Sudan

UN Security Council ends political mission in Sudan
DW | 1 Dec 2023

The UN put an end to its political mission in Sudan as demanded by the Khartoum government. Sudan has seen months of conflict between two rival generals.

...UNITAMS was put in place in 2020 to help support a democratic transition in Sudan following the fall of the previous year of autocrat Omar al-Bashir. But in October 2021, army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan assumed power in a coup.

On April 15, 2023, before a deal on resuming the transition to democracy could be signed, fighting erupted between the Sudanese army led by Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

The conflict has forced more than 6 million people to flee, either to safer areas inside Sudan or to neighboring countries.

Later, Burhan blamed UNITAMS chief Volker Perthes for the violence, and demanded his removal. Perthes stepped down in September, with no replacement.

The government in Khartoum demanded the withdrawal of the UN mission saying it had been "disappointing. Since the UN needs the host nation's approval to operate, it had no choice but to end the mission.

https://www.dw.com/en/un-security-council-ends-political-mission-in-sudan/a-6761...

Statement attributable to the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General – on Sudan (UN)

The Secretary-General takes note of resolution 2715 (2023), by which the Security Council decided to terminate the mandate of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS) as of 3 December, following a request from the Sudanese authorities. In the wake of the termination of the mandate of UNITAMS, the United Nations country team will continue its essential work in the Sudan, including providing lifesaving humanitarian assistance.

The Secretary-General remains deeply concerned about the escalating conflict in the Sudan and its devastating impact on civilians and will continue to engage with all Sudanese stakeholders in support of the aspirations of the Sudanese people for a peaceful and secure future. He reiterates his call to the warring parties to reach an agreement on an immediate ceasefire and engage in discussions to achieve a permanent cessation of hostilities.

The Secretary-General’s recently appointed Personal Envoy for the Sudan, Ramtane Lamamra, will support ongoing peace efforts, in close coordination and cooperation with the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).

The Secretary-General reiterates his deep appreciation to all UNITAMS personnel for their service to the people of the Sudan, and for their resilience, including in the aftermath of the outbreak of conflict earlier this year.

The Secretary-General thanks all partners who contributed to the implementation of UNITAMS’ mandate, including the African Union and IGAD, as well as Member States that extended their critical support.

>1 margd:

Thanks for starting this thread on Sudan. As noted elsewhere, it is a horrendous conflict which has been marginalised in the international arena by the Ukraine-Russia and Israel-Palestine conflicts. As you probably know, I have lived, worked and/or specialised in Sudan for over forty years (although I'm now retired and continue to follow the situation whilst living elsewhere in the region), and I probably read a dozen articles and reports on Sudan every day, but I have hesitated to start a thread on LT as I didn't know whether there would be any interest. But here is my opportunity to post, in no particular order, a few recent ones which I think go beyond the superficial.

Sudan: New Mass Ethnic Killings, Pillage in Darfur (Human Rights Watch)

Prelude to a Coup: Revolution and counterrevolution in Sudan (n+1)

The Angel’s Dilemma: Politics of Humanitarianism (The Baffler)

The war in Sudan is a consequence of a derailed transition (Al Jazeera)

Sudanese civil forces agree to form leadership body headed by Hamdok (Sudan Tribune)

How mutual aid in Sudan is getting international support (The New Humanitarian)

Gender Alert: Alarming accounts of kidnapping and sexual slavery of underage girls in Greater Khartoum (Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa)

You may notice that not one of these is from the mainstream western media!

So, in addition to its own leadership, Sudan failed by
1. Mainstream media priorities.
2. Shortcomings of multilateral agencies such as UN.

>3 John5918: Thanks, John. I will try to take a look when I can.

>4 margd:

I would say that your #1 is simply an observation rather than a cause of Sudan's conflicts. #2 is certainly partially true. But that's not to downplay the agency of internal Sudanese actors in the current conflict.

Climate or weather?
(A drought in Syria was said to contribute to original uprising by bringing jobless young men to cities.)

Caritas Serving in Africa’s “forgotten crises” as Bigger Aid Follows the Media (ACI Africa)

The more a crisis is highlighted by the media, the more likely it is to attract global aid, a Caritas official has said, noting that the humanitarian arm of the Church has distinguished itself for remaining committed to supporting those suffering in some of Africa’s crises that are not receiving a lot of press coverage. Karam Abi Yazbeck, the Regional Coordinator of Caritas North Africa and the Middle East (MONA) highlighted the war in Sudan, in South Sudan, in Mozambique, and in Somalia as some of the world’s “forgotten crises”. He said that Caritas has maintained an active presence in all these places, and is helping people back to their feet. However, lack of funds stands in the way for the charity arm of the Church as it seeks to provide aid in these places, Karam told ACI Africa... He said that the situation is made dire as bigger aid agencies focus their attention on what is in the limelight, forgetting the harsh realities that still exist in countries where conflicts are no longer news. “There is a problem in Somalia and in many other African countries. Most of these have now become forgotten crises. Crises in Mozambique, Somalia, Sudan, and in South Sudan are being forgotten. Sometimes people follow the media,” Karam said. He added, “Not all aid agencies are swayed by the media. As Caritas, we still provide support in these forgotten crises regardless of where the media shines the spotlight... But in general, the huge amount of global aid will follow what the media is reporting”...

>8 John5918: UN's World Food Program and UNHsCR get the largest slice of my charitable contributions with hope that money goes to places where most needed, not just the latest that caught my attention. Reassuring that blue & white WFP bags appear in news coverage of most, if not all, sad events... Never seems to be enough, though... :(

Map, where WFP works ( https://www.wfp.org/countries )

U.S. sanctions former Sudanese officials for undermining peace and stability (Sudan Tribune)

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions on three former Sudanese regime officials for their role in undermining Sudan’s peace, security, and stability. The designated individuals are Taha Osman Ahmed al-Hussein (Taha), a former State Minister and Presidential Office Director to former Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir, Salah Abdallah Mohamed Salah (Salah Gosh), and Mohamed Etta Elmoula Abbas (Elmoula). Gosh and Elmoula served as directors of the National Intelligence and Security Services under the al-Bashir regime. The sanctions were imposed in response to the individuals’ efforts to destabilize Sudan and derail its transition to democracy...

Designation of Individuals Linked to the Conflict in Sudan (US Department of State)

The United States is today designating three officials of the former Omar al-Bashir regime: Mohamed Atta Elmoula Abbas, Taha Osman Ahmed al-Hussein, and Salah Abdallah Mohamed Salah, also known as Salah Gosh. These individuals have engaged in activities that undermine the peace, security, and stability of Sudan...

And unlike mainstream western media, the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) yesterday included Sudan in its top three of Today's top news: Occupied Palestinian Territory, Sudan, Philippines.

Not just genocide: Sudan’s crisis of imperialism (The Daily Campus)

Since Oct. 7, the international attention paid to the struggle of Palestinians against Zionist settler-colonialism and an internationally-armed ethnic cleansing campaign has effused to other nations. As I argued last week, the discursive value of the term “genocide,” which has received so much emotional and political weight in the global conversation about Gaza, gives activists and concerned global citizens currency to highlight crises that would otherwise receive little attention by mainstream media. On social media platforms like TikTok, the historic slogan of “Free Palestine” has joined a hashtag tripartite with two other nations: #FreePalestine, #FreeCongo and #FreeSudan... I have no intention of discussing genocide curtly or dismissing the very real concern over the overlapping crises enveloping Palestine, Congo and Sudan... However, my concern is over people missing the forest for the trees — that our popular consciousness will focus entirely on the heinous crime of genocide and not the imperialist conditions that often precede and exacerbate it. The desire for capital accumulation on a global scale is the world’s greatest purveyor of violence and suffering... While Palestine and Congo each exemplify this in their own way, the most recent civil war in Sudan is yet another tragic, but fitting, case study to examine this. Politics on the African continent have been flattened to “instability” as much as African economics are to “poverty”; media scholarship suggests that this is in large part due to the utter decontextualization of African stories and histories from their root causes (pardon the progressive buzzword) by journalists and academics. What this narrative-without-a-narrative produces is a political anomaly at best — where African countries’ problems appear from a vacuum — or a racist stereotype that asserts Africans simply lack the governmental wherewithal of “civilized” Western liberal democracies at worst. The most perverse impact of this flattening of African political dynamics is the erasure of the role of international powers in the stoking of instability. Politics on the African continent have been flattened to “instability” as much as African economics are to “poverty”; media scholarship suggests that this is in large part due to the utter decontextualization of African stories and histories from their root causes (pardon the progressive buzzword) by journalists and academics. What this narrative-without-a-narrative produces is a political anomaly at best — where African countries’ problems appear from a vacuum — or a racist stereotype that asserts Africans simply lack the governmental wherewithal of “civilized” Western liberal democracies at worst. The most perverse impact of this flattening of African political dynamics is the erasure of the role of international powers in the stoking of instability... The exploitation of Sudanese national resources, much like the Congo, continues to be the alpha-and-omega of international interest in the country.

Samuel Ramani (Oxford U) @SamRamani2 | 10:03 AM · Dec 6, 2023:

Vladimir Putin travelled to the UAE
Aside from Gaza, Ukraine and oil, Sudan is on the agenda
This follows the US's efforts to pressure the UAE over its alleged support for Hemedti's RSF

Perspective: Sudan deserves your advocacy (GW Hatchet)

Six months of war have forcibly displaced millions of Sudanese people from their homes, with thousands of people killed and many more injured. But the people of countries like Sudan are more than statistics or case studies to be analyzed in class — each person killed, injured or displaced was a real person, someone with a life and a family who needs help... The violence in Sudan is causing one of the largest humanitarian crises in decades. Airports, hospitals and schools are all being targeted by bombing and turbulent raids. Violence in recent weeks has increased in Darfur, where the RSF is looting, assaulting and killing civilians. More than 24 million people are facing hunger and the country is on a brink of a mass cholera outbreak. And more than 19 million children are out of school, setting up Sudan for the worst education crisis in the world. The people of Sudan are suffering. Yet it seems nobody is talking about it. Every human rights crisis around the world deserves the awareness and pressure of the international community, including Sudan. But the country has been overlooked: Aid is dwindling, and Sudan is in desperate need of the global community’s support and action. Major U.S. news outlets like the Washington Post rarely shed light on crises in African countries. The Post has published 547 articles in the past year mentioning Sudan, compared to 568 articles mentioning Israel in the past month and 422 articles mentioning Ukraine in the past 90 days...

One of my professors called Sudan a “basket-case country” during a time when people, including my own family, were forced to flee the country and leave their entire livelihood. Using phrases like “basket case” or “third-world country”* to describe African countries only further perpetuates the idea that there is no helping or improving the issues of non-Western countries...

Or "shithole countries", as one recent US president described African nations (link).

Sudan: Action is Key After US Atrocity Determination (Human Rights Watch)

The United States government’s announcement on December 6, 2023, that atrocity crimes have been committed by both warring parties in Sudan should be followed up by robust action to halt abuses and ensure accountability, Human Rights Watch said today...

As Darfur falls to the RSF, where is the outrage at their atrocities? (The New Humanitarian)

For the past few weeks, the RSF has been seizing full control of Darfur after ousting the Sudanese army from its main bases, one of which was in Ardamata. In the process, its fighters have killed hundreds of civilians and pushed thousands from their homes. As a Darfuri journalist and human rights monitor (currently exiled in Kenya) I have been documenting these abuses on a daily basis. I have been struggling with patchy phone and internet connections and wrestling with my own sense of powerlessness. As the number of dead has surged, I have been asking why all these international humanitarian treaties and laws are failing us, and why the UN Security Council and the African Union are staying so conspicuously silent. With the RSF now in control over most of Darfur and the capital Khartoum, and the national army in charge of north and eastern Sudan, I fear our country is likely to be split like neighbouring Libya, which is ruled by rival governments...

