The United Nations is once again sounding the alarm over escalating violence and a deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Sudan’s North Kordofan region. In a statement, the U.N.'s Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher said intensifying drone attacks are disrupting access to lifesaving drinking water and electricity, with hundreds of thousands of civilians in El Obeid at risk of paramilitaries with the Rapid Support Forces who have surrounded the city. This comes as a new U.N. human rights report documents how widespread sexual violence in Sudan is being used as a weapon of war. Meanwhile, Sudan's Rapid Support Forces have begun circulating new bank notes in territories it controls, as the value of the Sudanese pound continues to plummet. The currency crisis has exacerbated Sudan’s economic woes. This is Elbushari Ali, an economist in Port Sudan.

Elbushari Ali: “The war has pushed Sudan into a severe economic crisis. Factories are closed in large numbers, farms abandoned, and production continues to contract. With shrinking revenues, the government has little choice but to hike taxes, which only compounds the burden on businesses and households. It’s a vicious cycle that feeds on itself.”