On the Record On Sudan’s Humanitarian Emergency
Feb 6, 2026
Cameron Hudson, former U.S. official versed in African mediation; Kholood Khair, regional analyst on Sudanese conflict dynamics; Declan Walsh, NYT Africa correspondent reporting from the front lines. They discuss the war’s humanitarian scale, shifting battle lines and drone use, regional spoilers and cross-border arms flows, limits of international mediation and sanctions, and collapsing aid pipelines.
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El Fasher's Fall Changed The War
- The fall of El Fasher marked a major turning point that exposed widespread atrocities and drew rare international attention.
- Declan Walsh warns the city's capture intensified territorial control by the RSF and precipitated large-scale civilian suffering.
Reporting From Khartoum During A Pivotal Push
- Declan Walsh recounts being in Khartoum as the military pushed out the RSF, witnessing optimism that quickly evaporated.
- He describes moving through neighborhoods and hearing civilians' accounts of detention, torture, and killing under RSF control.
Drones Are Reordering The Battlefield
- Drones have reshaped Sudan's battlefield, enabling long-range strikes and altering the order of battle.
- Declan Walsh links drone use to foreign backers supplying Turkey-made drones to the SAF and China-made systems to the RSF.