For a brief moment, the eyes of the world were on Sudan as civil war swept the nation last April, following the collapse of the fragile power-sharing agreement between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces. Since then, the brutal conflict has vanished from the international agenda as swiftly as it has laid waste to the country.

On April 15, exactly one year after the calm was shattered, a high-level conference on Sudan will be held in Paris. Hosted by France, Germany and the European Union, it offers a vital opportunity to refocus international attention on this forgotten crisis. Global leaders must seize it.

The violence has killed thousands, uprooted millions, and unleashed a humanitarian disaster that threatens to export instability throughout this region of Africa. The implosion of Sudan adds to the insurgencies gripping the neighbouring Sahel countries, potentially scarring the continent with a zone of instability stretching from the Atlantic to the Red Sea.

Harrowing attacks against civilians are the alarming hallmark of this conflict. These include indiscriminate and ethnically motivated killings in Darfur and widespread sexual violence against women and girls. Hunger is also rampant. Together, these factors have sparked the world’s fastest-growing displacement crisis, and the largest displacement of children, at a speed and scale that is astounding.

In less than a year, 8.5 million people have been forced from their homes, and........

© Al Jazeera