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This month marks the third anniversary of the war in Sudan. It’s a crisis that may not be in the headlines, but it continues to devastate millions of lives. CAFOD, the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development, is still there, working through the local Catholic Church to provide food, safe water, and vital support to families forced to flee their homes.

Kayode Akintola, CAFOD’s Head of Region in Africa has written to Catholics in the UK, asking us to stand in solidarity with our neighbours:

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“From Wednesday 25 March to Saturday 28 March, I have been with our partners and the Church in Sudan, listening. In November 2025, I also visited Sudan and spent days hearing stories of horror but also of resilience. What I have heard is a cry of pain, but also a witness of faith that refuses to die.

Violence is expanding, and communities are increasingly cut off from essential services. 13.6 million people are displaced across Sudan. Families are still on the move, often for days and weeks at a time in search of safety, walking through bush paths because the main roads are controlled by armed groups. Mothers carry children on their backs, young women and men search desperately for water where wells have long run dry. Many children and women have lost their lives during these weeks of walking without food and water. Those who reach displacement camps often arrive malnourished, dehydrated and carrying horrific stories of rape and abuse at the hands of armed men. Hunger is everywhere, diseases are breaking out and exploitation, trafficking, and child protection violations are rampant.

And yet, amid this suffering, I have heard of courage and solidarity. Our partner Caritas Sudan, alongside other local organisations, is providing food, cash assistance, safe water, nutrition, and more. They are saving lives every day. But the gap between overwhelming needs and available support is massive.

Protracted crises require sustained, dependable support the kind that allows our partners to plan, to stay present and to keep saving lives even when the world’s attention moves on. Monthly gifts are an act of steady love for our neighbours, a way of saying: we will not abandon you; we will stand with you until peace is restored. It is like the Good Samaritan who stopped, cared for the wounded man, paid for his treatment, and promised to give more if needed. That is the kind of faithful solidarity Sudan needs today.

Sudan’s crisis is not just about numbers it is a crisis of human dignity. Our brothers and sisters feel abandoned. Now is the time for us, as a Catholic community, to regroup and show through our regular giving that love of neighbour is stronger than violence, stronger than despair and stronger than war.

I will return to Sudan at the end of April 2026 as a sign of solidarity with the people. I invite you to join me in this journey not by travelling, but by committing to stand with Sudan through your monthly support. Together, we can help restore hope and dignity.”

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Visit W: cafod.org.uk/StandWithSudan for more information, to give monthly, to donate today, to pray for Sudan and to ask the UK Government to act now.‍