000 pilgrims, in addition to 4,500 from within the Green Line, representing Arab cities in Israel, according to the Ministry of Awqaf.

The statement also reported that 96 out of 110 missing Jordanian pilgrims had been found, inlcuding 27 who are receiving treatment in Saudi hospitals, with 15 in critical condition.

It emphasized that the search for the seven missing Jordanian pilgrims continues.

No fatalities within the kingdom's official Hajj delegation were recorded, according to the statement.

On Saturday, Saudi Hajj Minister Tawfiq Al-Rabiah said the total number of pilgrims this year had exceeded 1.83 million from over 200 countries, including over 221,000 from within Saudi Arabia.

The Sudan Doctors Syndicate said RSF attacked eastern villages of Sennar State, including the Sheikh Al-Samani village, and committed massacres against unarmed civilians.

It added that the RSF also attacked a building adjacent to a mosque in the village that was sheltering displaced people.

The country's official news agency quoted Sennar Gov. Tawfiq Mohammad Ali who condemned the attack and described it as a "coward brutal attack by RSF against innocent people including children, women and elderly."

The RSF has yet to comment on the accusation.

The conflict in Sudan that started in April 2023 has resulted in more than 16,000 deaths, displaced nearly 10 million people, and left over 25 million in need of humanitarian assistance, making it one of the world's largest displacement and hunger crises, according to the UN.

Sudan has been mired in fighting between the army, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who is the head of the ruling Sovereign Council, and the RSF paramilitary group.

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More than 1.5 million pilgrims from around the world have already amassed in and around Mecca for the Hajj, and the number was still growing as more pilgrims from inside Saudi Arabia joined. Saudi authorities expected the number to exceed 2 million this year.

This year’s Hajj came against the backdrop of the raging war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Palestinian militants, which pushed the Middle East to the brink of a regional war between Israel and its allies on one side and Iran-backed militant groups on the other.

Palestinians in the coastal enclave of Gaza were not able to travel to Mecca for Hajj this year because of the closure of the Rafah crossing in May when Israel extended its ground offensive to the strip’s southern city of Rafah on the border with Egypt.

“We pray for the Muslims, for our country and people, for all the Muslim world, especially for the Palestinian people,” Mohammed Rafeeq, an Indian pilgrim, said as he headed to the tent camp in Mina.

Palestinian authorities said 4,200 pilgrims from the occupied West Bank arrived in Mecca for Hajj. Saudi authorities said 1,000 more from the families of Palestinians killed or wounded in the war in Gaza also arrived to perform Hajj at the invitation of King Salman of Saudi Arabia. The 1,000 invitees were already outside Gaza — mostly in Egypt — before the closure of the Rafah crossing.

“We are deprived of (performing) Hajj because the crossing is closed, and because of the raging wars and destruction,” said Amna Abu Mutlaq, a 75-year-old Palestinian woman in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis who had planned to perform Hajj this year but was unable to. “They (Israel) deprived us from everything.”

This year's Hajj also saw Syrian pilgrims traveling to Mecca on direct flights from Damascus for the first time in more than a decade. The change is part of an ongoing thaw in relations between Saudi Arabia and conflict-stricken Syria. Syrians in rebel-held areas used to cross the border into neighboring Turkey in their exhausting trip to Mecca for Hajj.

“This is the natural thing: Pilgrims go to Hajj directly from their home countries,” said Abdel-Aziz al-Ashqar, a Syrian coordinator of the group of pilgrims who left Damascus this year for Hajj.

The pilgrimage is one of the Five Pillars of Islam, and all Muslims are required to make the five-day Hajj at least once in their lives if they are physically and financially able to do so.

It is a moving spiritual experience for pilgrims who believe it absolves sins and brings them closer to God, while uniting the world’s more than 2 billion Muslims. It’s also a chance to pray for peace in many conflict-stricken Arab and Muslim countries, including Yemen and Sudan, where more than a year of war between rival generals created the world's largest displacement crisis.

