Even so, huge amounts are at stake: Sudan’s Red Sea location is close to the Suez Canal, a major conduit of world trade, already threatened by Houthi attacks. Countries including Russia and Middle Eastern powers are accused of pouring in money and arms.

Sudan has rejected a call by United Nations experts for the deployment of an "independent and impartial force" to protect millions of civilians driven from their homes by more than a year of war. Since April 2023,

A senior United Nations official says more than 16 months of war in Sudan has killed more than 20,000 people, a grim figure amid a devastating conflict that wrecked the northeastern African country

Shelling killed at least 21 people at a market in southeast Sudan Sunday, a day after the country's rulers rejected a call by UN experts for an independent force to protect civilians from the devastating civil war.