Sudan Issues - 2024

Disputes - international

Sudan-Central African Republic: periodic violent skirmishes persist among related pastoral populations along the border with the Central African Republic over water and grazing rights; Sudan closed its border with the Central African Republic in January 2022 due to security concerns

Sudan-Chad: Chad wants to be a helpful mediator in resolving the Darfur conflict, and in 2010 established a joint border monitoring force with Sudan, which has helped to reduce cross-border banditry and violence; however, since the August 2020 Juba Peace Agreement between the Sudanese Government and the Sudanese Revolutionary Front and the termination of the UN’s peacekeeping mission, UNAMID, at the end of 2020, violence continues to break out over land and water access

Sudan-Egypt: Sudan claims, but Egypt de facto administers, security and economic development of the Halaib region north of the 22nd parallel boundary

Sudan-Eritrea: none identified

Sudan-Ethiopia: civil unrest in eastern Sudan has hampered efforts to demarcate the porous boundary with Ethiopia; clashes continue between Sudan and Ethiopia over al-Fashaga, a fertile piece of land inhabited by Ethiopian farmers for years until the Sudanese army expelled them in December 2020, claiming the land belonged to Sudan based on colonial-era maps from over 100 years ago; in February, 2022, the two countries were discussing resuming talks over the border conflict; Ethiopia's construction of a large dam (the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam) on the Blue Nile in northern Ethiopia since 2011 has become a focal point of relations with Egypt and Sudan; Sudan is concerned the dam will reduce the flow of water into the country; Ethiopia completed filling the dam in 2023

Sudan-Libya: none identified

Sudan-South Sudan: the two have disagreed over control of the Abyei region since a 2005 peace deal ended decades of civil war between Sudan's north and south; both claim ownership of Abyei, whose status was unresolved after South Sudan became independent from Sudan in 2011; it is under the control of South Sudan; the region's majority Ngok Dinka people favor South Sudan, while the Misseriya nomads who come to Abyei to find pasture for their cattle favor Sudan; an African Union panel proposed a referendum for Abyei but there was disagreement over who could vote 

Refugees and internally displaced persons

refugees (country of origin): 696,246 (South Sudan) (refugees and asylum seekers), 137,402 (Eritrea) (refugees and asylum seekers), 93,477 (Syria) (refugees and asylum seekers), 72,334 (Ethiopia) (refugees and asylum seekers), 18,279 (Central African Republic) (2023)

IDPs: 6.5 million (armed conflict between rival factions of the military government of Sudan since 15 April 2023) (2024); note - includes some non-Sudanese nationals