For many Muslims, the Hajj is the only major journey that they make in their lives. Some spend years saving up money and waiting for a permit to embark on the journey in their 50s and 60s after raising their children.

The rituals during the Hajj largely commemorate the Quran’s accounts of Prophet Ibrahim, his son Prophet Ismail and Ismail’s mother Hajar — or Abraham and Ismael as they are named in the Bible.

Male pilgrims wear an ihram, two unstitched sheets of white cloth that resemble a shroud, while women dress in conservative, loose-fitting clothing with headscarves and forgo makeup and perfume. They have been making the ritual circuit around the cube-shaped Kaaba in the seven-minaret Grand Mosque since arriving in Mecca over recent days.

Saudi authorities have adopted security restrictions in and around Mecca, with checkpoints set up on roads leading to the city to prevent those who don’t have Hajj permits from reaching the holy sites.

Security authorities arrested many people who attempted to take pilgrims to Mecca who didn’t have Hajj permits, said Lt. Gen. Muhammad al-Bassami, head of the Hajj Security Committee. Most were expelled from the country, while travel agents faced jail for up to six months, according to the Interior Ministry.

Many pilgrims whose documentations were not complete paid fines to be allowed into Mecca. Mohammed Ramadan, an Egyptian who came to Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj along with his parents, said he found that the type of visa they have didn't allow them into Mecca. They paid 500 Saudi riyals ($133) each to be able to reach the holy sites.

“We were mistreated,” he said while heading to their tent in Mina in the burning heat. “But we forgot everything when we saw the Grand Mosque.”

On Friday, the pilgrims made their way to Mina, officially opening the Hajj. They then will move for a daylong vigil Saturday on Mount Arafat, a desert hill where the Prophet Muhammad is said to have delivered his final speech, known as the Farewell Sermon. Healthy pilgrims make the trip on foot, others use a bus or train.

The time of year when the Hajj takes place varies, given that it is set for five days in the second week of Dhu al-Hijjah, the last month in the Islamic lunar calendar.

Most of the Hajj rituals are held outdoors with little if any shade. When it falls in the summer months, temperatures can soar to over 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). The Health Ministry has cautioned that temperatures at the holy sites could reach 48 Celsius (118 Fahrenheit).

Many pilgrims carried umbrellas to use under the burning sun, and in Mina charities distributed cold water and cooling stations sprayed pilgrims with water to cool them down. The faithful set up in their tents, resting in the rows of cubicles and praying together to prepare for the coming rituals.

After Saturday’s warship in Arafat, pilgrims will travel a few kilometers (miles) to a site known as Muzdalifa to collect pebbles that they will use in the symbolic stoning of pillars representing the devil back in Mina.

Pilgrims then return to Mina for three days, coinciding with the festive Eid al-Adha holiday, when financially able Muslims around the world slaughter livestock and distribute the meat to poor people. Afterward, they return to Mecca for a final circumambulation, known as Farewell Tawaf.

In recent years, the annual pilgrimage has returned to its monumental scale after three years of heavy restrictions because of the coronavirus pandemic. In 2023, more than 1.8 million pilgrims performed Hajj, approaching the level in 2019, when more than 2.4 million participated.

But in Tunisia, less than 100 miles (161 kilometers) from the Italian islands that form the European Union’s outermost borders, for many that dream has become a nightmare.

Under black tarps covered with blankets and ropes, men, women and children seek shelter from sunlight and wait for their chance to board one of the iron boats that paid smugglers use to transport people to Italy. Having fled war, poverty, climate change or persecution, they find themselves trapped in Tunisia — unable to reach Europe but without money to fund a return home.

Based on unofficial estimates, the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration said it believes 15,000 to 20,000 migrants are stranded in rural olive groves near the central Tunisian coastline. Their presence is a byproduct of anti-migration policies being championed in both Tunisia and throughout Europe, particularly from right-wing politicians who are expected to gain ground in the European Union's parliamentary elections this week.

The encampments have grown in size since last year as police have pushed migrants out of cities and ramped up efforts to prevent Mediterranean crossings.

