The situation in Sudan

There is not much news, and the little that there is is not very optimistic. The war in the country began in April 2023 and is still raging. But the army under General Burhan seems to be gradually gaining the upper hand over the RSF militias, at least around the capital Khartoum. But: more than 12 million people are on the run, most of them within Sudan, tens of thousands have been killed and the country is facing a catastrophic famine. And in the west of the country, in Darfur, the particularly violent RSF still rule.

Background:

Sudan is a country in north-east Africa, five times the size of Germany and home to almost 50 million people. The country is characterized by aridity and is largely located in the Sahara or on its southern edge, the Sahel region.

Sudan was a British colony until 1956, and there has been political unrest in the country since independence. An almost 50-year civil war between the predominantly Christian south and the Muslim north ended in 2011 with the independence of South Sudan.

However, uprisings also repeatedly broke out in other regions of the country, the most famous and most momentous in 2003 in Darfur in the west of the country. This region alone is as big as France.

The background to the conflict was a dispute over the distribution of water and grazing land between nomads and farmers. The government under Omar al Bashir supported the nomads and equipped them with weapons, the consequences were dramatic. The armed riders of the nomads, the Janjaweed, attacked thousands of villages on horseback and camels, burned them down, killed the inhabitants, looted or destroyed the supplies. Almost 400,000 people fell victim to the attacks and half of Darfur’s six million inhabitants were forced to flee. Most of them sought refuge in huge camps within the country. The civil war continues even after more than 20 years. The refugee camps have now developed into ghettos, as there is hardly any prospect for people to return to their villages.

In 2019, the long-term dictator Omar al Bashir was deposed by the military following mass protests by the Sudanese population, and civilian groups and the army formed a transitional government. However, in October 2021, the military under General Abdel Fatah Burhan staged another coup and made him the de facto head of government. Following mass demonstrations and international pressure, a new transitional government was formed between the military and civilian politicians in December 2022, with the aim of holding free elections in 2024.

In April 2023, however, a power struggle broke out between Burhan and his powerful deputy Mohammed Hamadan Daglo, known as Hemeti, the former leader of the Janjaweed. He is now head of the so-called RSF, a militia of one hundred thousand men, and is fighting with the army, which is roughly as strong in numbers. The conflict is being carried out on the backs of the population. The power struggle is barely noticed by the international community. Although supplies in the country have almost completely collapsed, international aid organizations have hardly any access to the people.

Fighting is also raging again in Darfur, Hemeti’s homeland, where his militias are terrorizing the civilian population.

Saraf Oumra, the small town in the west of the country, and the village of Karakoulle, which is attached to it, have so far been little affected by the fighting. Nevertheless, the situation is difficult, contact with the outside world is difficult, telephone and internet connections are repeatedly interrupted or switched off. Nevertheless, the people of Karakoulle have finished building their school despite the war. 100 girls and boys have been taught since then. They need our support more urgently than ever.