'Full-blown Sudan civil war can be worse than Syria, Yemen and Libya'

The conflict in Sudan could deteriorate into one of the worst civil wars in the world if not stopped early, the North African nation's former Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said. "God forbid if Sudan is to reach a point of civil war," he said in a conversation with philanthropist Mo Ibrahim Saturday at an event in Nairobi. The conflicts in Syria, Yemen, Libya would seem small by comparison, Hamdok said.

Sudan is a huge, diverse country with various ethnic and religious groups, and a full-scale war "would be a nightmare for the world," he said. Hamdok spoke as fighting in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, continued despite cease-fire pledges from both the army led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the rival Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group, under Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. The ex-prime minister has largely kept a low profile since he quit in January 2022.