Top Africa Stories of the Year 2025

Dear friends of This Week in Africa:

Another year! Check out our previous years-in-review here: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. We can’t believe it’s been a decade!

Here are our top stories of the year 2025:

1. Sudan’s civil war goes on

Two years on, Sudan’s civil war has created the largest displacement crisis in the world. The country faces erasure, again. A millennia of history has vanished in the war. The war fuels a new regional conflict economy, and the conflict has become a world war. Mai Hassan and Ahmed Kodouda discuss Sudan’s protracted war on this podcast. Khalid Mustafa Medani provides this helpful primer on the war. Eiad Husham outlines the current political actors and institutions worth paying attention to. Eisa Dafallah argues that foreign interests now drive local dynamics, while Rahiem Shadad outlines the issues of identity that are at stake in the war.

The Gulf States’ proxy war continues to destabilize the country. This report details the RSF’s business networks in the UAE. This is why Middle Eastern monarchies involve themselves in the conflict. Outside forces contribute to the unraveling of Sudan. The Crisis Group offers its reflections on how to end Sudan’s atrocious war.

Pro-democracy groups have been instrumental in providing aid during the war in Sudan, as this community kitchen demonstrates. Lovise Aalen and Mai Azzam discuss the role of civil society organizations who are helping save lives. Michelle D’Arcy argues that there is a united civilian front that is fighting to end the war in Sudan, represented by coalitions like Somoud. Mark Leon Goldberg argues that Sudan’s Emergency Response Rooms should win the Nobel Peace Prize. Somoud and other pro-democracy forces should be at the negotiating table during peace negotiations.

2. The siege of El Fasher and mass atrocities in Darfur

Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces now control the city of el-Fasher in Darfur. The seizure of the city divides the country. The World Health Organization accused the group of killing 460 people at el-Fasher hospital in a particularly brazen attack. Satellite imagery shows mass burials in the city. This report documents killings, kidnappings, and detentions following the RSF takeover of El Fasher. The world has failed. Mo Ibrahim says the world ignores the conflict because of ...