Declan Walsh

A country torn apart by civil war could soon face one of the world’s worst famines in decades, experts said.

The United Arab Emirates is expanding a covert campaign to back a winner in Sudan’s civil war. Waving the banner of the Red Crescent, it is also smuggling weapons and deploying drones.

American-led mediators secured famine relief for needy areas. But with Sudan’s military failing to attend, a cease-fire was far out of reach.

How an unexpected conflict is crushing Africa’s third-largest country.

The American-backed talks in Switzerland, which started on Wednesday, aim to halt a catastrophic civil war. But only one side has turned up.

Fighting between the military and a powerful paramilitary group has led to massacres, caused millions to flee their homes and now threatens to cause a famine.

At least five people were killed in clashes with the police that erupted after lawmakers approved tax increases that critics said would drive up the cost of living for millions.

Declan Walsh, the chief Africa correspondent for The Times, reported from a country where few journalists have gained entry amid a civil war.

Videos showed paramilitaries opening fire on the village in what had been Sudan’s breadbasket region, causing the latest mass civilian casualties in a brutal yearlong war.

A year of fighting has turned the once proud capital, Khartoum, into a charred battleground. Millions have fled. Now a famine threatens in one of Africa’s biggest countries.