Executive Technical Report of the Sudan Humanitarian Crisis Conference - 2023 (Fikra for Studies and Development)

The conference attracted considerable participation, with over 100 coming from inside Sudan, representing the various Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs) and other first-line responders from across the 18 states of Sudan, in addition to representatives of Sudanese refugees in Egypt, Chad, Kenya, Uganda, and other places. The total number of participants in the three-day events was 420, which also included esteemed participants from diplomatic, international, and UN organizations active in Sudan. The report presents the outcomes and recommendations derived from the discussions and direct interaction between the first-line responders and experts who participated in the conference. It is important to note that these recommendations are publicly owned and have been published here for anyone and everyone who can help in materializing them, with the aim of assisting in alleviating the suffering of the Sudanese people. The publishing of this report is not the end. As previously mentioned, this report marks the beginning of a process that we hope it will stimulate and invigorate the humanitarian response to the crisis in Sudan...

And there's an article from the Brookings Institute entitled "A way forward on Sudan" here.

RSF paramilitary seizes control of Wad Madani, Sudan’s second city (Guardian)

Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have seized Wad Madani, the country’s second city, which had taken in hundreds of thousands of refugees from the capital, Khartoum, early in the eight-month war between the regular army and the paramilitary RSF. Videos posted by the RSF on Monday showed fighters in pickup trucks driving along streets in the city, the capital of el-Gezira state. The RSF advanced after three days of intense fighting, which caused thousands of people to flee the city towards the south. Markets and homes were looted by the army, the police and some civilians on Sunday – and there were fresh reports of looting by RSF fighters on Monday. During the paramilitary advance on the city, army intelligence units were reported to have arrested civilians based on their ethnicity – particularly those from Darfur, many of whom have been living in el-Gezira for decades as agricultural workers...

This is a major blow to the hundreds of thousands of displaced persons who were sheltering in Wad Medani and to humanitarian efforts which were based there.

Sudan: Clashes in Wad Madani between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) - Flash Update No: 03 (as of 18 December 2023) (UN OCHA)

Wad Medani has served as a hub for humanitarian operations since fighting broke out in April this year between SAF and RSF. This includes warehousing of large stocks of supplies dedicated to response in the state and when access is possible to the capital, Khartoum. Humanitarian organizations have reduced their footprint in Wad Medani due to the security situation. Staff have relocated to neighboring states to be positioned to return to address the increased humanitarian caseload once the situation permits. A suspension of all humanitarian field missions within and from Aj Jazirah State has been put in place as of 15 December until further notice.

Thousands flee as war reaches Sudan’s second-largest city (Al Jazeera)

Thousands of displaced people have fled the formerly safe city of Wad Madani in Sudan, as the war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) reaches the city. Paramilitary forces established a base in the east of Sudan’s second-largest city and the capital of al-Jazirah state, the AFP news agency reported on Sunday, forcing thousands of already displaced people to escape. The RSF attack has opened a new front in the eight-month-old war, in what had previously been “one of Sudan’s few remaining sanctuaries”... “We are living in hell and there is no one to help us”...

Edited to add: Sudan conflict: Hundreds of thousands flee al Jazira safe-haven - UN (BBC)

At least 250,000 people have fled fighting in a Sudanese state once seen as a safe haven for those escaping the civil war, the UN said. The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have advanced into the city of Wad Madani, in al Jazira state. For months, both the state and the city have housed large numbers seeking safety from fighting in the capital. Many in Wad Madani have fled the city without having anywhere to go... Residents of the city said the RSF - who are fighting the army - had attacked a hospital and taken over a military base... When the war broke out in April, the city replaced Khartoum as a hub for international humanitarian organisations. Many of these non-profit organisations have left over the past few days, with some heading towards the Sennar and Gadrif. However, RSF fighters on social media have now threatened to attack those cities too. There is also speculation the RSF may attack Kosti, a city in the south where many Wad Madani residents fled to... Wad Madani's only cancer treatment centre has closed in the wake of the fighting, along with all of its hospitals and pharmacies. Houses and offices have been looted by armed groups and civilians... The conflict has displaced more than seven million people, left Khartoum in ruins, caused a humanitarian crisis and triggered ethnically driven killings in Darfur.

Washington Tries to Correct Course on Sudan’s Civil War (Foreign Policy)

Lawmakers are pressing for a fresh approach with a new envoy and by leaning on the proxy powers abetting atrocities...

A welcome move, although some might detect a hint of hypocrisy here as the USA is itself one of "the proxy powers abetting atrocities" in another conflict, in Gaza.

The Capturing of Al Gezira State by The Rapid Support Forces Militia: Escalation of War in Sudan (Fikra for Studies and Development)

Analysis from part of the civilian opposition in Sudan.

DW News @dwnews | 5:03 AM · Dec 23, 2023:

With more than 12,000 people killed and at least seven million displaced by fighting, Sudan is facing what the UN calls "the world's largest displacement crisis" and an "unimaginable" humanitarian catastrophe.

3:11 ( https://twitter.com/dwnews/status/1738500661992468731 )

Sudan’s civilians pick up arms, as RSF gains and army stumbles (Al Jazeera)

Young men are grabbing weapons to fight with the army, defend their cities, raising fears of deepening ethnic conflict...

‘Why are they forgetting about us?’: Sudan watches allies turn from war to aid Ukraine and Gaza (Guardian)

Sudanese military conflict has killed thousands and created what UN says is world’s largest human displacement crisis...

‘Mass exodus’ as RSF menace Sudan’s White Nile state (Radio Dabanga)

White Nile state, south of El Gezira, which fell to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Monday, is witnessing a mass exodus of its residents after of rumours regarding plans by the RSF to invade the state. Warplanes flying over the White Nile state generated panic amongst residents, who began to flee toward the south. They are currently moving towards the outskirts of the southern border with South Sudan. Earlier this week, security authorities in White Nile state launched large-scale detention campaigns for hundreds of people on ethnic grounds, which provoked widespread anger...

Many of my own friends, colleagues and their families sought refuge in Al Gezira and White Nile states as they fled for their lives. Now the former has already succumbed to the conflict and reports suggest that the latter is about to follow that route. Currently White Nile state is a vital humanitarian link with neighbouring South Sudan.

Utter disaster. I'm sorry, John.

The Red Line is a pretty good geopolitics podcast outfit from Australia. Out today.
The Splintering of Sudan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiEE5tF-AOo

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (WHO) @DrTedros | 2:21 PM · Dec 29, 2023:

Urgent action is needed to reverse #Sudan’s worsening conflict amid the deepening humanitarian and health crises, with the fresh displacement of hundreds of thousands of people, mainly women and children:

While responding with partners to the acute health needs, including controlling disease spread and addressing malnutrition threats, WHO also calls for increased financial support from the international community to meet the pressing health needs of the affected populations.

These include boosting provision of basic health services for the most vulnerable in affected states, where at least 70% of health facilities are not working due to the conflict.

Quote
WHO Sudan @whosudan · 6h
WHO 🇸🇩 is supporting mobile health teams in #Sudan's #Sennar, #Gedaref & #RedSea states to provide essential health care services to those displaced due to the recent escalations of conflict in Al #Gezira.
🧵1/3

Cholera rapid response teams in Gedaref, October 2023.
https://twitter.com/whosudan/status/1740719298455453746/photo/1

We are:
➡️Supporting surveillance for #cholera & other epidemic-prone diseases including through support to the deployment of rapid response teams.
➡️Distributing emergency health supplies and rapid diagnostic kits.
2/3

Interruption of mobile and internet networks in Al Gezira & White Nile is affecting our ability to assess the health needs on the ground in these areas. 3/3 {margd: #ElonMusk??}

Religious freedom, along with everything else, is unraveling in Sudan (The Hill)

Between 2019 and 2021, Sudan was heralded as the prime example of progress in religious freedom in a country that had been known to have one of the worst records on the matter. Today, that progress has crumbled, and the prospects for religious freedom are, if anything, possibly grimmer than the prospects for peace... One group particularly at risk in Sudan’s conflict is the nation’s Christians. Sudanese Christians, while only comprising 5.4 percent of the country’s population, have been largely based in and around Khartoum. As the capital city has been at the epicenter of the war, the Christian community has been heavily impacted. They have been sought out and attacked for their faith, and many have had to flee the country and settle in refugee camps...

Don’t “sit back”: Sudan, South Sudan’s Bishops to International Community amid Ongoing War (ACI Africa)

Catholic Bishops in Sudan and South Sudan are urging the United Nations (UN), the governments of the United States of America, the United Kingdom and Norway, also referred to as Troika, and other members of the international community to go on with their respective efforts to end the ongoing violence in Sudan. In a collective statement on the situation in Sudan, where war broke out on 15 April 2023 between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), members of the Sudan Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SCBC) also urge the UN and Troika to continue offering “necessary support” to those affected by the violence. “With this statement, we would like to appeal to the International Community, the Troika, and the UN not to sit back,” SCBC members says, and urge the highlighted entities to continue the “responsibility of working towards addressing the crisis and providing the necessary support to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in the Sudan”...

Sudan’s feared paramilitary leader signals ambition to rule the country (Al Jazeera)

Mohamed Hamdan ‘Hemedti’ Dagalo goes on an African tour to secure regional support and political legitimacy... Analysts believe Hemedti’s real motive was securing regional support to capture all of Sudan from the army...

2024 Demands Swift Action to Stem Sudan’s Ruinous Conflict

Statement by Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator

Nearly nine months of war have tipped Sudan into a downward spiral that only grows more ruinous by the day. As the conflict spreads, human suffering is deepening, humanitarian access is shrinking, and hope is dwindling. This cannot continue. 2024 demands that the international community – particularly those with influence on the parties to the conflict in Sudan – take decisive and immediate action to stop the fighting and safeguard humanitarian operations meant to help millions of civilians. Now that hostilities have reached the country’s breadbasket in Aj Jazirah State, there is even more at stake. More than 500,000 people have fled fighting in and around the state capital Wad Medani, long a place of refuge for those uprooted by clashes elsewhere. Ongoing mass displacement could also fuel the rapid spread of a cholera outbreak in the state, with more than 1,800 suspected cases reported there so far. The same horrific abuses that have defined this war in other hotspots – Khartoum, Darfur and Kordofan – are now being reported in Wad Medani. Accounts of widespread human rights violations, including sexual violence, remind us that the parties to this conflict are still failing to uphold their commitments to protect civilians. There are also serious concerns about the parties’ compliance with international humanitarian law...

‘They’re targeting us’: Sudan’s army cracks down on democracy activists (Al Jazeera)

In the midst of war, Sudan’s army is retaliating against activists for their role in bringing down the former regime...

Sudan’s Calamitous Civil War: A Chance to Draw Back from the Abyss (International Crisis Group)

Sudan’s war is entering an even more dangerous phase as fighting spreads to the heavily contested east, spelling more atrocities and mass displacement. Diplomats should seize a new opportunity to halt the spiral into state failure and stimulate direct talks between the belligerents...

World Health Organization (WHO) WHO | 9:33 AM · Jan 10, 2024:

"In the past month, half a million more people have been displaced from the Al-Gezira state, due to the spread of the conflict.

The state used to be a safe haven from the conflict in Khartoum, and is a hub for WHO’s operations.

Due to security concerns, WHO has temporarily halted its operations in Al-Gezira.

