While the world recoils in horror from the appalling news that children in Gaza are beginning to starve, it has also been reported that in the often forgotten war in Sudan, the Sudan Doctors network said in late July that 13 children had died of malnutrition-related causes in June in a camp in the Darfur region of Sudan, housing many people who have been displaced due to civil war.
It was further reported that, “the deaths in the Lagawa camp in East Darfur province were the latest tragedy in Sudan, which plunged into chaos in April 2023 when tensions between the military and the notorious paramilitary Rapid Support Forces exploded in the capital, Khartoum, and quickly spread”.
The Sudan Doctors Network is a group of Sudanese medical professionals who work across Sudan, who on reporting the children’s deaths in a statement, went on to note that at Lagawa camp, there is a severe food shortage.
Aid groups and the international community have been urged to “scale up humanitarian assistance to the camp amid increasing rates of malnutrition, especially among children”.
Meanwhile aid groups have requested that more humanitarian assistance is allowed in by the warring sides. This need was emphasised by a report in early August, including statements from witnesses, of a terrible massacre of 1 500 people at the Zamzam refugee camp in April, while Amnesty reported on what it described as destruction and violence in Sudan.
Is Sudan splitting in two?
Meanwhile, it has also been reported that Sudan may now be another step closer to breaking in two, as the war rages on. It was noted that at the end of July, “a Sudanese coalition led by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) announced the establishment of a rival government in Darfur”.
The RSF now holds nearly all of the Darfur region and parts of the south and other armed groups had formed the Sudan Founding Alliance (TASIS) in March. Consequently, the announcement had been long expected. Indeed a few months ago, the alliance had said that it would soon establish a “Government of Peace and Unity” in areas under its control.
What is different now is that the newly formed “Transitional Peace Government” with RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo as president claims to have jurisdiction over all of Sudan. Indeed TASIS said in a statement that it was committed “to build[ing] an inclusive homeland and a new, secular, democratic, decentralized, and voluntarily unified Sudan founded on the principles of freedom, justice, and equality.”
Mohamad Nasreldin and Isra Mohamad
I asked two Newcastle-based Sudanese people, what their thoughts were about the latest developments in their homeland:
Mohamad Nasreldin commented: “Although, Sudan is not officially split, but the formation of a rival government by the RSF and TASIS marks a significant step toward de facto division. The longer the conflict persists without resolution, the more likely it becomes that Sudan could fragment into separate entities, politically, administratively, and territorially”.
Isra Mohamad commented: “I do believe that there’s a possibility Sudan is splitting in two. While there’s a new group “the transitional peace government” the RSF now has full control of Darfur, which would directly lead to the spilt, by RSF having Darfur as a base. This would be detrimental to the people of Sudan.
The mass hunger and famine in Sudan is claiming lives on the daily. It is among the worst humanitarian crisis in the world however, it is yet to receive global attention. Ignoring this has normalised the use of deliberate starvation as a war weapon, which is what is happening in Al-Fashir right now due to aid being completely blocked.”
Comment
There are other heartbreaking conflicts which are getting more media coverage than the civil war in Sudan. However, the world community and indeed us as individuals really shouldn’t forget the suffering in Sudan. It is as real and terrible, and the people need our help and the international community to step up and make a much more concerted effort to facilitate an end to the deadly conflict.
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