The Sudan crisis in 2024 and what you need to know

Background

Sudan is a beautiful country in northeast Africa, just south of Egypt on the coast of the Red Sea. The country sits at the crossroads of Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. This is one of the more culturally and ethnically diverse countries in the world. Over 50 million people live here and it is the third largest country in Africa by area.

A civil war broke out in Sudan in April 2023 between the national army and a renegade paramilitary force:

• The Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) – the country’s official military that includes the army, air force, and navy.
• The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – a regional paramilitary group created by a previous military regime.

A variety of intelligence units, police forces, and local militias have taken sides in the conflict as well. The RSF also hires mercenaries from across the Sahel. Some of Sudan’s rebel groups from previous wars have taken sides, while others have remained neutral and are defending their own territory and people groups.

Today, the RSF controls almost all of western Sudan and parts of central Sudan including Khartoum. SAF controls the north and east of the country and parts of central Sudan. The past few months have seen mostly limited territorial gains and losses with two major RSF breakthroughs in south-central and south-eastern parts of the country. It appears neither side can achieve a decisive victory anytime soon. And it is the Sudanese people who are bearing the heaviest burdens.

Sudan is home to the largest and most dangerous humanitarian emergency, far outpacing every other crisis in the world.

Extreme violence has gutted the capital city of Khartoum. Countless towns and villages are being destroyed. Many farmers cannot work. The economy has disintegrated and prices of basic goods are skyrocketing. Most schools are closed.

But this war is not just between two armed groups; it is also a war on the Sudanese people.

The RSF is targeting ethnic African minorities for extermination and SAF is blocking aid access to large swaths of the country.

War crimes are being committed on a large-scale by both sides. The result?

-Nearly 26 million Sudanese —half of the entire country— are facing high levels of acute food insecurity. 14 area famine warnings have been issued and over 750,000 Sudanese are already trying to survive in famine conditions.

-Nearly 11 million people have been forced to flee their homes or have left Sudan altogether.

-Over 70% of Sudan’s healthcare system has collapsed and preventable disease outbreaks are becoming common.

-Over 19 million children of school-going age no longer have a classroom to attend.

No one knows the true death toll due to ongoing violence, but a conservative estimate based on available data suggests more than 75,000 people have already perished from violence and hunger.

Why are SAF and RSF fighting?

SAF and RSF used to be allies, but that changed after they overthrew a civilian reform government in October 2021. RSF commander Mohamed Dagalo (aka Hemeti) sees himself as Sudan’s rightful dictator, while SAF generals believe they are the true government. It’s worth noting that the vast majority of Sudanese want neither in charge of the country.

There are also significant ethnic dimensions in this war that cannot be ignored:

• RSF- Top RSF commanders and most of their fighters hail from Arab tribes in the western Darfur region. Many RSF fighters adhere to an extremely racist, Arab-supremacist ideology. The belief system states that Darfur’s historic African tribal groups must be cleansed from the region and that all other Sudanese Arabs are inferior.
• SAF – Top army brass are mostly Nile Valley Arabs, representing the most elite and privileged ethnic groups in the country. Unlike the RSF, the army is a fairly diverse force with soldiers from most parts of the country. Arab racism toward African tribes does exist in SAF, which explains why members of the force have executed civilians on an ethnic basis as well.

Gunfire between the two sides erupted in Khartoum on April 15, 2023. Both sides failed to decapitate each others’ leadership and extreme warfare quickly spread across the country.

Why isn’t Sudan in the news?

The crisis in Sudan deserves the intense coverage that Israel/Gaza and Ukraine have received, especially considering the scale of human suffering eclipses both of those conflicts…combined. This rarely gets coverage for multiple reasons:

1. The army and RSF have destroyed or cut cell networks and internet access in parts of the country, making it harder for ordinary Sudanese to get news out into the world.
2. The global diplomatic, humanitarian, and peacekeeping presence in Sudan has declined precipitously in previous years. There are few international eyes and ears on the ground who have the ability to get information to major news outlets abroad.
3. Western news agencies —American ones especially— have largely looked away following embassy evacuations from Khartoum in the early days of the war. Other international crises are treated as being more important for complex reasons, including how they affect U.S. politics, what drives clicks and revenue, the social media zeitgeist, and a general lack of interest in Africa.

There has been some solid reporting on Sudan in western media outlets, but rarely in a sustained or featured way that helps people stay engaged.

What are world leaders doing to stop the war?

Most world leaders have barely noticed the catastrophe unfolding in Sudan. The few diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire have failed. International aid efforts are only 41% funded for all of 2024, and it is now well over halfway through the year. This means that acute hunger is being felt in the refugee camps outside of Sudan too —where it is much easier to get aid in— simply because there is not enough attention.

The United States recently launched the Aligned for Advancing Lifesaving and Peace in Sudan (ALPS) Group to coordinate global action and secure a ceasefire and full humanitarian access. The initiative has provided a small boost to humanitarian funding and opened very limited aid access, but nowhere near enough to match the scale of the emergency. Meanwhile, some countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Iran, and Russia are making the crisis worse by funneling weapons to one of the two sides.

Domestically, a coalition of Sudanese civilian groups led by former prime minister Abdalla Hamdok —who was overthrown in the 2021 coup— has emerged to serve as a credible alternative to SAF and RSF. Ordinary Sudanese across the country are trying to help their neighbors survive every day by running public kitchens for the hungry. The international community could and should be doing much more to support the Sudanese people directly, including throwing its full weight behind Sudanese citizen initiatives to pull their country back from the brink of failed statehood.

Operations Broken Silence is building a global movement to empower the Sudanese people through innovative programs as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. For over a decade, we’ve allied people just like you with incredible Sudanese heroes on the ground. Your generosity will help these brave people save and change lives in the days ahead.