The state is also considered the bread-basket of Sudan, and fighting there has disrupted the annual harvest, and increased the risk of food insecurity in conflict-affected areas"-@DrTedros

Sudan—the World's Most Abandoned Conflict-Affected Country (Newsweek)

The year 2023 witnessed the eruption of wars and flaring up of deadly conflicts across the world. The conflict in Sudan (which plunged into a largescale war in April 2023) has received poor coverage by Western media, often viewed as less important than the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, which broke out in October 2023, and February 2022, respectively...

Sudan fighting triggers largest displacement in world: UN humanitarians (Xinhua)

Military clashes in Sudan are responsible for the largest number of displaced persons on Earth and disrupting the fight against a deadly cholera outbreak, UN humanitarians said on Wednesday. "The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is deeply concerned by the scale of displacement in Sudan due to the spreading conflict, which has fueled the largest displacement crisis in the world," the office said. "Since April, more than 6 million people have been displaced inside the country, including more than 500,000 due to the clashes that erupted in Aj Jazirah State last month." The humanitarians said more than 1.3 million others fled across Sudan's borders to become refugees in the adjacent states of Chad, the Central African Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia and South Sudan. OCHA said it is also alarmed the violence is disrupting critical humanitarian operations, including the fight against a worsening cholera outbreak...

Sexual violence in Sudan conflict becomes as commonplace as the fighting (Telegraph)

Women and girls share advice between themselves to prevent pregnancy in the event of an attack... The United Nations has reported the widespread use of rape by the RSF, which has occupied civilian neighbourhoods in Khartoum and Omdurman as it battles Sudan’s army for control... "raping girls and women in front of their brothers or fathers knowing that’s all it takes to break them"... According to the UN, hundreds of women have been detained by the RSF, held in inhuman or degrading conditions, subjected to sexual assault, and left vulnerable to sexual slavery. “Sudanese women and girls in urban centres as well as in Darfur have been particularly vulnerable to violence,” a UN expert said. “It is alleged that men identified as members of the RSF are using rape and sexual violence of women and girls as tools to punish and terrorise communities.” The UN has recorded sightings of “chained up women and girls being taken away in pickup trucks and cars”. There are reports of them being subject to enforced disappearance and forced marriages, and in some cases being held by RSF fighters after they have become pregnant. Those in urban areas like Khartoum, which remains under RSF control, are most vulnerable, as well as those in the western Darfur region...

Europe Is Making Sudan’s Refugee Crisis Worse (Foreign Policy)

Faced with an indisputable emergency, the EU is erecting new barriers and ignoring its asylum obligations...

Behind a paywall, I'm afraid, but some of you might have a subscription, and anyway, the title and sub-title say it all.

Edited to add: I have a text-only pdf version from the author, but don't know how to post that here.

‘They’re going to kill us’: Sudan’s army targets civilians on ethnic basis (Al Jazeera)

Army accuses civilians of spying for the RSF paramilitary based on ethnic grounds, leading to arrests, torture and killings...

Sudan fighting spreads to Unesco World Heritage Site (The EastAfrican)

Sudan's devastating nine-month war between two rival generals is spreading to a Unesco World Heritage Site, an NGO reported late Tuesday, sounding the alarm for the remains of the ancient Kingdom of Kush...

Sudan In Danger Of Becoming A New Rwanda – Analysis (Eurasia News)

The alarming crisis propelling Sudan toward a potential replication of Rwanda’s tragedy is the decision by the Sudanese army, under the leadership of Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, to arm its citizens... Sudan is witnessing the dominance of a combative doctrine influenced by Islamist tendencies. Almost all parties emphasize mobilizing citizens to defend their ideologies, irrespective of their appropriateness for the Sudanese masses. This trend is formulating a dangerous recipe for a civil war, pitting citizens against one another...

Plus an analysis by Sudanese pro-democracy political scholar, thinker and writer Dr Elshafie Khidir Saeid which I received on an e-mail mailing list from FIKRA for Studies and Development entitled Four Conclusions about the War in Sudan, dated 17th January 2024, but which I can't currently find online. I copy the main points below:

The first conclusion is that it is highly improbable that the war in Sudan will be ended soon, and that neither peace nor security will be restored in the foreseeable future.
The second conclusion is that governments on both the regional and global levels appear to have little interest in putting an end to the ongoing war in Sudan quickly as attainable, preferring instead to see it continue for a longer period of time.
The third conclusion that it is evident that the Sudan war has the potential to escalate and ignite conflicts throughout the region, possibly even leading to a regional or global war.
The fourth conclusion is that the war has transformed Sudan into a highly conducive environment for transcontinental terrorist organizations to flourish...

Sudan women and girls at ongoing risk of abduction and enforced disappearance (SIHA)

Since the onset of the Sudan crisis in April 2023, SIHA Network has trucked more than 104 cases of missing women and girls on social media, revealing a deeply troubling situation. According to the latest update from the Sudanese Group for Victims of Enforced Disappearance in December 2023, out of the 842 civilians who have disappeared, 48 women and girls have been confirmed as forcibly disappeared. These stark numbers emphasize the urgent need for immediate action and justice to address the escalating disappearance crisis in Sudan... Enforced disappearances profoundly impact women and girls, causing unimaginable suffering and leaving families and communities in anguish and uncertainty. Concerns are heightened by the potential for sexual violence and exploitation faced by women in captivity. Disturbingly, confirmed reports have been received of women being enslaved to cook and clean for RSF soldiers in various locations in Khartoum. More recently, similar reports have emerged from Wad Madani, in Gezira State. It is crucial to acknowledge that the officially reported number of missing women and girls likely underrepresents the true scale of this crisis. Fear, stigma, and the lack of reporting mechanisms contribute to this hidden reality, in desperate need of recognition and targeted interventions. Beyond the growing number of missing women and girls, disturbing incidents involve young girls being kidnapped by the RSF in front of their families...

Pursuing Peace in Sudan: From Civil Society Groups to the International Community (Friends Committee on National Legislation)

Peacebuilding efforts are more likely to succeed when they are led by local groups based in affected communities. In the Horn of Africa, a region marked by persistent conflicts, a consortium between the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and the All-Africa Conference of Churches (AACC), known as the Salama Hub, equips local peacebuilders with the tools needed to advocate for peace and non-violent responses to conflict. In December 2023, FCNL partnered with AFSC and the Salama Hub to support a delegation of African peace activists visiting Washington, D.C. to advocate in Congress and the State Department. During this trip, FCNL’s peacebuilding team spoke with Enass Muzamel, a Sudanese pro-democracy activist and human rights defender coordinating efforts to support women and girls facing the ongoing conflict in Sudan...

>34 John5918: I think you're the one who suggested Romeo Dallaire's Shake Hands with the Devil about the Rwandan genocide which I'm 150 pages into now. Far off from a conclusion on this but already have a sense of how woefully unequipped and shorthanded in resources the UN had available for that catastrophe.

Sudan’s Atrocious Political Transition: Resolving the Displacement and Humanitarian Crisis (UN University)

Abstract

This paper examines the increasing displacement and intensifying humanitarian crisis in the Republic of Sudan, resulting from the war between rival factions of the armed forces, namely the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). It highlights how poorly governed political transitions and centre–periphery rivalries contribute to ongoing war, death, destruction, and displacement. The data shows rapid changes in patterns of human displacement within Sudan and beyond its borders, with Khartoum and the Darfur region now being the primary origins and hosts of displacement respectively. Currently, half of Sudan’s population requires aid, owing to the dire humanitarian consequences of the war.

The paper advances a dual approach – addressing urgent humanitarian needs and cessation of hostilities while pursuing longterm solutions through inclusive political transition and governance reforms to resolve protracted displacement. It argues that addressing the complex dynamics of Sudan’s enduring conflicts and achieving sustainable peace require more than just immediate actions such as a ceasefire and unhindered humanitarian access. What is also needed is a comprehensive approach to tackling the political roots of these conflicts. While acknowledging the priority of a ceasefire and humanitarian access, the paper delves into the political dimensions of the conflict, and the necessity of a civilian-led transition process that is both inclusive and comprehensive, encompassing various Sudanese stakeholders. It emphasises the need for inclusive, civilian-led negotiations that go beyond the military leadership and critically examines the evolving roles of armed groups, Islamists, and former National Congress Party members, highlighting the importance of adapting negotiation strategies to new realities on the ground.

A successful resolution to the conflict requires a comprehensive political transformation and a commitment to addressing underlying issues. In addition, the paper addresses the effect of external interventions on Sudan’s internal affairs particularly from the states in the Middle East and neighbourhood. It advances a transition strategy that tames external interferences, while at the same time promoting decentralized governance. This approach help dismantle the centralised power structures that have relied in the support of external actors and historically fuelled protracted war, thereby paving the way for a more decentralised, stable and accountable transitional process. Enabling a transition inclusive of all civilian stakeholders in the transition process is crucial for insulating a Sudanese peace process that could deliver a sustainable ceasefire, effectively resolving the Sudan’s prolonged conflicts, halting the atrocities in Darfur and elsewhere, and addressing mass displacement within and outside Sudan.

People ‘dying of starvation’ in Sudan, UN food agency says (Al Jazeera)

The United Nations food agency says it is receiving reports of people dying of starvation in Sudan and the number of hungry people has doubled over the past year as the ongoing war cuts civilians off from aid. “The situation in Sudan today is nothing short of catastrophic,” said Eddie Rowe, the World Food Programme’s (WFP’s) Sudan representative and country director. “Millions of people are impacted by the conflict. WFP has food in Sudan, but lack of humanitarian access and other unnecessary hurdles are slowing operations,” he said in a statement on Friday. “Life-saving assistance is not reaching those who need it the most, and we are already receiving reports of people dying of starvation,” he added...

Youth-led 'emergency rooms' shine rays of hope in war-torn Sudan (UN News)

With the war in Sudan triggering widespread violence and instability, youth-driven emergency response rooms (ERRs) are among a growing number of community-led initiatives reaching vulnerable civilians with myriad assistance, from repairing damaged power lines to carving out safe evacuation routes for millions fleeing the conflict. Teams of volunteer medical staff, engineers and other emergency experts across the country are addressing civilian needs amid the current bout of violence and insecurity stemming from clashes with rival military forces in April 2023. So far, ERRs have reached more than four million civilians, bucking bureaucracy and finding innovative solutions...

Will multiple mediators hinder peace in Sudan? (Sudan Tribune)

As the war in Sudan continues to maim and displace millions, a disturbing reality emerges: the quest for peace seems entangled in a power struggle. Negotiation platforms, mediators, and even foreign leaders compete for control of the process, often prioritizing personal agendas over the desperate pleas of the Sudanese people. This article delves into this unsettling dynamic, exposing its themes, hidden motives, and the reasons for its failure to deliver a lasting solution. But it goes beyond mere critique. We explore a vision for a genuine peace process, one that transcends simply stopping the fighting and instead tackles the root causes of this devastating conflict...

Sudanese RSF brings down telecoms networks across Sudan - sources (Reuters)

Many rely on mobile payments for essentials... Displaced families struggle to maintain contact... Communications were down for most Sudanese on Monday in what two telecoms sector sources and the army-aligned state news agency said was a deliberate move by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces who are battling the military. The RSF did not comment, while an RSF source said the paramilitary had nothing to do with the outages. Many Sudanese reported being unable to reach family members, compounding the impacts of a war between the RSF and Sudan's army that has forced more than 7.5 million people from their homes and prompted warnings of famine...

Sudan experiences widespread internet outage amidst war and accusation (Sudan Tribune)

Since Friday evening, internet and communication networks have been disrupted across most of Sudan. The cause of the outage remains unclear, with accusations flying between the Sudanese government and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)...

