The Normalization of Atrocity: The Silent Cry of the Sudanese People

Throughout history, the African continent has witnessed countless wars, massacres, and genocides. While the crimes committed by European colonizers are now learned through books, archives, and documentaries, today’s tragedies in Sudan, Congo, and other African nations unfold before our eyes—streamed live on our screens.

Yet little has changed. The wars raging for years in Sudan and Congo are often reduced to a few superficial news briefs, barely making a dent in our collective conscience. On social media, they appear only briefly, slipping into the “explore” pages of a handful of users. In newspapers, almost no one deems these tragedies “worthy” of attention.

The empathy shown for Gaza gives hope; but how can we explain our silence toward Africa?

Have we become so conditioned to seeing Africa through the images of “hunger, famine, poverty, and endless wars” that every tragedy there now feels “ordinary”?

No African mother gives birth knowing her child will die of hunger; no father accepts seeing his home burned and his family scattered. Every loss in Africa is as devastating and unbearable as it would be for us. The difference is not that African people have grown immune to war and suffering—it’s that we have grown desensitized to their pain.

Sudan’s Carnage: The Slow Death of a Nation

For more than two years, the people of Sudan have been trapped in escalating violence. In recent weeks, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) captured El-Fasher—the most important city in Darfur—deepening an already catastrophic crisis.

Since the war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF began on April 15, 2023, over 100,000 civilians have been killed, and more than 14 million people have been displaced. The country’s education system has collapsed, agriculture has stopped, and 80 percent of the healthcare infrastructure lies in ruins. Hunger, disease, and despair blanket the land.

Sudan’s descent into chaos is no coincidence. Since gaining independence, the country has witnessed 35 coups and decades of internal power struggles and foreign interference.
The North–South wars dragged on for decades, while the Darfur conflict alone has claimed more than 300,000 lives and displaced millions since 2003. During Omar al-Bashir’s regime, the Janjaweed militias carried out a brutal ethnic cleansing campaign against African tribes—a genocide officially recognized by the United Nations.

The secession of South Sudan in 2011 brought no relief. Instead, it deprived Sudan of vital oil revenues and triggered new power rivalries. In 2013, the RSF emerged from the remnants of the Janjaweed militias—planting the seeds of future conflict.

When Bashir was overthrown in 2019, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (known as Hemedti) formed the Sovereign Council. Their fragile alliance quickly collapsed, plunging Sudan into a new inferno. Hemedti’s immense wealth from gold mining, his ties with Russia, and support from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) gave him the strength to challenge the national army.

Today’s war is not merely between two generals; it is a war of gold, land, and power—fueled by global greed.

El-Fasher: The Heart of Darfur, the Shame of Humanity

El-Fasher has been under siege for 18 months. The city’s infrastructure is destroyed, hospitals have been flattened, and clean water has run out.

According to the United Nations, more than 6,000 children face life-threatening malnutrition. With farmlands burned, people survive by eating animal feed.

After the army’s “strategic withdrawal,” El-Fasher effectively fell to the RSF. All five state capitals in Darfur are now under RSF control, marking a dangerous step toward Sudan’s potential partition.

RSF fighters chant “Kill the Nuba!” as they massacre fleeing civilians in the name of the same God whose name they invoke in prayer. In Gaza or East Turkestan, the enemy is clear; in Sudan, the killers and the victims share the same faith.

This is not just a civil war—it is ethnic cleansing.

Whose War, Whose Interests?

The RSF’s main arms supplier is the United Arab Emirates, which denies all allegations despite mounting evidence.
UN reports show that many of the weapons used by RSF militias are British-made, smuggled into Sudan through the UAE.

A hidden alliance between the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Israel has turned Sudan’s tragedy into a theater of regional ambition.
From bases in Libya and Chad, the UAE provides arms and logistics to the RSF in exchange for illicit access to gold from RSF-controlled mines. The Emirati goal is clear: to dominate Sudan’s resources, ports, and the Red Sea trade routes—replacing revolutionary Sudanese forces with client militias.

The same UAE also backs Rwanda’s M23 rebels to extract Congo’s rare minerals and funnel them to Europe.

Amnesty International recently confirmed that Chinese-made precision bombs were delivered to the RSF through the UAE—an open violation of the UN arms embargo.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Wagner mercenaries are fighting alongside RSF units, drawn by direct links to Sudan’s gold mines.

In short, Sudan’s war is a proxy war—funded by Emirati money, armed with British and Chinese weapons, and manned by Russian mercenaries. The blood of Sudan’s people is the common currency of this unholy alliance.

Why Sudan?

Sudan is Africa’s third-largest country, blessed with fertile lands, abundant water, and vast mineral wealth. Its strategic location—where the White and Blue Nile meet—makes it a key player in Nile Basin politics.

The country is the third-largest gold producer in Africa, and gold remains its top export and the main financial fuel for warring factions. Though most oil reserves lie in South Sudan, Sudan still earns revenue from the pipelines carrying that oil to the sea—pipelines now at constant risk of attack.

Contrary to the arid image of Africa often shown in Western media, Sudan’s fertile farmlands could make it one of the world’s great breadbaskets.
It also produces 70% of the world’s gum arabic, an essential ingredient in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, paints, and even candies—making it a critical supplier for France’s luxury industry.

The Price Women Pay

Reports from Amnesty International and UNICEF reveal widespread sexual violence by RSF fighters.
Amnesty has documented cases of rape, gang rape, and sexual slavery—crimes that meet the legal threshold of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

UNICEF has recorded 221 child rape cases since early 2024—16 victims under the age of five, four of them infants.

Rape is being used as a weapon of war. Survivors face stigma, suicide risk, lack of medical care, and no access to safe shelters. Sudanese women and girls are paying the highest price of this endless war.

Who Will Save Sudan?

Recently, the “International Quartet”—the United States, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Egypt—announced a new initiative to end the conflict. Yet this plan appears to legitimize RSF control over Darfur, prioritizing geopolitical and economic interests over justice for Sudan’s people.

It is not a peace plan—it is a new agreement to divide Sudan’s wealth and power.

The Price of Silence

What is happening in Sudan is not just Africa’s tragedy—it is humanity’s.
Across Africa’s fertile lands, innocent people are being slaughtered in wars waged for gold, oil, and influence, while the world watches in silence.

Perhaps the greatest crime of our time is this silence—the indifference that allows every new atrocity to feel “normal.”

Because when our consciences grow numb, we become accomplices to the horrors we refuse to see.

Originally published in Independent Türkçe on October 30, 2025