1000 Days of Sudan War: Pakistan Eyes $1.5bn SAF Arms Deal, West Rallies for Aid Summits
The war in Sudan marked 1,000 days on Friday, as the country remains gripped by a dual crisis of ravaging military conflict and a dire humanitarian catastrophe.
Against this backdrop, Pakistan is reportedly finalizing a major deal to supply the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) with jets and weapons.
Meanwhile, Germany is planning an international aid conference in coordination with the UK to address the worsening humanitarian situation, while the US announced a donors’ conference.
Pakistan Arms Deal
In a move that could shift the balance of the ongoing conflict, Pakistan is finalizing an arms deal worth of $1.5 billion to supply Sudan’s SAF with weapons and jets, Reuters reported citing a former top air force official and three sources.
The Pakistan-SAF deal involves a squadron of 10 Karakoram-8 light attack jets alongside an arsenal of over 200 surveillance and kamikaze drones, and advanced air defense systems, according to two of the sources.
Moreover, the package includes Super Mushshak training aircraft in addition to some coveted JF-17 fighters developed jointly with China and produced in Pakistan, the retired Pakistani air marshal, Aamir Masood, told Reuters, describing it as a “done deal.”
Military aid from Pakistan, particularly drones and jets, could significantly bolster SAF’s aerial capabilities, helping it to regain its air supremacy against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) which increasingly depends on drones to capture territories.
SAF Gains in Kordofan & Darfur
Sudan’s army announced on Friday that its air units had launched intensive airstrikes on RSF positions in Darfur and Kordofan, as well as on routes leading towards southern Libya.
In a statement, the SAF spokesperson said that these strikes inflicted heavy losses on the RSF, including the destruction of more than 240 combat vehicles and the deaths of hundreds of RSF members.
Moreover, the strikes destroyed several advanced drones, hideouts, and operating stations at Nyala Airport. Additionally, SAF ground forces succeeded in expelling the paramilitary group from large areas in Kordofan and Darfur.
The Kordofan region, with its three states West, North and South, has become a frontline in the nearly three-year war between the SAF and the RSF.
Currently, the SAF controls 13 out of Sudan’s 18 states, consolidating its grip on Sudan’s south, north, east and center, including the capital Khartoum.
On the other hand, the RSF holds all five states of the Darfur region in the west, except for some northern parts of North Darfur that remain under the SAF control.
1,000 Days of War
The war in Sudan reached its 1,000-day-mark on Friday, January 9, 2026. The conflict has killed thousands and displaced around 12 million people amid spreading famine and cholera outbreaks, triggering what the UN called “the world’s largest humanitarian and displacement crisis.”
According to the latest UN data, 9.3 million people are internally displaced and 4.3 million have fled Sudan, pushing neighboring states to a breaking point. Simultaneously, over 21 million people – nearly half the population – face acute hunger, while over 20 million people require health assistance.
Furthermore, many of those displaced returning to the capital, Khartoum, face massive challenges and dangers, including unexploded ordinance, according to UN OCHA spokesperson, Jens Laerke.
He also warned of the fierce fighting in across multiple fronts in Kordofan, amid sieges that have cut off the towns of Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan state, and Dilling, the state’s second largest city, restricting food, healthcare and access to farms and markets.
Meanwhile, fighting is still raging in Darfur, involving ground and drone attacks, alongside long-range strikes on civilian infrastructure.
The OCHA warned of ‘rampant’ sexual abuse in Sudan, with 12 million people – mostly women and girls – vulnerable to gender-based violence.
However, the UN and its partners are struggling under a staggering funding deficit. Despite a request for $4.2 billion last year to address the Sudan crisis, international donors fulfilled just 36% of that goal, hampering life-saving operations.
German-British Aid Summit
The German Foreign Ministry on Friday unveiled plans to host an aid conference to raise emergency relief funds for Sudan next April, coinciding with the anniversary of the war outbreak, reported AFP.
“Today, the world commemorates a sad date: 1,000 days of war in Sudan. Far too many people continue to suffer and die there, victims of hunger, thirst, displacement and rape,” the Ministry’s spokeswoman said.
“The world’s largest humanitarian crisis has already driven millions of civilians into poverty and many tens of thousands to their deaths. Germany is doing everything in its power, both politically and in humanitarian terms, to help the people on the ground and to end the fighting,” she added.
Additionally, the British Foreign Secretary, Yvette Cooper, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the UK will co-host the conference alongside Germany, stressing that her country will leverage its presidency of the UN Security Council (UNSC) to ensure Sudan’s conflict remain a top international priority.
US Donors’ Conference
The US is also planning to host a donors’ conference for Sudan to address the dire humanitarian conditions in the war-torn country.
“On the humanitarian side, we are in the process of organizing a pledging conference which will be held very soon in the coming couple of weeks,” the US Senior Advisor for Arab and African Affairs, Massad Boulos, said on Thursday.
“We are trying to establish a fund and raise some considerable amounts that can be used directly towards the humanitarian crisis that we are seeing today, especially in El-Fasher, but in many other cities besides El-Fasher,” he told Sky News Arabia.