Digital money apps become a lifeline for war-affected Sudanese (The New Humanitarian)

Banking apps, enabling online payments for food and other essentials, are a digital safety net for millions of Sudanese, their lives upended by nine months of fighting... Financial technology (fintech) allows people with a mobile phone and internet connection to more safely buy basic groceries, settle bills, and receive money from abroad – easing some of the hardships. These apps have been available for over a decade in Sudan, with nearly all public sector workers paid digitally. But they are now more than just a convenience. People transact as much as they can online to avoid navigating embattled neighbourhoods or the risk of carrying physical currency, and to cope with the reduced operating hours of the few bank branches that manage to remain open...

'I'm here to defend my daughters and myself': Inside one of Sudan's combat training camps for women and girls (Sky News)

Some are here out of loyalty for their conscripted sons, fathers, uncles, and brothers who have been deployed across the country in the Sudanese Armed Forces war against the Rapid Support Forces. Others are here out of sheer necessity...

Sudan journalists: ‘Fighting threatens 100-year-old media archives’ (Dabanga)

The Sudanese Journalists Syndicate (SJS) has expressed its concern that fighting between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) is approaching the buildings of the Sudan Radio and Television Corporation in Omdurman. The syndicate is concerned that the violence will increase the risk of destroying or damaging the corporation’s archives that are nearly 100 years old... The journalists expressed their concern about the danger of destroying or damaging the archives “which represent a political, cultural, and social legacy for the entire Sudanese nation” and called on the warring parties to spare the buildings...

Complete Shutdown of Telecommunications Services in Sudan: Press Release (Fikra for Studies and Development)

On February 4, 2024, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) raided the main switches of the three communications companies operating in the Sudan (Zain, MTN Sudan, and Sudatel) in Khartoum and directed, at gunpoint, the engineers working at these headquarters to cut off all communications and Internet services throughout the Sudan. RSF soldiers were accompanied by a number of communications technicians to ensure that these instructions were implemented... The complete shutdown of communications from Sudan currently increases the risks resulting from the ongoing war and poses a further threat of committing more crimes and violations against more than 40 million Sudanese besieged in the country... The complete loss of communications also hindered all efforts to coordinate the delivery of humanitarian aid, which is urgently and vitally needed by more than 25 million Sudanese... The impact extends to the stopping of electronic banking services, which is the only economic exchange outlet that remains after the complete disruption of banking services since the outbreak of war on April 15, 2023. These electronic banking services constitute the only remaining lifeline for the Sudanese, for the response efforts of the domestic humanitarian emergency rooms, and for all humanitarian organizations working in the field of relief in all parts of Sudan. We find it shameful and disgraceful that the world and all governments of the relevant international and regional actors continue to be silent about this dire situation in Sudan...

An account from the frontline of 'the largest displacement of children on the planet' (NPR)

The United Nations warns that the conflict in Sudan has caused one of the world's largest human displacements... People speak to a couple of things. They speak to the horrendous violations, what we call "grave violations." The sexual abuse, seeing children killed, seeing rape of sisters or of mothers — this horrible level of kind of human suffering. As a woman said to me, "If they couldn't steal it, they burned it"... Deliberate attempts just to terrify and torture people... As ever, the poorest countries around the globe — not just in this crisis — absorb the most refugees. Those with the least tend to constantly be asked to give the most, and that's what we're seeing here...

As rich western countries whinge about refugees, asylum seekers and virtually any type of migrants, let me highlight that last bit: As ever, the poorest countries around the globe — not just in this crisis — absorb the most refugees. Those with the least tend to constantly be asked to give the most, and that's what we're seeing here

Darfur: The New Massacres(The New York Review)

As war rages across the country, Arab forces are attacking non-Arab communities in Sudan’s periphery...

Sudan warring parties turn to sabotage, destroy crucial installations (The EastAfrican)

Sudan’s war is turning into economic sabotage as rival factions seek to undercut one another, leading to the clearest sign that a winner from this conflict would still bear the loss. Ten months since the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudan Armed Forces (Saf) launched a war, the character of this conflict has morphed in such a way that original factions have amassed support from fringe militia groups, expanding the scale of interests. Yet the biggest problem now is destruction of crucial economic infrastructure such as telecom masts and transportation routes, leaving some of the regions cut off from the outside world...

Sudan’s collapse is a test for the international community. We are failing it (The New Humanitarian)

‘The UN Security Council cannot continue to ignore its responsibility to protect civilians.’ In the deafening silence of global indifference, the war in Sudan recently entered its 10-month mark. Since April 2023, close to 8 million people have fled their homes, of whom more than 1.6 million have sought refuge in Chad, South Sudan, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the Central African Republic – countries already grappling with immense difficulties. Close to 25 million people need humanitarian assistance, including around 5 million people on the brink of famine and nearly 7 million children who are severely undernourished. Mass graves conceal evidence of widespread, systematic, and targeted mass atrocities that could be repeated at any moment as the conflict further expands. Yet despite all of this, Sudan remains seemingly invisible to the global community. The UN Security Council, other key multilateral institutions like the African Union, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), and states with influence over the warring parties have failed to stop the violence. And while the UN Security Council does little beyond condemn attacks on civilians and call for access to humanitarian assistance, regional efforts to resolve the crisis have been grindingly slow and too tepid. As a result, commitments from the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces to protect civilians and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance remain unfulfilled. Those with influence over the warring parties have echoed hollow calls for ceasefires and looked away as cumbersome bureaucratic requirements hinder our aid efforts...

Sudan Armed Forces are on a path to self-destruction – risking state collapse (The Conversation)

the once mighty Sudan Armed Forces have made military and political errors that have increased the possibility of their disintegration and the collapse of the Sudanese state. The ongoing civil war could be the trigger of this implosion, but not the underlying cause...

Pope Francis appeals for an end to Sudan's civil war (Reuters)

Pope Francis appealed on Sunday to Sudan's warring factions to put an end to a 10-month conflict that has seen millions displaced and prompted warnings of famine. "I ask again the warring parties to stop this war, which causes so much damage to the people and the future of the country", Francis said during his Angelus message. "Let's pray so that avenues of peace will soon be found for the future of beloved Sudan", he added... In his traditional Sunday address, the pope also mentioned conflicts in Mozambique, Ukraine, Israel and the Palestinian territories. "Wherever there is fighting populations are exhausted, they are tired of war, which is always useless, inconclusive and will only bring death and destruction and will never lead to a solution to the problem," Francis said.

Sudan conflict spilling to South Sudan, UN official warns (Sudan Tribune)

The head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), Nicholas Haysom said the war in Sudan has spilled over to South Sudan. Speaking to reporters in Juba on Tuesday, Haysom said there are indications recruitment could be taking place in South Sudan by parties involved in Sudan... “We are worried that firearms are going to start drifting into South Sudan,” noted Haysom... about 550,000 people have crossed into South Sudan from Sudan amidst concerns that these numbers could rise with time. This will increase stress on communities which are causing tensions among the displaced and host communities as the conflict continues...

The gathering disaster in Sudan: a war that the world is ignoring (Guardian)

Even before a communications blackout hit Sudan two weeks ago, few were watching a war that has killed thousands of people and displaced more – almost 8 million – than any other current conflict. “It’s not a forgotten crisis. It’s a wholly ignored crisis,” Kitty van der Heijden of Unicef told a meeting at the Munich Security Conference last week. Eighteen million people in Sudan are acutely food insecure, and around 3.8 million children are malnourished... Yet while the region’s genocidal violence became a global cause two decades ago, it barely registers now... Not only are multiple players involved, but tensions in the Sudanese armed forces appear to have grown as the RSF has gained ground in recent months. Meanwhile, militias are beginning to mobilise against the RSF. There is concern that jihadist fighters may be drawn in. Not only is global attention absorbed by the crises in the Middle East and Ukraine, but the former is having a “catastrophic” effect on aid, as Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea slow deliveries of essential food and medicine, and drive up prices. In turn, the consequences of Sudan’s war are spilling over. Half a million people have fled to South Sudan, exacerbating the food crisis there; a million more have found shelter in Chad and Egypt. While the generals unleashed this conflict, outside players sustain it. The UAE denies supplying arms, but its support for the RSF is well-known; Hemedti’s forces also have ties to the Wagner group. Egypt backs the Sudanese armed forces, though to a lesser extent. Many more are dabbling in this conflict... there is a stark – and disgraceful – disparity between the wealth of resources employed to wage this war and the paucity of those to address its consequences. So far, the UN’s humanitarian response plan is less than 4% funded, with a $2.6bn shortfall. While more money is desperately needed, the real solution is an end to this war...

UAE Removed from FATF Grey List, Despite Evidence of Role in Illicit Arms and Gold Trade (The Sentry)

Anrike Visser, Senior Advisor on Illicit Finance Policy to The Sentry, said: “Today the Financial Action Task Force fully welcomes the UAE back into the international financial system and removes the need for enhanced scrutiny on transactions stemming from the Emirates. At the same time, evidence indicates the ongoing role of the UAE in facilitating the illicit arms and gold trade fuelling the war in Sudan. Only a month ago, a United Nations Panel of Experts report was leaked citing “credible” evidence the UAE was supplying arms to the warring parties in Sudan, despite a 2005 UN arms embargo. It details how gold linked to the Rapid Support Forces, accused of committing war crimes in Sudan together with the Sudanese Armed Forces, has continued to flow to Dubai, even since the war broke out...

Sudan crisis highlights why world’s refugee system needs a reset (Arab News)

With 25 million people in need out of 49 million across the vast nation, this is our biggest humanitarian crisis. Integral to that is the world’s fastest and biggest forced displacement at about 8 million. With no abatement in the violence or any credible peace prospects, these records will tumble as we advance through 2024. The number of needy is projected to reach 30 million, while those displaced will top 10 million. As the state fragments, destruction and insecurity are becoming widespread. Hospitals, schools, water supplies, banking and communications have become distant memories, while citizens are terrorized and abused in their homes and neighborhoods. Hunger and disease stalk the land. Aid access is a matter of luck, even as courageous local groups take extraordinary risks to bring some succor. It is understandable that humanitarian concern centers on mass suffering inside the country. However, population outflows from Sudan also deserve to be spotlighted because they represent the most awful manifestations of the agony engulfing the nation. No one flees their country, abandoning all they hold dear, for precarious wanderings in foreign lands unless they are beyond desperate. Sudanese refugees attest to the unmitigated horrors they have endured. Not only violence but also depraved cruelties including sexual violence, torture, disappearances, executions and massacres. These occur nationwide. But when ethnically targeted in Darfur on a grand scale, they echo the genocide of 20 years ago, whose account has never been settled... Those with the strength and means to run away endure incredible obstacles along the way to the border. They are routinely robbed and otherwise exploited, their predators having a keen eye for unaccompanied women, young children and the aged. Crossing the border brings further nightmares. Borders open and close almost on a whim and a refugee’s most vulnerable moment is when waiting for an indeterminate period to cross, perhaps with no documents. What little dignity a Sudanese refugee may have miraculously retained is dumped at the border as a new struggle commences. Ahead lies the uncertain mercy of strangers...Who can blame Sudan’s neighbors, which are themselves among the most impoverished and unstable states on the planet?... Therefore, it is better to acknowledge that many Sudanese will not return and should be voluntarily resettled elsewhere — and the sooner the better to rebuild productive lives. The long limbo endured by Palestinians with their refugee status passed on from generation to generation is not to be wished on others... The Sudan refugee problems reflect the growing malaise of an overburdened global humanitarian system... All migrants must be treated with humanity... Why are refugee outflows often dismissed as just one of the many manifestations of a complex crisis and implicitly deprioritized? Why does every refugee exodus turn automatically into an emergency drama?...

