SUDAN'S TWO WARLORDS: The Worst Displacement And Humanitarian Crisis Yet
Amidst the ongoing war in the Middle East and Ukraine, the rise of anti-government protests, mass migration and general global tensions, there is a "forgotten" war that is yet to garner as much media coverage. Two strategic events took place in the U.S. this week, to bring the much needed attention to the ongoing war in Sudan.
By Oyiza Adaba, New York
Amidst the ongoing war in the Middle East and Ukraine, the rise of anti-government protests, mass migration and general global tensions, there is a "forgotten" war that is yet to garner as much media coverage. Two strategic events took place in the U.S. this week, to bring the much needed attention to the ongoing war in Sudan
Stock Photo: Tom Rogers @tomtookaphoto
Rival factions fighting in Sudan's two-year war that started on 15 April 2023, have brought the central African country to its knees in one of the worst displacement and humanitarian crises ever seen. The Sudanese Armed Forces under Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces under the Janjaweed leader, Hemedti are complicit in causing mass migration that has triggered famine in some parts of the country.
Screenshot: Washington Post Live
On July 30th, U.S. media giant, Washington Post hosted a live conversation on Sudan's current situation. The forum enabled top diplomats and humanitarian experts to come together and proffer solutions to a crisis, "forgotten". At this gathering, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, together with top global experts like Comfort Ero, President & CEO, International Crisis Group, participated in the discussion.
World Vision CEO, Edgar Sandoval Sr. has described it as "the largest humanitarian and hunger crisis in the world", because the warring factions continue to block humanitarian aid, have weaponized food and play the blame game with each other.
In a separate development on July 31, 2024, the Sudanese American Physicians Association (SAPA) held a press briefing with members of the foreign press, to drive home some hard-hitting, first-hand facts about the ongoing conflict.
Dr. Yasir Elamin, a Sudanese/American is an assistant professor in the Department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, at the University of Texas MD Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, and president of SAPA. He and his colleagues conducts regular medical missions to the region, with his last trip being June 2024. His words paint a grim and desperate picture.
“The health care system in Sudan has been devastated. Almost 70 percent of healthcare facilities are damaged or non-operational, often targeted in attacks. Tragically, at least 30 healthcare professionals have lost their lives since the conflict began. Access to aid and information is frequently obstructed, compounding the crisis.”
Ms. Razan Zaroug, a planning, monitoring & evaluation specialist with the Sudanese American Physicians Association based in Sudan reiterated Elamin’s points, highlighting the immediate danger for the mission's ground team which creates strategic and operational plans, monitors and evaluates implementation and impact.
With the backdrop of a potentially expanded war or a negotiated peace, 4 million Sudanese children are acutely malnourished, parts of the country are on the brink of famine and up to 25.6 million people are facing food insecurity.
According to the U.S Department of State, the total U.S. humanitarian assistance for the Sudan emergency response was nearly $710 million in Fiscal Year 2023.
In January 2024, The United States. brought sanctions on funding sources fueling the conflict. Clearly, more needs to be done. How Sudan continues to fall under the world's radar in the shadow of other topical news items like the Middle East and Ukraine, is best summed by Amb. Greenfield…
“It’s Africa and people don’t pay as much attention to Africa as they pay to other parts of the world.”
SUDAN: SAF & RSF GUILTY of War Crimes and Ethnic Cleansing, Says U.S
Africa Regional Media Hub held a digital press briefing with the U.S. Department of State’s Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice, Beth Van Schaack, to discuss war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing in the “needless and unconscionable conflict” in Sudan.
Oyiza Adaba, New York
Effects and devastation of war. File Photo:Levi Meir Clancy @levimeirclancy
SUDAN
“10,000 Killed
Over 6.8 million Displaced”
December 14, 2023
Africa Regional Media Hub held a digital press briefing with the U.S. Department of State’s Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice, Beth Van Schaack, to discuss war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing in the “needless and unconscionable conflict” in Sudan.
Last week, U.S Secretary of State Antony Blinken made the determination that members of the fighting groups Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) “have unleashed horrific violence, death, and destruction across Sudan. Civilians have borne the brunt of this needless conflict.” Below are the links to the audio and video recordings of the briefing.
“The atrocities today are an ominous reminder of the prior genocide ”
Highlights
A needless and unconscionable conflict by the same perpetrators, the same communities being targeted in the same patterns of criminality
Human Rights Concerns and abuses:
Gender-based Violence: The war has also been waged on the bodies of women and girls who have been terrorized by deliberate systemic sexual violence
U.S has provided nearly $895 million in total humanitarian assistance in fiscal year 2023 through USAID, the Department of State's Bureau of Population Refugees and Migration and other sources;
U.S to rally the international community to help in the violence, address the humanitarian crisis, and promote justice for survivors and victims
The Human Rights Council in Geneva planned an independent investigation committee that was rejected by the Sudanese government
ICC does not have a mandate to work in the current conflict
Audio/Soundcloud Link
Watch full video here