Former NBC correspondent Ann Curry spent a February afternoon in a South Sudan village where twelve displaced women gathered to sew and recount brutal assaults. One survivor described fighters demanding, “Either we rape your girls, or we will kill your wife,” before murdering the family. Their testimonies confirm that sexual violence is being wielded as a weapon by both the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces.

The conflict, now in its fourth year, pits the Sudanese army against the RSF, a paramilitary offshoot of the Janjaweed militias. Backed by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Iran, Russia and the United Arab Emirates, the rivals fight over oil‑ and gold‑rich territories. 13.6 million Sudanese have fled, and the World Food Programme warns that over 40 percent of the population faces acute food insecurity, making it the world’s largest hunger crisis alongside Gaza.

UN agencies are stretched thin: a refugee center built for 3,000 now shelters 9,000, while many families sleep in makeshift shelters. Veteran UNHCR worker Carla Calvo admits the agency lacks funds to act as the last resort. Curry argues that U.S. public pressure once spurred aid for Kosovo and Darfur, suggesting renewed American engagement could revive humanitarian funding and pressure warring factions toward peace.