Announcement of a Special Envoy for Sudan (US Department of State)

Today I {Antony J Blinken, Secretary of State} am announcing the appointment of Tom Perriello as U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan. In this role, Special Envoy Perriello will coordinate the U.S. policy on Sudan and advance our efforts to end the hostilities, secure unhindered humanitarian access, and support the Sudanese people as they seek to fulfill their aspirations for freedom, peace, and justice. Special Envoy Perriello will work to empower Sudanese civilian leaders and drive our engagement with partners in Africa, the Middle East, and the international community to forge a united approach to stop this senseless conflict, prevent further atrocities, and promote accountability for crimes already committed...

US Appoints Perriello as Special Envoy for Sudan (The Sentry)

John Prendergast, Co-Founder of The Sentry, said: “The appointment of a US Special Envoy to Sudan represents a desperately needed boost to peacemaking efforts in that war-shattered country. The choice of Tom Perriello, an experienced diplomat with a track-record of success in Africa, is a sign that President Biden and Secretary Blinken are escalating America’s commitment to solving this crisis. With genocide again unfolding in Darfur and the country on the brink of a catastrophic famine, time is of the essence. With this support and continued bipartisan advocacy from Congress, the Envoy must immediately accelerate efforts to produce a ceasefire, full humanitarian access, and a just, inclusive political transition. Success will require President Biden and Secretary Blinken to utilize the US’s prime comparative advantage: the vast array of policy tools of financial pressure focused on anti-money laundering instruments and network-based sanctions.”

Reporter’s diary: Inside Darfur’s neglected refugee crisis (The New Humanitarian)

‘I have visited Chad three times since the start of the war and I have seen that the humanitarian response has barely improved’...

Escaping Sudan: 'My mother’s body was left by smugglers in the desert' (BBC)

Desperate to escape Sudan's war, people have told the BBC how they have handed over their precious savings to unscrupulous people smugglers-cum-gold miners, to make a terrifying journey to Egypt - a trend that continues as the brutal conflict enters its 10th month...

Dirty Money Is Destroying Sudan (Foreign Affairs)

How America Can Stop Money Launderers From Funding Africa’s Worst Civil War... But the biggest difference the United States can—and must—make is to dramatically increase its financial pressure on the proxies aggravating the war, particularly the United Arab Emirates but also Egypt, Wagner, and Iran, which has become an important arms supplier to the SAF. In the short run, those who wish to bring peace to Sudan must negotiate a meaningful cease-fire and establish safe corridors for the delivery of humanitarian aid. These cease-fire negotiations must also prioritize an inclusive transitional political arrangement, a key to ending the violence and to laying the groundwork for effective future governance. It will be critical, too, to involve civilian groups in negotiations to reflect the Sudanese people’s overwhelming desire for peace. To accomplish any of these objectives, however, the violent kleptocratic system now funding the war must be confronted...

Sudanese democracy should not be US-made (Al Jazeera)

There are few peoples in the world who have been as devoted to achieving democracy as the Sudanese people. Although their quest for democracy has been unrelenting, stable democratic governance has so far eluded Sudan, not least because of foreign pressures... A democratic transformation is critical to resolving Sudan’s many problems, but it must meet the needs of the Sudanese people and not be shaped by outside powers. The United States, in particular, which has tried to influence the post-Bashir transition, not only has a long track record of failure in democracy promotion in Sudan and its neighbourhood, but is also itself failing domestically on key democratic indicators. For decades now, the US has been promoting its understanding of democracy across the Global South, including in Sudan. American diplomats, think tanks and NGOs have all worked to press foreign governments to hold elections, maintain freedom of speech and uphold human rights. That drive has largely failed to produce any tangible results for two reasons. First, democracy in the US itself has been on the decline... Second, US democracy promotion has been conditioned and shaped by US economic and political interests... Indeed, the US’s rendering of democracy is foremost designed to ensure US domination...

NO! Those perfidious Americans pressing foreign governments to hold elections, maintain freedom of speech, and uphold human rights. Such non-universal, non-portable concepts! (I expected better from Al Jazeera.)

>54 margd:

Quite a lot of people in the Global North are uncomfortable with Al Jazeera because it often highlights stories which reflect the views of the Global South and which are ignored or overlooked (or "cancelled" to use a popular term) by the mainstream western media. But this was an opinion piece, not an Al Jazeera story, and contains the disclaimer "The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance". In fact the author is a Canadian who has long experience in the Horn of Africa and is an internationally recognised expert on the region. I know him personally.

But to address the substance of your post, given the copious parallel LT threads on the US election system, most of it written by US citizens, are you really trying to suggest that his observation that "democracy in the US itself has been on the decline" is untrue? Or to disagree with his statement that "American diplomats, think tanks and NGOs have all worked to press foreign governments to hold elections, maintain freedom of speech and uphold human rights. That drive has largely failed to produce any tangible results"? That would need some evidence of "tangible results". And does your sarcastic comment on "non-universal, non-portable concepts" not recognise that the US system of democracy is not the only viable system? What about the British system, or that of many other European nations, all of which differ in some ways from the US system? Is it so strange to suggest that Sudan (or indeed any other African countries) might need to develop a democratic system which is not a clone of a US system which appears to be creating so much conflict and anxiety at the moment even within the USA?

‘We are on the edge’: Communication blackout thwarts mutual aid efforts in besieged Khartoum (The New Humanitarian)

A communication blackout across Sudan is having a particularly harmful impact on the besieged capital city, Khartoum, where some mutual aid groups have suspended their life-saving humanitarian work even amid growing levels of catastrophic hunger...

Sudan’s conflict risks creating the world’s largest hunger crisis, the top UN food official warns (AP)

A ruinous conflict raging for about a year between rival generals in Sudan risks creating the world’s largest hunger crisis, the top U.N. food official warned Wednesday as global attention has been focused on the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Cindy McCain, head of the World Food Program, said the fighting in Sudan, which pits the country’s military against a violent paramilitary group, has shattered the lives of millions across the northeastern African nation. “The war in Sudan risks triggering the world’s largest hunger crisis,” McCain said as she wrapped up a trip to neighboring South Sudan, where hundreds of thousands of Sudanese have fled the fighting in their home country. The U.N. food agency said some 18 million people across Sudan face acute hunger, with the most desperate trapped behind the front lines. They include 5 million who face starvation, it said...

The Release of the “Unbreakable: Sudanese Women’s Struggle Against Conflict-Related Sexual Violence” Report (Fikra for Studies and Development)

In observance of International Women's Day, March 8, 2024, Fikra for Studies and Development publishes its research report on conflict-related sexual violence in Sudan during the civil war that has been ongoing since April 15, 2023.

Fikra for Studies and Development report, entitled Unbreakable: Sudanese Women’s Struggle Against Conflict-Related Sexual Violence, analyzes the horrific atrocities committed against Sudanese women during this war, which is approaching its first-year anniversary. The past months have witnessed the commission of a systematic series of atrocities against civilians, including mass murder, forced displacement, looting, robbery, detention, torture, and forced disappearance. But sexual violence has been practiced against women and girls in particular as a tool of war aimed at breaking victims and subjugating and controlling societies. This type of violation was also employed as a motivator for fighting, as well as a method of attracting and recruiting mercenaries.

The report analyzes the various patterns of sexual violence that were committed during the ongoing war and addresses the issue of impunity and the factors that allow it in the current Sudanese context, including the discourse of political and diplomatic actors regarding these violations.

This report reviews the obstacles that limit access to victims and limit the chances of safe reporting, documentation, and accurate revelation of the overall picture of violations. These are the same factors that contribute to the limited access of victims to the necessary treatment and care. The report also provides a statistical analytic example of the number of cases that the Strategic Network for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA) was able to document individually in the period between April 15 and December 31, 2023, which amounted to 117 cases. While there were other cases that were reported and documented by other organizations and groups, including the Unit for Combating Violence against Women, SORD Organization, the African Center for Justice and Peace Studies, the Sudanese Observatory for Human Rights, various emergency rooms, and other groups working in the field, but we were not able to fully obtain their data to be included in the analysis.

Moreover, this report examines the obstacles that service providers and survivors alike encounter when attempting to secure medical treatment and psychological assistance. Additionally, it delves into the legal gaps and challenges that survivors encounter within the framework of Sudan's current criminal legislation. Lastly, it explores potential ways for survivors to document the violations to which they have been subjected and obtain suitable care...

إطلاق تقرير " غير قابلات للكسر: نضال النساء السودانيات ضد العنف الجنسي المرتبط بالنزاع (فكرة للدراسات والتنمية)

في اليوم العالمي للمرأة لهذا العام، ٨ مارس ٢٠٢٤، تصدر فكرة للدراسات والتنمية تقريرها البحثي عن العنف الجنسي المرتبط بالنزعات خلال الحرب الاهلية التي اندلعت في السودان منذ ١٥ ابريل ٢٠٢٣.

ويتناول تقرير فكرة للدراسات والتنمية المعنون (غير قابلات للكسر: نضال النساء السودانيات ضد العنف الجنسي المرتبط بالنزاع) تحليل الفظائع البشعة التي تم ارتكابها ضد النساء السودانيات خلال فترة الحرب والتي تكاد تكمل عامها الاول. وقد شهدت الاشهر الماضية ارتكاب سلسلة ممنهجة من الفظائع ضد المدنيين شملت القتل الجماعي والتهجير القسري والنهب والسلب والاعتقال والتعذيب والاخفاء القسري، ولكن تم ممارسة العنف الجنسي ضد النساء والفتيات بشكل خاص كأداة في الحرب تهدف الي كسر الضحايا واخضاع المجتمعات والسيطرة عليها. وكما تم استخدام هذا النمط من الانتهاكات كعامل تحفيز على القتال والتجنيد للمرتزقة المنخرطين في القتال.

يتناول التقرير تحليل الانماط المختلفة للانتهاكات التي يتم ارتكابها خلال فترة الحرب الحالية، وكما يتناول مسألة الحصانة وسياسة السماح بالإفلات من العقاب والعوامل التي تنتجها في السياق السوداني الحالي بما في ذلك خطاب الجهات السياسية والدبلوماسية الفاعلة في الازمة السودانية فيما يتعلق بهذه الانتهاكات. وايضاً، يستعرض التقرير المعوقات التي تحد من امكانية الوصول الي الضحايا وتعرقل التبليغ الامن والتوثيق والكشف عن الصورة الكلية للانتهاكات بشكل دقيق. وهي نفسها العوامل التي تساهم في الحد من امكانية وصول الضحايا لتلقي العلاج والرعاية اللازمين. وكما ايضا يتناول التقرير تحليل مثال احصائي لمجموع الحالات التي تمكنت الشبكة الاستراتيجية لنساء القرن الافريقي (صيحة) من توثيقها بشكل كامل في الفترة ما بين ١٥ ابريل و٣١ ديسمبر ٢٠٢٣، والتي بلغت ١١٧ حالة. فيما كانت هناك حالات اخرى تم التبليغ عنها وتوثيقها بواسطة منظمات ومجموعات اخرى منها وحدة مكافحة العنف ضد المرأة، ومنظمة سورد، والمركز الأفريقي لدراسات العدالة والسلام والمرصد السوداني لحقوق الانسان، وغرف الطواري المختلفة، وغيرها من المجموعات العاملة في المجال، ولكن لم يتسن لنا الوصول اليها بشكل كامل لإدراجها في التحليل.

