Sudan’s Forgotten War: SSAW’s Humanitarian Campaign Reaches Port Sudan
A silent war with devastating consequences
Since April 2023, Sudan has been engulfed in a devastating war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The conflict erupted after the collapse of Sudan’s political transition following the removal of longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir and has since spread across large parts of the country, from Khartoum to Darfur and other regions.
More than three years into the conflict, Sudan remains at the centre of one of the world’s largest humanitarian emergencies. Millions of people have been forced from their homes, healthcare and education systems have been severely disrupted, and food insecurity continues to affect communities across the country.
Behind these figures are millions of people struggling every day to find food, medicine, shelter and safety.
Yet despite the scale of the catastrophe, Sudan remains one of the world’s most neglected humanitarian crises.
SSAW’s humanitarian campaign
In response to this forgotten emergency, SSAW — Support Survivors of African War — launched a humanitarian campaign to collect and deliver essential supplies to Sudanese refugees and internally displaced people.
SSAW’s work is characterised by a decolonial and agroecological approach, combining humanitarian assistance with a commitment to community resilience and local participation.
The project focuses on providing healthcare, psychological support, education and housing assistance to people affected by war and displacement.
Care, justice and collective resistance are the principles at the heart of the initiative.
During the first phase of the campaign, volunteers, donors and partner organisations worked together to fill a humanitarian container with essential goods, including:
- medicines and medical supplies;
- long-life food;
- products for babies and young children;
- school and educational materials.
In addition to collecting material donations, the campaign also raised funds to purchase essential goods directly in local markets. This approach allows humanitarian assistance to respond to immediate needs while also contributing to the economies of communities affected by the conflict.
From Turin to Port Sudan
The humanitarian operation required a complex international logistics network.
The container departed from Turin and was transported to the port of Genoa, from where it travelled by sea through the Mediterranean, the Suez Canal and the Red Sea.
After its maritime journey, the container arrived safely at Port Sudan on 2 July 2025.
This arrival represents an important milestone for the SSAW campaign: the supplies collected through the solidarity of donors, volunteers and partner organisations have now reached Sudan and entered the next phase of the humanitarian operation.
The journey, however, does not end at the port.
The next stage: bringing aid closer to communities in need
From Port Sudan, SSAW and its local partners are working to organise the onward transportation and distribution of the humanitarian supplies towards communities affected by the conflict.
The original objective of the operation has been to reach Darfur, where large numbers of displaced people and refugees continue to face extremely difficult humanitarian conditions.
The overland journey presents significant logistical and security challenges. Routes can change rapidly because of the conflict, road conditions, checkpoints and restrictions on humanitarian access.
For this reason, the distribution phase requires continuous coordination with local partners and close monitoring of the situation on the ground.
The arrival of the container in Port Sudan is therefore not the conclusion of the humanitarian mission, but a crucial step in bringing the collected assistance closer to the people for whom it was intended.
A humanitarian operation built on cooperation
The success of the first stage of the campaign was made possible by the cooperation of organisations, volunteers, donors and community groups in Italy and Sudan.
The initiative received support from:
- Fondazione Banco Farmaceutico ETS
- Mediterranea Saving Humans
- Global Aid Connection (GAC)– Turin
- Blue Sky Volunteer Organisation – Sudan
- Renaissance Sudan For Development Organisation
- PRC Milano – Partito della Rifondazione Comunista
- Caritas Parrocchiale di Lodi
- Città Migrante
- Caritas Lodigiana
- Fondazione di Partecipazione Casa della Comunità ETS – Lodi
- Fondazione Don Gnocchi
- Pastorale dei Migranti – Arcidiocesi di Torino
- Pre-Texts in Emergency
- Arcipelago Cuneo
- Friends of Sudan Culture & Environment
This network demonstrates what can be achieved when humanitarian organisations and civil society groups work together across borders.
SSAW on the ground
SSAW activists Sara Uboldi, Yagoub Mohammed Abdelshafe Khar and Ibrahim Badawi travelled to Sudan at their own expense to follow the humanitarian operation and supervise the shipment and distribution of the container.
Their presence on the ground is intended to strengthen coordination with local partners and ensure that the aid reaches the communities for whom it was collected.
During their mission, SSAW also renewed its appeal to the United Nations for the establishment of a permanent contact group capable of facilitating safe and sustained humanitarian access to Sudan.
For SSAW, humanitarian assistance cannot be separated from the question of access. Aid must be able to reach affected communities safely, consistently and without being blocked by the changing dynamics of the conflict.
The journey continues
The arrival of the container in Port Sudan on 2 July 2026 marks the completion of an important stage of the campaign — but not the end of the work.
The real purpose of the initiative is to ensure that the medicines, food, children’s supplies and educational materials collected through months of solidarity reach people who urgently need them.
Every contribution made to the campaign has therefore travelled a long way: from donors and volunteers, to the collection points, to the container, across the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, and finally into Sudan.
Now the focus is on the final stage: getting that assistance from Port Sudan to the communities affected by war and displacement.
Sudan must not be forgotten
Sudan’s humanitarian crisis continues even when international attention moves elsewhere.
Millions of Sudanese people have been displaced, families have been separated, communities have been destroyed and access to basic necessities remains extremely difficult.
The SSAW campaign is an attempt to turn solidarity into something concrete.
A box of medicines.
A package of food.
School materials for a displaced child.
Essential supplies for a family forced from its home.
Each item represents a small but tangible response to a crisis of enormous proportions.
The container has reached Port Sudan.
The humanitarian journey continues.
Sudan must not become a forgotten war.
Care. Justice. Collective resistance.