(GIN) – In a long-awaited acknowledgement of the worsening crisis in Sudan, the United States has extended its temporary protected status to Sudanese nationals for 18 months– from Oct. 20, 2023 through Apr. 19, 2025.
U.S. Department Homeland Security officials cited “extraordinary and temporary conditions in Sudan that prevent individuals from safely returning to their country.” They also cited an “eruption of violent clashes and the killing of hundreds has triggered political instability, violence, and human rights abuses against civilians.”
Other ongoing issues include food and clean water shortages, intercommunal violence, and internal displacement. Recent fighting has resulted in tens of thousands of persons fleeing from their homes to neighboring cities and countries. These conditions currently prevent Sudanese nationals and habitual residents from safely returning.
“Since the military takeover of its government and the recent violent clashes, Sudan has experienced political instability and ongoing conflict that has resulted in a humanitarian crisis,”  said U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas. “Under this visa extension and redesignation, we will continue to offer safety and protection to Sudanese nationals until conditions in their home country improve.”
The extension allows approximately 1,200 current beneficiaries to stay in the U.S. through April 19, 2025, if they continue to meet TPS eligibility requirements. An estimated 2,750 additional individuals may also now be eligible for TPS. This population includes nationals of Sudan residing in the United States in nonimmigrant status or without lawful immigration status.
Extensive fighting in the area risks returning Darfur to the bloody attacks of the early 2000s when “Janjaweed” militias—from which the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) was formed—and the army crushed a rebellion by mainly non-Arab groups.
Some 300,000 people were killed, the UN estimates, and Sudanese leaders are wanted by the International Criminal Court for genocide and crimes against humanity.
The UN’s special representative to Sudan, Volker Perthes, warned in July that the conflict showed no signs of a quick resolution and risked morphing into an ethnicized civil war.
Diplomatic mediation efforts have so far failed and ceasefires have been used by both sides to regroup.
A release this week from the U.N. read: “Ahead of World Humanitarian Day on August 19, we mourn the loss of our beloved colleagues, call for perpetrators of attacks on aid workers and assistance to be held accountable, and once again remind parties to the conflict that humanitarians and the aid they deliver should never be a target.”
“The deaths of three World Food Program employees are yet another sign that Sudan is being pulled back into one of the grimmest chapters in its history,” said Eddie Rowe, U.N. acting humanitarian coordinator in Sudan. “Not since the height of the Darfur conflict between 2003 and 2006 has Sudan seen so many fatal attacks on aid workers.”
Humanitarian facilities have also been repeatedly attacked, with at least 53 warehouses looted, 87 offices ransacked, and 208 vehicles stolen as of August 13.