ويعرض التحليل التحديات التي تواجه الناجيات في مجال تلقي الرعاية الطبية والدعم النفسي، وايضا التحديات التي تواجه مقدمي الخدمات، بالإضافة الي الفجوات القانونية والصعوبات التي تواجه الناجيات في سياق القانون الجنائي الساري حاليا في السودان، وايضا الفرص المتاحة لتوثيق الانتهاكات التي تعرضن لها وتلقي العناية المناسبة...

Security Council calls for immediate cessation of hostilities in Sudan (UN News)

The UN Security Council on Friday adopted a key resolution on Sudan, calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities in the war-torn country during the month of Ramadan, which begins on Sunday. In resolution 2724 (2024), adopted with 14 votes in favour and one abstention (Russia), the Council also called on all parties to the conflict to seek a sustainable resolution to the fighting through dialogue... In the resolution, the Security Council expressed grave concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation, including “crisis levels or worse” of acute food insecurity, particularly in the Darfur region, as well as ongoing reports of violations of international humanitarian and human rights laws, including cases of sexual violence in conflict. It urged all parties to the conflict “to ensure the removal of any obstructions and enable full, rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access, including cross-border and crossline, and comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law, including to protect civilians and civilian objects, and their commitments under the Declaration of Commitment to Protect the Civilians of Sudan (‘Jeddah Declaration’)”... In another action on Friday, with 13 votes in favour and two abstentions (China and Russia), the Security Council renewed the mandate of the 1591 Sudan Sanctions Committee Panel of Experts, which expires next Tuesday, for a further year...

How Sudanese rights defenders are risking their lives to document the war (The New Humanitarian)

‘Documentation is a pathway to justice’

Sudanese civil society groups are playing a pivotal role in documenting human rights abuses committed during 10 months of conflict, even as volunteers risk being arrested by the warring parties and are struggling with a month-long internet blackout. Youth groups, legal associations, and civilians acting in a personal capacity have all been involved in cataloguing the human rights impacts of the conflict... “Documentation is a pathway to justice,” Noon Kashkoush of the Emergency Lawyers, a legal group monitoring abuses, told The New Humanitarian. She said she hopes the evidence her group has gathered will be used one day in the Sudanese justice system... The report also documents attacks on human rights defenders. It states that activists have been kidnapped and subjected to death threats and smear campaigns organised by army supporters, while several Darfuri rights monitors have been killed by the RSF...

In Sudan, “climate wars” are useful scapegoats for bad leaders (Bulletin of Atomic Scientists)

Many policymakers and journalists often attribute Sudan’s myriad bloody conflicts and the resultant immense suffering to the underlying cause of climate change and the country’s daunting ecology, which they claim incites violence over water and other scarce resources. However, the evidence that desertification or droughts explain the outbreak of violence is considerably weaker than assumed. Rather, such environmental determinism has its roots in colonial imaginations of non-European environments and is being used today by authoritarian strongmen from Sudan and beyond to distract from their own failures of governance and active role in impoverishing communities...

Sudan: Urgent Action Needed on Hunger Crisis (Human Rights Watch)

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is expected to alert the Security Council in the coming days that Sudan has entered a downward spiral of extreme conflict-induced hunger, Human Rights Watch said today. The council should immediately take action, including by adopting targeted sanctions against individuals responsible for obstructing aid access in Darfur. “The Security Council will be formally put on notice that the conflict in Sudan risks spurring the world’s largest hunger crisis,” said Akshaya Kumar, crisis advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “The Council just broke months of silence by adopting a resolution on Sudan last week, and should build on that momentum by imposing consequences on those responsible for preventing aid from getting to people who need it”...

The flames of war are spreading in Sudan —the time for action is now (The Hill)

Yes, we are transfixed by the horrors in Ukraine and the Middle East. Surely international cameras can widen their apertures to include the victims of this new genocidal disaster. Once again, carnage in Europe and the Middle East is given far greater attention than that in Africa... Around Sudan, local resistance committees, whose origins lie in the demonstrations against Bashir, continue to carry the banner of democracy and civilian rule. They are also helping organize local relief efforts in the midst of the fighting. USAID has supported them and should increase its assistance to them. They will need our diplomatic support, as well, in any future negotiations on their country’s future... In a few months, when the famine arrives and new images of wasted African children are breaking their way onto our television screens, let us hope that we and others can say, “Well, at least we are doing our best to help bring peace and then, with it, healing.” We are not doing so now. But there is still time to do so — if barely.

UN calls for immediate end to Sudan Civil War amidst humanitarian crisis (Military Africa)

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has adopted a resolution demanding an immediate cessation of hostilities in Sudan. The resolution, known as 2724, was adopted with an overwhelming majority, signaling the international community’s grave concern over the ongoing conflict that has led to a severe humanitarian crisis. The UNSC’s resolution comes at a critical time, coinciding with the commencement of Ramadan, a period traditionally marked by fasting, prayer, and reflection. The resolution’s timing underscores the urgency of peace and stability in the region, especially during a month that holds significant spiritual importance for the Muslim community. Resolution 2724, which received 14 votes in favor with Russia abstaining, calls for all parties involved in the Sudanese conflict to engage in dialogue and seek a sustainable resolution...

Prof. Ker-Lindsay today.
SUDAN | Heading for Disaster?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbczdGuURVU

24 million Sudanese children facing ‘generational catastrophe’ (UN News)

As the war in Sudan enters its second year next month, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) on Monday warned of a staggering toll of the crisis on children, with an estimated 24 million teetering on the brink of a “generational catastrophe”...

The Unforgivable Silence on Sudan (New York Times)

By Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the United Nations.

But even after aid groups designated the country’s humanitarian crisis to be among the world’s worst, little attention or help has gone to the Sudanese people... The world’s silence and inaction need to end, and end now. The first thing that must happen is we must send a surge of humanitarian support to Sudan’s most vulnerable. Eighteen million Sudanese face acute hunger, and famine is looming. Nearly eight million people have been forced from their homes in what has become the world’s largest internal displacement crisis. Measles, cholera and other preventable diseases have spread... Regional and global leaders must unequivocally and publicly demand that the warring parties respect international humanitarian law and facilitate humanitarian access... The international community must also demand the protection of civilians and pursue justice for victims of war crimes... We must break the cycle of impunity... We should all stand behind the International Criminal Court’s continuing investigation into allegations of war crimes in the region, local and international documentation efforts and other accountability initiatives... Finally, we need to do everything in our power to stop the fighting and get Sudan back on the path to democracy. Right now, a handful of regional powers are sending weapons into Sudan. This outside support is prolonging the conflict and enabling the atrocities taking place across West Darfur, including massacres reminiscent of the 2004 genocide. The Security Council has made clear that these illegal arms transfers, which violate the United Nations’ arms embargo, must stop. This conflict will not be solved on the battlefield. It will be solved at the negotiating table. Those with influence, particularly the African Union and leaders across East Africa and the Persian Gulf, must push the warring parties toward peace... The international community must, at long last, speak out — and work together to end this senseless conflict.

Famine looms in Sudan as civil war survivors tell of killings and rapes (BBC)

Civilians caught up in Sudan's civil war have given graphic accounts to the BBC of rape, ethnic violence and street executions. Our journalists have managed to make it to the front line of the fighting close to the capital, Khartoum. Top UN officials have said the conflict has plunged the country into "one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in recent history" and could trigger the world's largest hunger crisis. There are also fears that in Darfur, in the west of the country, a repeat of what the US called genocide 20 years ago may be beginning to unfold...

Sudan declares force majeure on South Sudan’s oil Exports due to war (Sudan Tribune)

On February 10th, 2024, Sudan announced a force majeure on South Sudan’s crude oil exports, citing restricted access to oil operations caused by ongoing military activity...

IN SUDAN, WOMEN'S BODIES HAVE LONG BEEN THE BATTLEGROUND (New Internationalist)

From state subjects to war spoils, Sudan’s history of violence against women is reaching a breaking point... Driven by desperation and the horror of nearly a year of war, images of women firing guns during combat training with the Sudanese Army contradict perceptions that they are passive actors during the bloody conflict between Sudan’s two warring generals. The fierce and ongoing battle between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) is one of the most underreported conflicts in the world today. Stories of sexual slavery markets in Darfur, the unprovoked kidnapping, rape, mutilation and murder of female civilians and, more recently, reports that the RSF raped patients and their nurses during hospital raids in Algezeira state, are just some of the examples of the inexplicable violence against women and girls in particular. Women’s readiness for military mobilization must therefore be read in the context of this widespread fear, where sexual violence is being used as a tool of subjugation and control. The army’s failure to protect women and the state's indifference to their struggles – both now and throughout Sudan’s history – has left armed self-defense as the only means of protection. Sexual violence in Sudan is part and parcel of the wider state of lawlessness that has ensued since the latest outbreak of war, in which everything is to be bought, sold, and consumed – women's bodies included...

Under siege, Sudanese risk their lives to feed each other (France 24)

Sameh Makki's soup kitchen is barely 100 metres from the market, but it can take two hours to make the journey through Sudan's war-torn streets, often through hails of bullets. The 43-year-old, his family and local volunteers have risked everything to get supplies to feed around 150 families caught in the crossfire between the army and paramilitaries. "The only thing that matters is that people eat. If I had died while making that happen, so be it," said Makki... Initiatives like Makki's are some of the only ways that people survive as the impoverished country hangs on the verge of famine. Makki fled to Egypt to get medical care for his daughter and left the soup kitchen in the care of his mother and young volunteers from the neighbourhood. Like many of his compatriots, he now coordinates donations from the Sudanese diaspora to send back to those trying to survive the fighting. Shortly after the conflict's first shots rang out, young people began volunteering to cook in their homes...

RSF Atrocities Persist Unabated in South Kordofan and Nuba Mountains (Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa)

جنوب كردفان وجبال النوبة: مليشيا الدعم السريع تواصل ارتكاب الفظاعات

Since the outbreak of war on April 15, 2023, Sudanese women and girls have endured continuous and systematic acts of sexual violence. Crimes including murder, rape, torture, enforced disappearance, abduction, forced confinement, sexual slavery, forced marriage, and enslavement have been weaponized in the conflict and used as tools for recruitment. The crimes are not a side effect of the war, they are primary tactics, used against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)’s primary target – the civilian population of Sudan. Despite ongoing telecom blackouts, stigma, and fear of reprisals – to name just a few of the barriers to documentation – numerous cases of the RSF committing these heinous crimes against civilians have been thoroughly documented since the war's inception...

South Sudan on the brink after oil exports derailed by Sudan’s civil war (Al Jazeera)

Violence and insecurity could worsen in South Sudan after one of its key oil pipelines to international markets, which passes through neighbouring Sudan, was damaged last month, according to experts... “The pipeline accounts for two-thirds or three-quarters of oil revenues. Unless {South Sudan} is able to get the pipeline working again, it will be a massive pull on South Sudan’s budget,” said Alan Boswell, an expert on South Sudan for International Crisis Group, a non-profit dedicated to conflict resolution. Overall, oil is responsible for about 90 percent of the country’s revenue, according to a 2022 World Bank report. Little to none of the oil proceeds go towards the national budget, the International Crisis Group says, with some 60 percent of production diverted by the oil companies as their share, and most of the rest paid to Sudan as part of the settlement reached upon independence, settling old debts, or into “special projects” overseen by the office of President Salva Kiir, which has been accused of corruption and diverting these funds. A disruption to this payment structure could cause a great deal of upset and accelerate the depreciation of the local currency, leading to more poverty, violence and lawlessness, experts told Al Jazeera...

