Amira Hassan is Horn Updates' Editor covering Sudan and South Sudan. A journalist and analyst with field experience in both Khartoum and Juba, she has spent the better part of a decade tracking the political, security, and humanitarian dimensions of two of the world's most complex crises.
Her work on Sudan spans the period from the fall of Omar al-Bashir in 2019 through the short-lived civilian transition, the October 2021 military coup, and the outbreak of full-scale war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces in April 2023. She has written extensively on the humanitarian consequences of that conflict, including the displacement of over 10 million people and the collapse of the country's medical infrastructure.
On South Sudan, her focus is the implementation, and frequent non-implementation, of the 2018 Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan, the country's elections question, and the intersection of oil politics and elite violence. She joined Horn Updates because it offered a platform for the kind of sustained, analytical attention that Sudan and South Sudan rarely receive in international media.
The SAF-RSF war and its humanitarian dimensions; Sudan's political transition and the civilian movement; South Sudan's peace process and elections question; resource conflict and gold mining violence; cross-border dynamics between Sudan, Chad, and the Central African Republic; famine and displacement in the Sudanese conflict zone.
Sudan in 2026: The War That the World Stopped Watching
Opinion · April 17, 2026 · ~2,400 words
The SAF-RSF war has entered its third year. El Fasher is under siege. Famine has been declared. Over 11 million people are internally displaced. Amira Hassan on why the world's largest displacement crisis is receiving almost no adequate international response.
The UAE's War in Sudan: Gold, the RSF, and the Silence of Its Partners
Opinion · April 2026 · ~2,000 words
The UAE has been documented arming and financing the RSF while co-hosting peace talks. Amira Hassan traces the gold networks, the strategic logic, and why Western governments with leverage over Abu Dhabi have chosen not to use it.
Three Years of War: How Sudan Became the World's Most Forgotten Crisis
Opinion · April 2026 · ~2,000 words
Sudan's war between the SAF and RSF turns three in April 2026. Eleven million displaced, 25 million facing famine, and a peace process that does not exist. Amira Hassan on why the world is not paying attention and what year three looks like on the ground.
South Sudan's Peace Agreement Is Fraying: What Happens When It Breaks
Opinion · April 2026 · ~2,000 words
The 2018 Revitalized Agreement was always built on mutual tolerance rather than mutual interest. In 2026, with elections delayed three times, Machar constrained, and oil revenue under pressure from Sudan's war, the foundations are thinner than they have ever been. Amira Hassan on what a second collapse would look like.
Sudan Humanitarian Crisis 2026: The World's Largest Displacement Crisis, Explained
Opinion · April 2026 · ~1,900 words
Sudan's civil war has displaced over 11 million people and produced famine in Darfur. Amira Hassan analyses why the Sudan humanitarian crisis remains invisible to much of the world, who is responsible, and what it would take to change course.
Blood Over Gold: How Resource Conflicts Are Quietly Killing Thousands Across the Horn
Opinion · April 2026 · ~1,800 words
A gold mine attack near Juba killed more than 70 people. It barely registered internationally. Horn Updates analyses the deadly pattern of tribal and resource-linked violence, including gold, cattle, and land, spreading across South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia, and beyond, and why it keeps happening.
Sudan's Civil War: Why Two Years of Fighting Have Produced No Winner
Opinion · March 2026 · ~900 words
Both the SAF and RSF believe military victory is still achievable; but the war has become a grinding stalemate that has displaced over 10 million people and destroyed Sudan's major cities. We analyse why talks keep failing and what a realistic path out might look like.