When police razed tents last summer in Sfax, Tunisia's second largest city, many migrants moved to the countryside near the stretch of coastline north of the city.

Among them is Mory Keita, a 16-year-old who left a flood-prone suburb outside of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, last September to link up with a friend already in Tunisia. Keita arrived at an encampment called Kilometer-19 earlier this year.

Named for a highway marker denoting its distance from Sfax, Kilometer-19 is notorious for clashes between migrant groups, he said. “Machete brawls” regularly break out between groups that self-sort by nationality — including Cameroonians, Ivorians, Guineans and Sudanese. When police come, it’s not to ensure safety, but to disband encampments by force, Keita said.

“The truth is I’m afraid of where we are,” he said. “Innocent people get hurt. The police don’t intervene. It’s not normal.”

Passportless, Keita said he paid a smuggler an initial sum of 400,000 Central African Francs ($661) to take him through Mali and Algeria last year. He dreams of resettling in France, finding work and sending earnings back to his family in Ivory Coast.

Keita made it onto a boat on the Mediterranean Sea in March, but Tunisia's coast guard intercepted it, arrested him and returned him to the nearby beach without any bureaucratic processing, he said.

With European funds and encouragement, the coast guard has successfully prevented more migrants like Keita than ever before from making dangerous journeys across the sea. From January to May, it stopped nearly 53,000 migrants from crossing its maritime border to Europe, Interior Minister Kamel Fekih said last month.

Less than 10,000 migrants successfully crossed from Tunisia to Italy this year, down from 23,000 in the same time period last year.

That fulfills objectives that European leaders outlined last summer when they brokered a 1 billion euro ($1.1 billion) accord with Tunisia. Though the funds have not been completely disbursed, the deal included 105 million euros ($114 million) for migration-related programs. NGOs such as the Catholic Committee Against Hunger and for Development have decried a lack of transparency and information about the programs.

While fewer people landing on the shores of Italy looks like a success, the resulting logjam on the Tunisian coastline is fomenting anger and despair among migrants and Tunisians. Civil society groups have demanded the government expel migrants. Politicians have urged residents to form “citizen militias” to police the area.

“You brought them here and it’s your responsibility to send them back to their home countries,” Moamen Salemi, a 63-year old retiree from nearby El Amra, said at one of several recent anti-migrant protests.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said last month it was “very concerned by the increased targeting in Tunisia of migrants, mostly from south of the Sahara, and individuals and organizations working to assist them.”

“We are witnessing a rise in the use of dehumanizing and racist rhetoric against Black migrants and Black Tunisians,” it said in a statement.

Though migrants from sub-Saharan Africa have been a political flashpoint, the majority of those who have made it from North Africa to Italy this year have been from either Syria, Bangladesh or Tunisia itself.

The government has for more than a year been accused of deporting migrants across its borders with Libya and Algeria, many who are later found dead. Tunisia has acknowledged bussing migrants to the remote borderlands near the two neighboring countries. Yet removing them from areas near the coast does little to answer the anti-migrant anger brewing among residents, many of whom have tried to emigrate to Europe themselves in search of more freedom and better economic opportunities.

The visibility of Black migrants at cafes, markets, money transfer offices and city streets periodically unleashes xenophobic backlash from locals troubled by their presence and farmers asking the government to remove encampments from their land.

Their animus echoes remarks made by President Kais Saied, who last year drummed up racist backlash after giving a speech claiming migrants were part of a conspiracy to erase Tunisian identity.

Police keep a heavy presence and the national guard roams the olive-growing towns of El Amra and Jebeniana, which journalists are increasingly barred from covering. Videos circulating on social media of encampments burning after law enforcement raids spurred by calls from local farmers, according to migrants who post them. “Disappeared” notices asking for help finding missing people are posted daily in Facebook groups popular with migrants.

“This situation cannot continue and Tunisia will not be a land for the settlement of migrants,” Saied said at a National Security Council meeting in May, where without evidence he revived his questions about nefarious foreign actors pushing to keep migrants in Tunisia.

