Is the World Ready for Another War? Because Sudan’s Is Already Spreading
In August 2023, just four months after Sudan’s civil war erupted, I left Israel, my refuge country, for eastern Chad. Then, as a staff member of HIAS, the global Jewish humanitarian organization that has been serving Darfuri refugees in Chad since the first genocide of Darfur, I was deployed to join the emergency response. I stood at the Adre border crossing and watched wave after wave of people pour into Chad from Sudan: injured, barely clothed, barefoot, and carrying nothing but their children and the weight of unspeakable trauma. And there, on the Chadian side, I witnessed something I will never forget: Chadian soldiers greeting them with water, food, and quiet compassion, followed by the warm embrace of the local community in Adre. That border crossing was not just a point on a map; it was a lifeline. Today, it is closed. And the crisis I witnessed firsthand has only grown more devastating.
On March 19, 2026, as reported by Reuters, the war came crashing across that border when a drone from Sudan struck the Chadian town of Tine during a Ramadan Iftar gathering, killing at least 17 civilians. In response, Chad’s President Mahamat Idriss Deby convened an emergency Defense and Security Council, ordered retaliation, and launched a security operation to seize weapons along the border region, shutting down the entire 1,300-kilometer boundary between the two countries.
What began in April 2023 as a power struggle between two Sudanese military factions has now spilled across an international boundary, and a neighboring state that has sheltered millions of Sudan’s displaced is preparing for retaliation after being attacked from Sudanese territory. The international community, which has watched this crisis worsen for three years, must act decisively to stop this escalation and end the war in Sudan before it becomes a regional conflict.
Chad: A Quiet Hero for Darfur’s Displaced People
For over two decades, Chad has been a lifeline for Sudanese civilians fleeing mass violence and genocide. Despite being one of the poorest nations on earth economically, Chad remains among the richest in welcoming and solidarity, at both the social and governmental levels. When the first genocide erupted in Darfur in 2003, Chad opened its borders to hundreds of thousands of families. Even before the current war, Chad sheltered approximately 400,000 registered Sudanese refugees.
Since the current war erupted in Sudan, more than 900,000 additional Sudanese refugees have crossed into Chad, pushing the total past 1.5 million. Chad now ranks among the largest refugee-hosting countries per capita globally. As the United Nations put it, Chad’s reception represents a “powerful act of solidarity.” Chad has quietly done what the international community has failed to do: show up for the people of Sudan.
It is precisely for this reason that the security and stability of the Chadian-Sudanese border must be preserved: any further escalation threatens not only the safety and wellbeing of more than 1.5 million refugees who depend on Chad as their sanctuary, but also the lives and livelihoods of people trapped in Darfur and the Chadian communities that have generously hosted them for over two decades.
How a Two-Party War Became Everyone’s Problem
The war in Sudan started as a fight between two men. General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan leads the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, commands the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and Al-Burhan’s former deputy. The two staged a coup in 2021, but their alliance collapsed into warfare in April 2023.
At that point, the conflict was between two identifiable parties. It was containable. International mediation followed, most notably the Jeddah Declaration brokered by Saudi Arabia and the United States. But those efforts failed. Today, more than 15 Sudanese armed groups have joined the fighting. The UN Security Council described it as “a fully internationalized conflict with arms, financial, and political networks extending across continents.” The war that might have been stopped between two internal parties now involves dozens of factions and is crossing borders.
Millions of Lives Hanging on a Single Border Crossing
The border escalation directly threatens over one million Sudanese refugees in Chad and millions trapped in Darfur. The Adre border crossing, the primary humanitarian corridor into western Darfur, has been opened and closed repeatedly. Chad’s closures in February and March 2026 have severely disrupted access. The implications are already visible: people on the ground are reporting difficulties obtaining basic necessities, and the prices of goods are increasing exponentially.
International NGOs have warned that the closure is trapping families inside Sudan’s most dangerous zones while cutting the flow of aid into Darfur. In eastern Chad’s refugee camps, according to reports, roughly one in five children arriving from Sudan show signs of acute hunger. The World Food Program managed to bring 30,000 metric tons of food through Adre, but this covers only a tiny fraction of the nearly seven million facing extreme hunger in Darfur.
The SAF has systematically obstructed aid to Darfur and placed barriers ahead of humanitarian workers. As reported by OCHA, only 110 out of 355 visa requests for humanitarian workers were approved in May 2025. The UN’s 2025 appeal was only 27 percent funded, forcing closures of clinics, schools, and protection programs. The 2026 appeal requires $2.9 billion for Sudan alone, with another $2 billion for 4.3 million refugees across seven countries. For millions in Darfur, the Chad corridor is their only link to survival, and it is now under direct military threat.
The Time for Action Is Now
Existing diplomatic frameworks have failed, and expressions of concern, however well-intentioned, do not stop drone strikes, do not feed starving children, do not shield civilians from bullets, and do not cure epidemics. The people of Sudan and the refugees in Chad need coordinated, decisive policy action on three urgent fronts.
First, the African Union, US, United Kingdom and the European Union should coordinate an immediate diplomatic initiative to de-escalate the military confrontation along the Chadian-Sudanese border and to ensure that border remains open for humanitarian operations. The Adre crossing is not a geopolitical bargaining chip; it is the primary corridor through which lifesaving aid reaches millions of people in Darfur. Its closure must be treated with the same urgency that the international community would apply to any blockade threatening mass civilian casualties.
Second, President Trump, you have an additional great opportunity to demonstrate American leadership at a moment when millions of lives depend on it. The recent cuts to humanitarian funding have directly affected the organizations running clinics, feeding children, and protecting civilians in Sudan and Chad. Restoring this support would save lives and reinforce America’s standing with the people of the region. The European Union should likewise increase its contributions to match the scale of this crisis. Without sustained funding, the humanitarian infrastructure that millions depend on will collapse, and what is already a catastrophe will become irreversible.
Third, every international body with a mandate for peace must exert maximum diplomatic pressure on both warring parties in Sudan, their internal allies and foreign backers to enter into negotiations without preconditions. The precedent exists: international engagement helped broker the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between Sudan and South Sudan. That same resolve is needed now, before the window for a political solution close entirely. The people of Sudan cannot wait for a perfect diplomatic moment; they are dying now.
Sudan is already a catastrophe. The international community has the diplomatic tools, the institutional frameworks, and historical precedents to prevent it from becoming far worse. What is lacking is not capacity but political will. That must change, and it must change now.
