A 20-month civil war has plummeted Sudan into a devastating humanitarian crisis with widespread violence, starvation, and displacement, but its people persist with hope, urging international action for peace and aid.
When speaking to aid workers about Sudan’s ongoing war and crisis, there seems to be a question, which is often asked, but nobody really ever responds. It’s a pressing issue that no person can justify: Why do we prioritise some conflicts over others? Why do some conflicts rage on the sidelines, while our gaze turns elsewhere?
While we recognise the varying, morally despicable, economic gains triggered by warfare and the arms trade, we should not stand mute before the suffering endured by the people. Our silence is inexcusable.
All eyes on Sudan
If all lives are equal, why is more not being done to protect the lives of the people in Sudan? When we read that since the war erupted in April 2023 over 61,000 people have been killed in the Northeast African country and 12 million more are displaced, it is difficult to understand why this news is not making the headlines. Added to this, according to the United Nations, twenty-six million Sudanese are facing acute hunger – a staggering number that speaks of the world’s worst hunger crisis.
War has spread throughout the nation, but 20 months into the conflict between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces, observers have expressed particular concern for the people of Sudan’s western Darfur State, where aerial bombardments and shelling in civilian locations have increased. According to Telley Sadia, head of CAFOD in Sudan, “It’s a complex situation,” and civilians are bearing the brunt of this relentless conflict.
Sadia, along with the Caritas branch of the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD) in Sudan, is one of the voices adding volume to the cry of the Sudanese. In an interview with Vatican News, he recounts the horror of the incessant fighting: “The fighting has continued without stopping,” causing widespread displacement, with countless lives upended.
Sadia notes that all attempts at brokering peace have failed. He recalls early talks being mediated by the United States and Saudi Arabia, and later Egypt, but without success. “For over a year now,” he says, “there have been no negotiations. There might be a break of some days, hours, or even a week, but then fighting resumes. Every time it resumes, lives are lost, properties are destroyed, and infrastructure is ruined. It’s a cycle of fighting, displacement, hunger, and suffering.”
The human toll
Just as the figures lead us to imagine, the human toll truly is staggering, with women and children bearing the worst of it. “Children have lost the most in this crisis. They’ve lost their parents, education, and future. They are traumatised by the violence,” says Sadia, adding that, unsurprisingly, some have been swept up into an even more vicious cycle of violence as they are reunited to join the fighting. “Anything is to be expected in situations like this”, he warns.
The crisis has also unleashed a ferocious wave of aggression on the women, who, separated from their families and struggling to provide for their children, often fall victim to gender-based and conflict-related sexual violence. “Sudan’s cultural norms make it difficult for victims to come forward,” warns Sadia, describing the stigma surrounding such attacks. However, he says some women are coming forward and reporting these cases to us and organisations on the ground can provide psychosocial support to help traumatised survivors undertake a healing process.
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