Sudan demands UN condemnation of UAE support for RSF (Sudan Tribune)

Sudan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations has called for the condemnation of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In a letter to the Security Council, he accuses the UAE of supporting the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in their year-long war against the Sudanese army. The 78-page complaint, seen by Sudan Tribune, alleges the UAE planned and supported the RSF’s aggression against the Sudanese military with assistance from Chad. Sudan accuses the UAE of ongoing support for the RSF, including supplying weapons, equipment, and mercenaries. This support is deemed a violation of the UN Charter and a threat to regional and international security. The Sudanese mission accuses Chad of complicity in the UAE’s actions. The letter claims Chad allowed the passage of military supplies and mercenaries through its territory...

One in two Sudanese children exposed to war (The New Humanitarian)

At least 10 million children in Sudan – one in two – have been exposed to the dangers of living in an active war zone, including battles, bombings, mortar shelling, airstrikes, and attacks on civilians, according to a new joint analysis by Save the Children and ACLED... Sudan is the world’s largest child displacement crisis, with 4 million children displaced internally and across borders, and more than 13 million children in need of humanitarian aid. According to UNICEF, widespread malnutrition, a poor health system, and acute food insecurity are more deadly than the ongoing conflict... international neglect and political obstacles are hindering aid delivery even as an increase in aid is urgently needed to prevent famine and further catastrophe... the deafening silence of the international community on Sudan is impacting aid and lives...

Sudan: A Year of War (International Crisis Group)

A grim anniversary looms in Sudan, where war rages and the prospect of famine hovers. On 15 April, the country will mark a year since a power struggle between two branches of its armed forces exploded into full-scale conflict. The effects of twelve months of hostilities have been harrowing. Thousands have died in the fighting, or related atrocities, and millions are desperately hungry. The Sudanese state has largely collapsed. As new militias join the mêlée and momentum on the battlefield seesaws, it is clear that the longer the conflict lasts, the harder it will be to piece Sudan back together. The U.S., UN and African Union have revitalised their diplomacy by appointing new envoys, but collective efforts to foster peace still lack coherence and urgency. All states and bodies with influence, including the three Arab powers quietly pushing for a resolution, must work together to press the two sides to end the war. World leaders must also stand with the Sudanese people by addressing aid shortfalls, including at a donor conference to be held in Paris on 15 April, and demanding full access to food aid to prevent mass starvation...

After a year of war in Sudan, what is the situation now? (Al Jazeera)

Peacemaking efforts and attempts at ceasefire have all collapsed since fighting broke out in Khartoum last year...

Sudan’s Crisis Requires a New Approach to International Aid
Ciarán Donnelly, Reva Dhingra {International Rescue Committee}
April 14, 2024

...Much more concerted diplomatic engagement and pressure on external backers of the warring sides is needed to both immediately end the war and safeguard humanitarian access. Otherwise, it will be nearly impossible to protect communities and ensure that organizations can deliver aid safely. In the Sudanese state of El Gezira—formerly a haven for hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people—many aid organizations were forced to suspend their operations and relocate their staff in December 2023 due to widespread violence.

Bilateral and multilateral donors should also support a sustained, multidimensional approach to assistance that brings in development actors, includes partnerships with local groups, and helps communities invest in climate adaptation.

First, the international community should sharply increase humanitarian aid by fully funding the Sudan humanitarian and regional refugee response plans. Organizations on the ground do not have enough funding to provide basic food assistance for communities on the brink of famine. Increased aid must include stronger support for local mutual aid and civil society groups working behind conflict lines. It should also include funds for cash assistance to help people access food through local markets and to ensure market actors can continue to operate.

Second, development actors should scale up support to neighboring refugee-hosting communities, including through increased partnerships with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). In South Sudan, the World Bank has tested directly financing NGOs to deliver health care in coordination with the government—enabling the project to reach triple the 300,000 people initially targeted. Together, development, humanitarian, and local actors can provide sustainable support for communities.

Third, communities experiencing the deadly effects of both conflict and climate change cannot be left out of climate adaptation financing. In December, parties at the annual UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) highlighted the importance of supporting conflict-affected states. This promise must be translated into action for communities in Sudan, South Sudan, and Chad. Multilaterals, including the African Development Bank and the Islamic Development Bank, have taken concrete steps to include fragile and conflict-affected countries in climate financing opportunities.

One year into the conflict, the status quo is untenable for both Sudan and the region. In addition to redoubled efforts to negotiate a ceasefire and achieve a long-lasting peace, the international community must implement new approaches to help ensure populations impacted by both the current war and decades of conflict and instability can rebuild their lives. Without urgent action, it will be impossible to alleviate these interlocking crises.

https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/sudan-s-crisis-requires-a-new-approach-to-i...

From mutual aid to mass displacement: How we chronicled a year of conflict in Sudan (The New Humanitarian)

Today marks the grim anniversary of Sudan's conflict, with all signs suggesting that the humanitarian disaster – described by the UN as one of the worst in recent memory – is set to dramatically worsen... Neither side seems capable of winning the conflict, which has produced the world’s largest displacement crisis – uprooting nearly nine million people, including two million to neighbouring states – and which has brought Sudan’s food system to its knees. Famine is now looming for millions of people across the country, and starvation deaths have already been reported... Despite the growing humanitarian emergency, the conflict parties – who continue to receive external support – have obstructed the efforts of international relief agencies, which are also struggling with severe funding constraints. Mutual aid groups have tried to fill the void – providing a rare bright spot amid the devastation – but they too are struggling with limited resources, with threats from the warring parties, and with a months-long communication blackout. To mark the milestone, have a look at some of our strongest reporting on the war, from dispatches from Khartoum and refugee camps in Chad, to personal stories from journalists and civil society activists about how the war has impacted their lives...

Sudan: the Proxy War the World is Ignoring (YouTube)

DW News @dwnews | 1:47 AM · Apr 18, 2024:

The UN has warned that more than 200,000 children could die of starvation as famine looms in Sudan.

1:35 (https://twitter.com/dwnews/status/1780835399411384807)

The Sudan Conflict Monitor # 12

April 19, 2024
The Sudan Conflict Monitor is a rapid response to the war in Sudan written through a peacebuilding, human rights, and justice lens, reflecting on the most important stories in the country. Please share it widely.

In this issue:
o One year of war in Sudan – reflecting on the impact one year on
o Security and political developments – fighting in Khartoum, Gezira, El Fasher and West Kordofan
o The rise of Islamist fighters alongside the army – Islamists are taking an increasingly prominent role alongside SAF
o Humanitarian access challenges persist – access remains a barrier to get aid to people in need
o Human rights developments – exploring the effectiveness of the belligerent’s human rights bodies, recruitment of children
o International response – building on the Paris conference, reopening peace talks and a new IGAD envoy...

Sudan is in need — why is the world silent yet again? (The Hill)

The Israeli government estimates that more than 4,000 foreign journalists — 824 from the United States — have come to the country since Oct. 7... However, Gaza is not the greatest humanitarian threat the world is facing at this moment. That unfortunate honor is probably bestowed upon the war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing that the U.S. has formally declared to be occurring in Sudan... little media attention (or that of anybody else) has been devoted to Sudan. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, has bemoaned that the “international community and media outlets have been largely quiet” about what she calls the “living hell” of Sudan. Why are Sudanese lives seemingly unworthy of attention? Part of the reason is logistics — it is infinitely easier for journalists to travel to and operate in Israel than Sudan. The media is also following its market. There is no significant Sudanese diaspora in the U.S. – tied to their home country by religion and kinship — like American Jews to Israel...

Sudan's horrific war is being fueled by weapons from foreign supporters of rival generals, UN says (AP)

The year-old war in Sudan between rival generals vying for power has sparked “a crisis of epic proportions” fueled by weapons from foreign supporters who continue to flout U.N. sanctions aimed at helping end the conflict, the U.N. political chief said Friday. “This is illegal, it is immoral, and it must stop,” Undersecretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo told the U.N. Security Council... Mohamed Ibn Chambas, chair of the African Union panel on Sudan and high representative for its Silence the Guns in Africa initiative, called external interference “a major factor compounding both the efforts to negotiate a cease-fire and to stop the war.” “As a matter of fact, external support in terms of supply of war materiel and other needs has been the main reason why this war has lasted so long,” Chambas said. “It is the elephant in the room”...

BNP Paribas must face lawsuit over Sudanese genocide, US judge rules (Reuters)

BNP Paribas was ordered by a U.S. judge on Thursday to face a lawsuit accusing the French bank of helping Sudan's government commit genocide between 1997 and 2011 by providing banking services that violated American sanctions. U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein in Manhattan found "too many facts" showing a relationship between BNP Paribas' financing and human rights abuses perpetrated by the government. He called it premature to decide whether it was reasonable to hold the bank responsible for causing some of those abuses, which according to the plaintiffs included murder, mass rape and torture, or whether it could have foreseen them. The proposed class action was brought by U.S. residents who had fled non-Arab indigenous black African communities in South Sudan, Darfur, and the Nuba Mountains in central Sudan. They are seeking unspecified damages...

This last article does not refer to war crimes committed during the current conflict but to events going back more than 25 years. A court case is currently taking place in Sweden against the Lundin oil company over complicity in war crimes during the same era. A few years ago there was also a similar case against Canada's Talisman oil company, but that one was dismissed on technical grounds.

How (Not) to Talk About the War in Sudan (SWP)

Reporting about the war in Sudan is clouded by three oversimplified narratives – “forgotten conflict”, “war of two generals” and the “proxy war” classification. Gerrit Kurtz (SWP) calls for a more nuanced phrasing by journalists and policymakers... International reporting and political statements about the war in Sudan often echo three misconceptions about the origin, dynamics, and impact of the conflict. These biased views concern the lack of international attention, the role of the security sector and the interference of external actors – all important aspects of the ongoing conflict that should be highlighted. However, the chosen narratives often oversimplify and twist the discourse in problematic ways. It is understandable, and necessary even, that journalists and international policymakers use shortcuts to make the complex war in Sudan more comprehensible to non-experts. And, of course, there have been excellent reports and carefully considered statements. But biased narratives risk twisting the agency of national and international actors as well as their respective options to silence the guns in Sudan...

A mutual aid volunteer reflects on a year of war in Sudan (The New Humanitarian)

One year into a devastating war that has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced nearly nine million, there is one thing flourishing in Sudan: mutual aid. Since 15 April 2023 – when the Rapid Support Forces and the regular army began fighting each other – we have seen our dreams of a democratic, prosperous nation destroyed, and we have lived through a year of unrelenting atrocities and loss. Yet at the same time, millions of Sudanese have remained in war-torn areas outside the reach of international aid agencies, finding ways to support each other using local resources and diaspora aid. Others like myself have found a way of helping from afar. Together, we have formed mutual aid groups known as Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs) that have provided food, health, and other critical services, all while building partnerships, raising funding, and getting recognition as frontline humanitarian aid workers. Discussions and collaboration with the UN’s aid coordination agency (OCHA), USAID, and ECHO have resulted in increased financial support and advocacy to mutual aid in Sudan. A decolonisation of humanitarian relief seems to be moving forward. Nonetheless, many international aid groups have struggled to alter their internal systems to allow for a modality that will function effectively with mutual aid, a model that puts community accountability ahead of traditional NGO reporting methodologies...

It's worth reading the whole article.

