Let us not forget the human face of Sudan conflict
ON APRIL 15, 2023, the lives of millions of people in Sudan were ripped apart. In the usually peaceful capital city of Khartoum, as families celebrated the final days of Ramadaan, fierce street battles broke out between two former allies – the Sudan Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. Bodies piled high in the streets, markets and hospitals burned, and indiscriminate shelling tore through heavily populated neighbourhoods.
As bullets whizzed around their small house on the edge of Khartoum, 23-year-old Gesma scooped up her two young children and ran for their lives. Hitching a lift from a passing car, they joined a stream of terrified people fleeing the city.
Gesma’s husband was at work in the market, and she hoped to reunite with him somewhere safer. But she never heard from him again. To this day she doesn’t know if he’s still alive.
A year later, the war has spread and a tornado of chaos, bloodshed and starvation has engulfed the country. There is a growing risk that Sudan could soon collapse as a functioning state, with enormous regional and global impact.
The war has created the world’s largest internal displacement crisis – an astounding 13% of all internally displaced people worldwide are Sudanese. Gesma and her children are among 8.4 million people – including 2 million children under 5 – who have been forced from their homes.
Gesma was heavily pregnant when she fled Khartoum, and a few months later gave birth to twins in a sprawling camp in eastern Sudan. She named them Watan (meaning ‘home’) and Salaam (meaning ‘peace’) – two things millions of people in Sudan long for.
Every corner of this vast country is affected. Much of the capital is now a ghost town. Airstrikes, shelling and heavy fighting have turned whole neighbourhoods into rubble and destroyed infrastructure and public services. In Darfur, villages have been burnt to the ground, women and girls raped, and ethnic minorities targeted.
Homeless orphaned children now beg in the streets, while others are given a gun and forced to fight. In Kordofan, fighting rages and people report regular intimidation and abductions. In Al Jazirah, a previously peaceful breadbasket region, intense fighting rocked the biggest city, forcing people to flee further east, with farmers abandoning crops in their fields and families sleeping along the roadside.
A mass famine is imminent, with children now starving to death. Every day, another 30 000 people fall into crisis levels of food insecurity. Farmers cannot safely access their fields and this year’s harvests are projected to be among the worst ever. The economy is collapsing at a staggering rate.
Throughout the war, hospitals and health facilities have been bombed, looted, and overrun by armed groups. Today, three quarters of hospitals are no longer operating, and two in three people don’t have access to health care, as diseases spread. Almost half the entire population – 24.8 million people – now need humanitarian assistance.
Officially, almost 15 000 people have been killed – but many fear the real death toll is far higher, with mass graves continuing to be uncovered. A UN report estimates between 10 000 and 15 000 people were massacred in attacks in the city of El Geneina alone.
The violence recalls the atrocities in Darfur 20 years ago, when entire villages were wiped out in what governments such as the USA declared to be the first genocide of the 21st century. In 2004, the Darfur crisis became the most prominent in the world – global leaders convened summits, celebrities led huge public rallies, and witness reports made TV headlines and front pages. In comparison, today’s crisis is being forgotten or ignored.
This lack of attention has deadly consequences. The UN-led 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan for Sudan has received just 5% of the $2.7 billion (R59bn) it needs. The 2023 appeal ended up less than half funded.
Yet, when humanitarian agencies have funding and safe access, aid is saving lives. Islamic Relief has helped more than 600 000 people over the past year. Sudanese community groups are also playing a leading role in the response, distributing food and sheltering displaced families.
In 2024 Islamic Relief marked its 40th anniversary of serving humanity.
To give support visit: www.islamic-relief.org.za/sudan-emergency.