The EU hopes to limit migration with policies including development assistance, voluntary return and repatriation for migrants and forging closer ties with neighboring governments that police their borders.

Despite the plight of those trapped in Tunisia, European leaders like Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni have lauded the 2023 accord as a model agreement for managing migration. She visited four times over the past year.

The EU also expressed worry after a group of journalists, migration activists and attorneys were arrested last month — including one for making a remark about migration. It said that "freedoms of expression and association, as well as the independence of the judiciary, are guaranteed by the Tunisian Constitution and constitute the basis of our partnership.”

But even while noting the democratic backslide, at no point did officials threaten to cut off the assistance to Tunisia that many see as a life raft for Saied's government.

Majdi Karbai, a former member of Tunisia's parliament living in Italy, said the nature of the partnership with the EU had imperiled democracy in Tunisia and came at the expense of human rights for African migrants and Tunisians.

Migrants will likely continue to transit through Tunisia and Karbai said Saied uses them as fodder for populist rhetoric that positions him as a defender of struggling Tunisians and also to secure more assistance from Europe.

“Tunisia makes Europe believe it’s doing its job as it must,” Karbai said. “It's good for Saied in terms of his supporters and for his speeches when he says Tunisia won't be a country that resettles migrants."

His words may have seemed premature at the time, but a year of brutal civil war has now plunged Sudan into the kind of chaos in which terrorist groups thrive. The risk of al-Qaida gaining ground in Sudan is now very real and imperils, I believe, not only the country itself but also regional – and potentially global – security.

In April 2023, fighting broke out in Sudan between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, creating a power vacuum that extremists are eager to fill.

At the same time, the Rapid Support Forces – a group that developed under and was once allied to Sudan’s al-Qaida-harboring former president Omar al-Bashir – has been solidifying its grip in strategic areas such as Darfur and southern Khartoum.

Indeed, both the paramilitary group and the armed forces have been accused of recruiting Islamist fighters, fueling fears that the civil war will – regardless of the victor – prove a toehold for extremist groups.

As a defense policy researcher and counterterrorism expert, I’m concerned that Sudan risks becoming an al-Qaida stronghold – and a potential base for orchestrating attacks on the U.S. and its allies. A potential Rapid Support Forces takeover in Sudan could mirror pre-9/11 Afghanistan, where Taliban control facilitated al-Qaida’s rise.

Al-Qaida members, seeking opportunities to achieve what they couldn’t in the Middle East, are already heeding calls to head to Sudan.

Decades of turmoil and extremism

Sudan’s civil strife predates the current fighting by decades. It ignited in 1989 when al-Bashir seized power, aligning the nation with radical Islamist ideologies. He imposed Sharia law and in 1991 sheltered al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. Under al-Bashir’s regime, bin Laden established training camps and expanded al-Qaida’s financial network, laying the groundwork for the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Facing international sanctions over its support of terrorism, Sudan expelled bin Laden in 1996.

But al-Bashir’s sponsorship of the Janjaweed militia group, the architects of the 2003 Darfur genocide, further solidified his alignment with Islamist extremists. Under scrutiny, al-Bashir rebranded the Janjaweed as the Rapid Support Forces in 2013, appointing ex-Janjaweed member Mohammed Hamdan “Hemeti” Dagalo as its leader and retaining their brutal tactics.

The 2021 coup, orchestrated by Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan of the Sudanese Armed Forces and Hemeti of the Rapid Support Forces, soon devolved into a power struggle between the two men, igniting Sudan’s current conflict.

Today, with Hemeti at the helm, the paramilitary group continues its oppressive campaign in West Darfur, engaging in alleged ethnic cleansing against the Indigenous Masalit people.

Meanwhile, a prison attack in April 2023, which the Sudanese army blamed on Rapid Support Forces rebels, facilitated the escape of al-Bashir’s allies, though the former president remains hospitalized under guard.

