Start talking about Sudan

“Pray for us, so this stupid war will end.” “This war” has been raging in Sudan for over a year now. These are the first words my friend Adell replies to a worried WhatsApp message I sent him a few days earlier. Adell Mutasim, whom I met on a trip through Sudan in February 2023, lives in Wad Madani. It is a town in al-Jazira state, about 150 kilometers east of Khartoum, the Sudanese capital. Before his WhatsApp message reached me, Adell hadn’t been online for several days. At the moment electricity is scarce in Sudan, the internet is frequently down, and the health and security infrastructure is virtually non-existent. Before the war, Adell worked in a cigarette factory, which was forced to close due to the lack of security, like most businesses in Wad Madani. When the war broke out in Khartoum in April 2023, al-Jazira state was initially spared by the militias. As a result, many people from the capital moved there. But in December 2024, the armed conflict also reached Wad Madani and Adell’s home. Today, there is no safe place in Sudan anymore.

At the root of the current conflict is a power struggle between the leader of the paramilitary rebel group “Rapid Support Forces” (RSF) Mohamed Hamdan Dagaol (commonly known as Hemedti) and Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the leader of the Sudanese army, who has been the head of a transitional government since the military coup in 2019. In April 2023, the situation escalated and an armed conflict between the two groups erupted in Khartoum, leading to a brutal civil war encompassing the entire country. According to the United Nations, around 13,000 people have died so far, although the number of unreported cases is assumed to be many times higher. More than half of the country’s 47 million citizens are in dire need of medical support, food, and housing. Today, 18 million Sudanese are suffering from hunger and there is an acute risk of a country-wide famine. Nearly 10 million people have been forced to flee their homes due to the precarious situation – the largest number of people displaced by armed conflict in present times.
Sudan has been internally unstable since the end of British colonial rule in 1956. The country is home to more than 500 ethnic groups, some of which have historically been in conflict with each other. Particularly in the West Darfur region, African ethnic groups such as the Masalit have been systematically discriminated against and murdered by Arab ethnic groups since the 1980s. Today, the RSF is involved in targeted killings of the Masalit. According to international observers, the situation in West Darfur has worsened in recent months to such an extent that it is considered a genocide.

The Sudanese activist Hamadelnil Saifeldin, who campaigns for the rights of Sudanese refugees in the Netherlands, explains: “It is important to understand that this is not just another civil war in an African country”. He points out that the war in Sudan is closely linked to Western forces. Sudan is a country rich in raw materials: not only gummi arabicum, but also gold is exported all over the world and it is unsurprising that it attracts the interest of international powers. To end the war, Saifeldin believes it is necessary to both address internal conflicts and critically question foreign involvement. It is also crucial to think and talk about the civilians in Sudan, who are the main victims of this conflict. By telling their stories, the incredible horror that Sudan is presently going through becomes tangible. Let’s listen to one of those stories. My friend Adell writes:

Since the outbreak of war in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, on April 15, 2023, many believed it would be a brief conflict. While Sudan has a history of conflict, previous wars were typically confined to the western and southern peripheries of the country over the past 60 years. Even past uprisings during the Turkish occupation began in the west. The current conflict, initiated by the RSF seeking to advance the ambitions of their leader, whom they refer to as “the Emir,” has now ravaged the nation for 15 months. This war has unleashed atrocities that are beyond description.

This war has unleashed
atrocities that are
beyond description

As a resident of Al-Jazira, Sudan’s second most populous state, I have witnessed the horrors firsthand since the RSF extended their reach to our region on December 17. The situation in Al-Jazira has deteriorated dramatically. The RSF’s occupation has led to a complete breakdown of essential services – electricity, water, healthcare, communications, and security are virtually non-existent. Prices of basic food items have skyrocketed, with the cost of bread flour increasing tenfold. Chronic disease patients, including those with kidney issues and cancer, are dying due to the total lack of medication. All economic activities have come to a halt, leaving everyone unemployed and struggling to meet their basic needs.

From their first days in the state, the RSF systematically looted all private and public vehicles, including ambulances. They then turned to robbing citizens of their money, gold, and valuables. Any resistance was met with cold-blooded violence, including entire villages being displaced and those who resisted being killed. One village remains under siege for the third consecutive day. Reports of rape as a weapon of terror have surfaced, used to intimidate and subjugate those who defy their demands. Although I have not witnessed these incidents personally, others I know have.

Basic services have collapsed; electricity has been out for seven days, and communications have been cut since February 7. Safety is a luxury we no longer have, as RSF forces break into homes, steal anything of value, and sometimes kidnap family members for ransom. Conditions in RSF detention centers are horrific. Recently, a young man from our neighborhood was released, emaciated and covered in bruises. He recounted the hellish conditions inside: detainees are given a single meal that may not come for days, and water is rationed to half a cup daily. The RSF’s looting of agricultural produce, including wheat and onions, poses a severe threat to both local and national food security. In summary, the people are enduring unimaginable suffering, facing insecurity, disease, and deprivation on a massive scale.