For the past three years, Sudan’s war has killed more than 150,000 people. It’s pushed 33 million into need of humanitarian assistance and plunged parts of the country into famine. But even as the human toll has mounted, the conflict has created a web of winners: foreign and domestic players profiting from violence.
That dynamic sits at the center of the International Rescue Committee’s annual emergency watchlist, which identifies the 20 countries at greatest risk of worsening humanitarian crises in the year ahead. For the third year in a row, Sudan topped the list — a reflection of not just the scale of suffering, but the complications of a profit-powered war.
“Profit from conflict is being legitimized and normalized. Sudan is a case study, as gold and natural resources fuel the conflict,” said David Miliband, IRC’s president and CEO, at the Washington, D.C.-based Council on Foreign Relations on Tuesday. “The new economics of war are a feature of the watchlist this year — probably for the first time.”
About the author
Elissa Miolene
Elissa Miolene reports on USAID and the U.S. government at Devex. She previously covered education at The San Jose Mercury News, and has written for outlets like The Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, Washingtonian magazine, among others. Before shifting to journalism, Elissa led communications for humanitarian agencies in the United States, East Africa, and South Asia.
