The scale of the human catastrophe unfolding in Sudan has produced a warning that transcends the immediate humanitarian crisis: a generation of young people, brutalised by war and starved of schooling, is being systematically groomed by extremist groups. Mohamed Kamal, Plan International’s country director for Sudan, put it bluntly from a conference room in Stockholm — thousands of new terrorists and extremists are being forged in the crucible of civil war, and they will reshape the international order. Arjimand Hussain Wani, the organisation’s regional emergency director, added that children who have missed three years of education are entering adulthood at a moment when militant groups effortlessly broadcast their propaganda via social media. This is not abstract speculation; it is the documented consequence of a conflict that has already uprooted more people than any other displacement crisis on the planet.

Viewed from Khartoum and the sprawling camps in neighbouring Chad and South Sudan, the numbers are staggering. Asadullah Nasrallah, spokesman for the UN refugee agency in Sudan, recently told reporters that nearly fourteen million people have been forced to flee their homes — a figure that makes this the world’s largest displacement emergency. The humanitarian response is crippled by funding shortfalls, leaving families without food, healthcare, or basic protection. The same stories emerge from every source: sexual violence, female genital mutilation, famine, and the slow disintegration of social structures. Yet amid the despair, aid workers point to the resilience of Sudanese women, who continue to organise support networks in the most hostile conditions. That resilience, however, is brittle and cannot offset the radicalisation now accelerating in camps and bombed-out neighbourhoods.

Analysts in London and Washington note that the crisis feeds a broader pattern of global rights erosion. Amnesty International’s latest global report, released for 2026, documents how authoritarian practices have intensified worldwide, with Sudan as a particularly acute case. The report begins with Afghanistan under Taliban rule, then moves to Sudan — a deliberate reminder that these two theatres of suffering share a common dynamic: when the international community looks away, extremism flourishes. From Cairo to Nairobi, regional governments are growing alarmed. A lost generation of Sudanese youth, armed with grievances and stripped of alternatives, will not remain contained within the country’s borders.

Forward-looking analysis suggests that the window for intervention is closing. Without a massive increase in humanitarian funding, a credible peace process, and urgent investment in education and psychological support, the children of Sudan’s civil war will become the extremists of tomorrow’s Sahel and Horn of Africa. The warning from Stockholm is not merely a plea for aid — it is a strategic forecast. The seeds of the next global security crisis are being sown in the dust of Sudan’s ruined classrooms.