Sudan at the heart of jihad

With conflicts in the Middle Eastand Eastern Europe, the West might be overlooking the crisis in Sudan and the potential it holds for al-Qaida, a group that has long harbored ambitions of returning to Sudan.

Despite his expulsion, bin Laden continued to emphasize Sudan’s importance in his plans for global jihad. This was evident in his 2006 audiotape and diary entries in which he referred to Sudan as a pivotal operational base.

A 2023 publication by key al-Qaida figure Ibrahim al-Qussi titled “Fragments from al-Qaida’s History” revealed that bin Laden directed an investment of US$12 million solely for jihad in Sudan, highlighting the region’s ongoing relevance to al-Qaida’s objectives.

Sudan’s appeal to extremists extends beyond its connections to bin Laden. Strategically bridging North and sub-Saharan Africa, Sudan is a key location for Islamist extremists aiming to expand their influence across the region.

After the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban’s return to power, al-Qaida reestablished a presence in the country, reopening training camps and madrassas.

Well before that, however, al-Qaida had long since evolved from a centralized organization in Afghanistan into a decentralized network with global affiliates – from the Arabian Peninsula to the Indian subcontinent all the way to sub-Saharan Africa and the Sahel.

Historic ties, new ambitions

Recent developments highlight al-Qaida’s increased focus on Sudan and are driven by detailed expansion plans of Sudanese al-Qaida leader Abu Hudhaifa al-Sudani. A former bin Laden associate with a notorious background in Afghanistan and Iraq, al-Sudani issued a renewed call for jihad.

Following the onset of civil war in Sudan, al-Sudani’s 2022 manifesto, “Now the fighting has come: War messages to the Mujahideen in Sudan,” not only prescribes a military strategy of targeted strikes and guerrilla warfare across Sudan but also a vision for jihad extending from Dongola in the country’s north to Darfur in its south, with Khartoum as the command center.

Al-Qaida further articulated its threat in a message on the 22nd anniversary of the 2001 attacks on the U.S., promising, “It is only a matter of time before the next strike eclipses the horrors of 9/11.”

This declaration, combined with the group’s escalating presence in conflict zones such as Niger and Libya, actively positions them to target U.S. interests worldwide. Indeed, a 2022 United Nations report indicated that al-Qaida was planning high-profile attacks, possibly at sea.

What an extremist takeover would mean

Al-Qaida’s potential in resource-rich Sudan should not be underestimated. Historically, the group’s operations from resource-limited Afghanistan were devastating; in Sudan, with its abundance of oil, gold and fertile land, their capabilities could be significantly magnified.

Sudan provides a lucrative base for whoever holds power. Forging links with both sides of the civil war would no doubt be of huge financial benefit to al-Qaida should either side prevail, in the same way al-Bashir’s rule was a generation earlier.

And Sudan’s Red Sea access makes it potentially an even greater threat than Iraq and Afghanistan combined.

Gaining a Sudanese stronghold could empower al-Qaida affiliates across Yemen, Somalia and the Sahel region, exacerbating regional conflicts and threatening crucial Red Sea trade routes. Interestingly, a United Nations July 2022 report revealed that al-Qaida’s Yemen branch had been boosting its maritime capabilities.

The resurgence of al-Qaida capabilities in the region could lead to increased piracy, militarized blockades and unregulated arms flow, escalating regional tensions and causing broader geopolitical unrest.

But as the United States redirects resources and attention to wars in Europe and the Middle East and countering China, Sudan has seemingly slipped down its priority list. Complicating matters further, U.S. responses are tangled in the conflicting interests of its Gulf allies supporting various factions in Sudan’s civil war.

Strapped by resource limitations, overwhelmed by competing threats and weary from decades in the Middle East, the U.S. is poorly positioned to counter al-Qaida’s expansion into Sudan.

But as Sudan inches closer to becoming a global terror hub, the stakes couldn’t be higher. Historical examples, such as Afghanistan’s fall to the Taliban and the rise of the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, illustrate the potential costs.