Sudan: One Year into a Forgotten War
While global and Turkish media remain focused on the tragedy unfolding in Gaza, the immense suffering endured by the Sudanese people receives little attention.
From Sudan to the Congo to Ethiopia’s Tigray region, the
scale of human tragedy is overwhelming. Yet when it comes to Africa, images of
famine, drought, civil wars, skeletal children, barefoot families walking
endless miles in search of safety, and the hardships of refugee camps no longer
strike the world as “something new.”
Sudan — Africa’s third-largest country — has now been at war
for a full year. And with every passing day, the suffering of its people only
deepens.
What Happened in Sudan?
The war broke out on April 15 between the Sudanese Armed
Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Since then,
nearly 14,000 people have been killed and over seven million forced to flee
their homes. (The true figures are likely much higher, as many deaths go
unrecorded.)
The conflict, concentrated mainly in central and western
Sudan, continues despite international mediation efforts. Schools have shut
down, farmers cannot cultivate their land, food is scarce, health services have
collapsed, and with no medicines or medical supplies, the sick cannot be
treated.
Sudan’s civil war is not new — it is an extension of the
country’s troubled history. Since independence, Sudan has witnessed 35 coups.
The north–south conflict lasted for five decades, and the Darfur war raged for
15 years. In 2003, militias known as the Janjaweed (“devils on horseback”),
supported by then-President Omar al-Bashir, brutally crushed a rebellion in
Darfur, killing thousands.
The conflicts eventually led to South Sudan’s secession in
2011, after a war that killed over two million people and displaced millions
more. By 2013, the Janjaweed were reorganized into the Rapid Support Forces, a
parallel army prepared for future wars.
In 2019, the Sudanese people rose up for freedom, peace, and
democracy, overthrowing Omar al-Bashir’s 30-year dictatorship. But the
Sovereignty Council that followed, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and
his deputy General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemeti), failed to bring stability.
A power struggle soon erupted between the two generals.
Hemeti’s close ties with Russia, financial backing from Gulf states wary of
Burhan, and his vast wealth from Sudan’s gold mines emboldened him to challenge
the Sudanese army head-on. The rivalry spiraled into a devastating war.
Despite efforts by countries including Turkey and various
international organizations to broker peace, Sudan faces a bleak future.
A People Facing Hunger and Disease
More than half of Sudan’s population is in urgent need of
humanitarian aid. As always, women and children bear the heaviest burden.
Over 70% of the country’s health facilities are out of
service, fueling outbreaks of cholera, malaria, measles, and other epidemics.
Malnutrition and untreated illnesses are killing children.
Many who try to escape do not survive the treacherous
journeys. Those who reach neighboring countries like Chad — itself facing dire
economic hardship — struggle to survive in desperate conditions.
International resolve to save Sudan has weakened compared to
the early days of the conflict.
A Brutal Power Struggle
While Palestinians are massacred by Israelis acting on a
Zionist doctrine rooted in religion and race, Sudan suffers a different horror:
people of the same faith and nation slaughtering one another.
This war is not new — it is the culmination of unresolved
conflicts that have long plagued Sudan.
Mohamed Mohjoub Haroon, professor of social sciences at the
University of Khartoum and former director of the Peace Research Institute,
explains that the RSF has fought in Yemen, trafficked people to Europe via
Libya, and even been used by the European Union to patrol Sudan’s northern
borders.
Haroon rejects attempts to frame the war as a conflict
between Arab and African tribes, calling it misleading and reductionist:
“Sudanese people — Arab or African — have lived together for
centuries. Cultures are deeply intertwined. To describe this as an Arab–African
war is absolutely wrong. While the RSF has recruited heavily from certain
tribes, this is not a tribal war.”
In reality, RSF fighters massacre civilians who refuse to
join them, seizing their homes and looting their possessions. Women endure the
worst: subjected to humiliation, rape, abduction, forced servitude, and sexual
violence.
Even in camps for displaced persons, survival is grim. In
Darfur’s vast Zamzam camp, a child dies every two hours from hunger. Since May,
humanitarian aid — the camp’s lifeline — has ceased to arrive.
Across Sudan, internet blackouts are frequent. When the RSF
cuts off communications, massacres often follow.
The world, meanwhile, looks away. During Ramadan, the RSF
even ignored calls for a ceasefire, escalating its campaign of terror. Each
day, more civilians fall into urgent need.
The United Nations has called the conflict “one of the
worst humanitarian nightmares in recent history.” It threatens to trigger
the world’s largest hunger crisis.
If international indifference continues and the warring
factions resist peace, the massacres will reach unimaginable levels. And the
longer the war drags on, the greater the cost and effort required to rebuild
Sudan in its aftermath.
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