Aid officials meeting in Berlin warned that the war in Iran and the wider Middle East is worsening Sudan’s humanitarian crisis three years into its civil war. The conflict has driven rapid increases in the cost of food and fuel and threatens agricultural production because Sudan depends on the Gulf for fertilizer.
Senior figures from German aid group Welthungerhilfe and the UN World Food Programme told reporters the Iran war was having “dramatic consequences” for essential supplies. Welthungerhilfe head Matthias Mogge said teams in Sudan reported “massive price rises,” with fuel up to 80% more expensive and basic foodstuffs such as wheat about 70% higher. He added that rising delivery costs have reduced the volume of aid that organizations can bring in.
WFP deputy head Carl Skau warned that all of Sudan’s diesel imports come from the Gulf and are being severely disrupted by problems around the Strait of Hormuz. He also noted that all fertilizer in the country arrives from the Persian Gulf and that limited access to fertilizer would harm future harvests. Much Sudanese agriculture relies on irrigation using pumps powered by fuel, so fuel shortages threaten production and food access further down the line.
Some 19 million people in Sudan are already at risk of acute hunger amid a conflict that has displaced more than 11 million people and left the country effectively split in two. The UN says donors have provided only about 16% of the funding required for aid projects in Sudan this year.
Drone strikes have become a near-daily occurrence. The UN reported that nearly 700 civilians were reportedly killed in drone strikes in the first three months of this year. UNICEF said drones were “responsible for nearly 80 percent” of the at least 245 children reported killed or injured during that period, with attacks hitting homes, markets, roads, schools and health facilities. Doctors Without Borders reported two deaths and 56 wounded from five drone attacks carried out by the Sudanese Armed Forces in Darfur, condemning the disregard for civilian life.
The war began in April 2023 after an uneasy alliance between Sudan’s military and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) collapsed. The RSF traces its roots to the Janjaweed militia implicated in atrocities in Darfur and has been accused of planning ethnic cleansing against non-Arab groups such as the Fur and Zaghawa. The RSF now controls much of southern and western Sudan, while the military, which regained control of Khartoum in March 2025, holds most of the north and east. Fighters from both sides face allegations of war crimes and attacks on civilians. The RSF has created a parallel administration based in Nyala, contributing to a de facto partition of the country.
Ahead of the Berlin conference — organized by France, Germany, the UK, the US, the EU and the African Union on the third anniversary of the war — German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called the situation “the greatest humanitarian crisis of our time.” He said Germany supports efforts by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the United States to secure a ceasefire. Germany is a major donor to Sudan, and one of the conference’s most pressing goals will be to close the funding gap for aid.
Edited by: Srinivas Mazumdaru