Sunday 13th October was another busy market day, just south of the capital Khartoum in Sudan. As people went about their business, there was a deadly attack by aircraft from the Sudanese army.
After the aircraft had dropped their bombs, at least 23 civilians attending the market were dead with another 40 injured. Yet the massacre barely caused a ripple in the vast ocean of media in the UK and the rest of the western world. The Sudanese go on suffering in secret.
The world is turning its back on Sudan
Two days earlier, on Friday 11th October, Jonathan Freedland in the Guardian noted that the world was turning its back on the greatest humanitarian disaster taking place across the globe today. As Freedland states, the world can see in plain sight:
“a war that is killing tens of thousands, that has displaced more than 10 million and which is threatening to devour 13 million more through famine – and barely gives it a glance.”
Sudan is facing famine
Indeed, it was reported back in June that US officials had warned, Sudan was facing a famine that could become worse than any the world has seen since Ethiopia 40 years ago. It was noted that, “aid deliveries continue to be blocked by the warring armies but arms supply to both sides continue to flow in.
Furthermore, it was stated that, “Sudan is already the worst humanitarian crisis in the world and is slipping towards a humanitarian disaster of historic proportions, with far less media coverage and global concern.” A UN humanitarian appeal for the country was said to have received only 16% of the funds it needs, by June of this year.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the UN said: “we need the world to wake up to the catastrophe happening before our very eyes”.
Why is there a civil war in Sudan?
In June this year, the BBC said, following a coup in 2021 Sudan was run by a council of generals, with two main men, who began to dispute what should happen next. These men are Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of the armed forces and in effect the country’s president on the one side and his deputy and leader of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who is better known as “Hemedti”. One of the main sticking points was regarding who should control the 100 000 strong Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
According to the BBC, shooting between the two sides began on 15 April 2023 following days of tension as members of the RSF were redeployed around the country in a move that the army saw as a threat. There had been some hope that talks could resolve the situation, but these never happened. It is disputed who fired the first shot, but the fighting swiftly escalated in different parts of the country.”
Situation in April 2024
A year after the war started there was still no end in sight. Indeed, it was reported the two warring parties, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), had continued their deadly struggle for power. It was said “over the past year, violent clashes have killed nearly 16,000 people and displaced millions” and that thousands of desperate people were still fleeing the country daily “as if the emergency had started yesterday”, according to a United Nations reported on 9th April.
“Diplomatic efforts have failed to put an end to the crisis, which experts have said was partially triggered by an internationally backed plan to merge the RSF into the army.”
In terms of numbers this was the situation one year after the war started, Sudan is “facing one of the fastest unfolding crises globally, with unprecedented needs”
- About 25 million people – of whom over 14 million are children – in need of humanitarian assistance and support.
- 17.7 million people – more than one-third of the country’s population – facing acute food insecurity (IPC3+) under a warning of potential famine issued by FEWS NET and underwritten by the Global IPC Group.
- 4.9 million people on the brink of famine.
- More than 8.6 million people – about 16 per cent of the total population of the country – had fled their homes since the conflict started, seeking refuge within Sudan or in neighbouring countries, making Sudan the largest displacement crisis in the world.
Situation Today
What is the situation in Sudan today?
In October 2024, diplomacy failed to find a solution to the crisis. The Sudanese army launched a major offensive to retake Khartoum from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), while the head of the Sudanese army had urged the UN to designate the RSF as a terrorist group. Meanwhile the army had refused to attend talks lead by the US and other countries in Switzerland in August. It was argued that it was important for the international community to back any deal whereby a political settlement could be reached.
In the meantime, the fighting and terrible suffering go on. Indeed, on 11th October the respected medical charity MSF said it had been forced to suspend work in the huge Zamzam camp for displaced people where famine has been confirmed in Sudan’s North Darfur region, putting thousands of malnourished children at risk of death.
MSF was quoted as saying that, “it had to halt activities in Zamzam camp following the obstruction of aid around nearby al-Fashir by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has been besieging the city for months, as well as the Sudanese army’s systematic blocking of aid to areas outside its control”.
A number of wars
The war has grown to be a number of wars, with the two main adversaries (and other groups now involved) both claiming local victories, so making peace possibly even harder to reach, as neither the army or the RSF are coherent and well-disciplined. Adding to the problems, “the war has become several wars, drawing in other armed groups whose alliances with either the army or the RSF are contingent or opportunistic.
“While the army seems to have the upper hand at present, neither they nor the RSF looks likely to win outright. Instead, the two sides keep up a mutual battering with ill-aimed barrages of artillery fire and bombs that destroy markets, wreck hospitals, and each day add to the grim toll of civilian death and misery”. This situation seems to be prolonging the fighting – and the despair.
This despair is tangible on the ground and not only in Sudan, but also in neighbouring Chad. UNHCR, stated the UN refugee agency, that Sudan is the world’s largest hunger crisis, with over half of the country’s population – nearly 26 million people – facing high levels of acute hunger.
Since the start of the conflict in April 2023, 870,000 refugees and returnees have crossed the border from Sudan into Chad, one of the poorest countries in the world. The border crossing in Adre, which had reopened to aid in August, is now facing hundreds of people crossing every day and that, “more than 220,000 people are living in refugee camps in Adre, mostly women and children.”
Conclusion
It is understandable that much of the world’s attention is taken up with the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza. The suffering of innocent people in both places is a daily warning to us all of what can happen when the fires of hatred and war cannot be doused by the water of reason and peace. However, it is surely also equally understandable that there should be more attention on the crisis in Sudan and that despite the difficulties, the international community must take more interest in what is happening there and use what influence they can to bring the war to an end.
We can only hope that the dawn will soon come to the people of Sudan and the dark night of war and famine can be swept away. In the meantime, let us remember the people of Sudan and try and support them …
You can donate to UK for UNHCR – Sudan Appeal.
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