Inside Egypt's secret scheme to detain and deport thousands of Sudanese refugees (The New Humanitarian)

Last summer, the Refugees Platform in Egypt, a civil society organisation that defends human rights, contacted The New Humanitarian to share evidence that the Egyptian military was carrying out large-scale deportations of Sudanese refugees. Reporters substantiated the allegations by interviewing dozens of refugees, lawyers, and right groups, obtaining documents from inside secretive government agencies, and through open source investigative techniques. Thousands of Sudanese refugees who escaped to neighbouring Egypt have been detained by Egyptian authorities in a network of secret military bases, and then deported back to their war-torn country often without the chance to claim asylum, an investigation by The New Humanitarian and the Refugees Platform in Egypt has found...

Every two hours, a child dies in Sudan. Our global silence is deafening. (USA Today)

As it stands now, only the vultures – whether birds or war profiteers – are benefiting from the slow collapse of the country...

95% of Britons don’t identify the “world’s largest” humanitarian crisis, new poll reveals (CAFOD)

A new poll published today by CAFOD, conducted by YouGov, has found that only 5 per cent (one in 20) of British adults think that Sudan is currently experiencing the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. This is despite more than 25 million people – half the country’s population – needing urgent emergency assistance, surpassing figures from Gaza, Ukraine, and Syria... The poll also revealed that eight times more people (42 per cent) thought Gaza was the world’s largest crisis than identified Sudan (5 per cent), and nearly five times as many people (23 per cent) chose Ukraine over Sudan. Yet Sudan has been described by the UK ambassador to the United Nations as being “the world’s worst hunger and displacement crisis” ... “Whilst the situation continues to be horrendous for civilians caught up in conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine and elsewhere, these figures demonstrate how the world’s attention being so firmly fixed on some global crises means the scale of the disaster affecting Sudan is largely unknown"...

Children ‘piled up and shot’: new details emerge of ethnic cleansing in Darfur (Guardian)

As El Fasher stands on the ‘precipice of a massacre’, rights groups call for sanctions after new testimony describes atrocities carried out by RSF paramilitaries in Sudan. Gruesome new testimony details one of the worst atrocities of the year-long Sudanese civil war – the large-scale massacre of civilians as they desperately tried to flee an ethnic rampage in Darfur last summer. Witnesses describe children, still alive, being “piled up and shot” by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as they attempted to escape the regional capital of El Geneina in June last year during a bout of ethnic violence in which thousands of civilians were killed...

RSF accused of war crimes, ethnic cleansing in Darfur (The New Humanitarian)

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied militias conducted a widespread ethnic cleansing campaign against Masalit and other non-Arab civilians in El Geneina and other parts of West Darfur state in 2023, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch...

Sudan’s descent into chaos sets stage for al-Qaida to make a return to historic stronghold (The Conversation)

“Sudan’s moment has come; chaos is our chance to sow the seeds of jihad,” warned Abu Hudhaifa al-Sudani, a high-ranking al-Qaida leader, in an October 2022 manifesto. His words may have seemed premature at the time, but a year of brutal civil war has now plunged Sudan into the kind of chaos in which terrorist groups thrive. The risk of al-Qaida gaining ground in Sudan is now very real and imperils, I believe, not only the country itself but also regional – and potentially global – security...

Sudan’s civil war: a humanitarian disaster we choose to ignore (Observer)

Ethnic cleansing and war crimes in Darfur have left 25 million people in urgent need, yet the west’s attention is elsewhere. Parents are killed in front of their children. As they cry for help, the children die too. Panicked people fleeing attacks become moving targets. Entire communities are set ablaze and destroyed. Dislocation, hunger and thirst follow, a prelude to famine and death. Abandoned, terrified, unprotected, unseen, the people despair. This is not a description of Gaza today. It’s Sudan, war-torn, desperate – and largely ignored. Upper estimates of the number of people killed there since a senseless civil war erupted just over one year ago reach 150,000...

RSF accused of running secret execution chambers in the Sudanese capital (Sudan Tribune)

A disturbing investigation by Sudan Tribune has uncovered evidence suggesting the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been executing civilians by hanging inside secret execution chambers across the capital, Khartoum. The ongoing conflict between the Sudanese army and the RSF has already witnessed countless civilian casualties. However, the investigation reveals a new level of brutality – executions by hanging inside private residences across the capital...

Dozens killed in escalating battle for El Fasher (The New Humanitarian)

Dozens of people have been killed in intensifying clashes over El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, including at least two children by an airstrike that reportedly hit the intensive care unit of a paediatric clinic overnight into Sunday, according to Médecins Sans Frontières. The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have besieged El Fasher – the only remaining city in the Sudanese army’s control – for months in their quest to take full control of Darfur, leaving hundreds of thousands trapped inside and deepening the western region’s humanitarian crisis. Fighting is particularly intense near the Abu Shouk camp for displaced people, where army-aligned groups are taking on RSF fighters stationed to the north. Shells have fallen inside the camp, killing dozens of people. More and more people are reportedly arriving every day with injuries sustained from nearby clashes...

The Sudan Crisis and Failure of the Responsibility to Protect Doctrine (Australian Institute of International Affairs)

concerns over the effectiveness of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine have emerged. The idea to establish an international norm that would deal with excesses of conflict began following the horrifying experiences that resulted from the inability to stop uncontrolled violence in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda where genocide, mass atrocities, and serious breaches of international humanitarian law led to the death of many people. This dark past provoked a sense of responsibility and a euphoria of “never again.” This dream to have an international norm capable of deterring future atrocities received a boost during the 2005 UN World Summit, where world leaders affirmed their willingness embrace R2P. In application, R2P has three pillars each with their own unique sense and level of responsibility. Pillar I highlights the obligations by states to shield populations in their jurisdiction against mass atrocities. Pillar II stipulates the role of the international community in assisting states in attaining their goals under pillar I. Pillar III explains how the international community is expected to respond in situations where the state has failed to protect its citizens. In such cases, the international community has at its disposal humanitarian, diplomatic, and coercive or peaceful means of response. The idea of having both the state and the international community play a role in ensuring the protection of people is based on the assumption that the state can in some cases be the source of violence and mass atrocities. Indeed, recent experiences in Syria, Yemen, Ethiopia, and South Sudan have shown that this line of thought is not farfetched. Yet despite having the safeguards of the state and international community as key actors in protecting civilians from mass atrocities, R2P seems to have failed the people of Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Syria, Yemen, Palestine, Libya, Ukraine, Myanmar, and now Sudan.

Some of the obstacles towards the implementation of R2P include growing instances of isolationism, especially by great powers which are increasingly reluctant to intervene in highly risky or less significant (in terms of their national interests) conflict environments. Similarly, the United Nations Security Council, which has the mandate to authorise international interventions, has been turned into a club where permanent members use their veto privilege to protect themselves or their allies. In addition, humanitarian resources are strained and inadequate, leaving some conflicts in a “forgotten” state. This is further worsened by the prioritisation of certain conflicts over others, leaving citizens in some countries, such as Sudan, exposed to the worse forms of mass atrocities...

Endgame Scenarios: The Fate of War in Sudan (Fikra for Studies and Development)

Entering its second year, the prospects for ending the war in Sudan remain elusive. Nevertheless, the potential outcomes will likely align with the following scenarios:

- A complete military victory for the Sudanese army by eliminating the "Rapid Support Forces" militia across Sudan seems improbable...
- The victory of the "Rapid Support Forces" and their control over Sudan is also an unlikely and unrealistic prospect...
- The division of Sudan into two practically independent states, akin to the Libyan model, may be supported by military dynamics on the ground...

These scenarios portend a dire future for Sudan. An absolute victory for the army might temporarily alleviate the Sudanese people's suffering... However, it might also pave the way for a prolonged autocratic rule based on military triumph, quashing the Sudanese revolution's dreams of a civil democratic transition... Militia control over Sudan would equate to fascism's dominance. The "Rapid Support Forces" militia's history of racism and criminality against Sudanese... Sudan's division is a catastrophic scenario leading to a bleak path of further suffering and destruction. It would result in two weakened, beleaguered states, embroiled in ongoing conflict and internal strife, subject to external and regional powers vying for influence. Such instability would foster an environment conducive to the growth of extremist groups, beyond the current political hyperbole...

It’s an open secret: the UAE is fuelling Sudan’s war – and there’ll be no peace until we call it out (Guardian)

The Emirates is arming and supporting one side in the conflict, but UK and US officials have shied from confronting it. The war in Sudan has become one of the worst ongoing humanitarian crises in the world... The United Arab Emirates is the foreign player most invested in the war. In fact, without its direct and all-around support, the RSF would not have been able to wage war to the same extent. Sudan is key to the UAE’s strategy in Africa and the Middle East, aimed at achieving political and economic hegemony while curbing democratic aspirations. Since 2015, it has sourced fighters from both factions to join its conflict in Yemen. It is the primary importer of Sudan’s gold and has multibillion-dollar plans to develop ports along Sudan’s Red Sea coast. By supporting the RSF in Sudan, it has undermined the democratic transition that followed the 2019 ouster of Omar al-Bashir, Sudan’s dictator for 30 years... Upon the outbreak of war, it reportedly established logistical operations to send weapons to the RSF through its networks in Libya, Chad, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Uganda and the Haftar and Wagner militias. It has reportedly disguised armament and supplies as humanitarian aid. In addition, RSF business, finance, logistics and PR operations are carried out from the UAE. Injured fighters are reportedly airlifted to be treated in an Abu Dhabi military hospital. And Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti), the RSF commander, is said to have visited a few African countries on board an Emirati airplane belonging to a company owned by an Emirati royal and adviser to the president. A UN report in January found the accusations of UAE military support to RSF credible...

World ignoring risk of Sudan genocide - UN expert (BBC)

Sudan's Darfur region is facing a growing risk of genocide as the world's attention is focused on conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, a UN expert warns. "We do have circumstances in which a genocide could be occurring or has occurred," the UN Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, told BBC's Newsday programme. She said many civilians were targeted based on their ethnicity in Sudan's besieged city of El Fasher, where fierce fighting has intensified in recent days...

Sudan: The violence is a symptom of a profound collective failure (The Conversation)

The ongoing conflict is an existential threat to the very idea of Sudan, not to be solved by negotiations featuring the usual suspects working on the old power-sharing formula... The consequences of Sudan’s long period under an isolated, violent, war-oriented, and militant Islamist, totalitarian regime have significant implications on the country’s future – indeed, its very existence. Sudan was in miserable shape at the dawn of the 2019 revolution. Decades of economic, social, and cultural isolation, the result of almost 30 years of sanctions, had taken a toll on generations of Sudanese... If a serious and comprehensive political process had been implemented to support Sudan’s transition, the war may have been prevented. Unfortunately, that was not the case. The international community’s engagement with Sudan was minimal and superficial, downplaying the complexity of the third-largest country in Africa, which has struggled with wars and armed conflicts throughout its modern history. Furthermore, acts of impotence (or indifference) by international actors coupled with dangerous military build-ups and the limited capacity of the civilian contingent of the transitional government have manifested in the poorly drafted power-sharing agreement that enabled both Burhan and Hemedti to have the upper hand. This was followed by a sequence of strategic mistakes... Moreover, the civilian government made another significant mistake by failing to hold Al-Bashir and other key actors in his regime accountable or hand them over to the International Criminal Court (ICC) based on their indictment in 2008... this war is a significant turning point, not just for Sudan but also for the Sahel and Horn of Africa regions... It is puzzling to see that many Sudanese civilian politicians and some international actors view the ongoing bloodshed in Sudan as a mere political crisis. They seem to believe that the two generals hold the solution to this crisis. They are, therefore, hoping to recycle the same old power-sharing formula when seats at the political table are reserved for the men in uniform responsible for the violence and atrocities, adding subordinate civilian men under the pretext of political transition. In my opinion, any power-sharing agreement that brings back the old faces is a recipe for war...

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