With all eyes on Gaza, a lot of the attention is diverted from other major crises occurring around the world, especially in countries like Sudan. Today, the conflict in Sudan continues to rage as civilians continue to be killed and displaced after six months of conflict. With the death toll reaching more than 9000 and with over 5.8 million people forcibly displaced from their homes, the crisis is only escalating.
Since April 2023, violence escalated between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) over security force reform during negotiations for a new transitional government. Since then, the entire country has been placed in a state of war. In the past couple of months, shocking and devastating acts of violence have been plaguing the country.
Possible Ethnic Cleansing In West Darfur
Just recently, thousands of people were forced to flee West Darfur because of fear of ethnic cleansing, knowing that the RSF took over the army headquarters in West Darfur capital of El Geneina. Since the RSF captured El Geneina, the RSF along with allied Arab militias have been killing ethnic Masalit people as well as looting their homes and raping their women. There are also reports that the RSF attacked a camp in Edramta housing internally displaced citizens, killing off 800.
Escaping To Chad
To escape the violence, many people have had to rely on fleeing to other countries. More than 7000 women and children have crossed into Chad in the past three days. When looking at the past 6 months, the total number of people who fled to Chad is a staggering 450,000. The issue is that even if many escaped, thousands are still trapped in Darfur, struggling to find shelter and not having access to food, clean water and other basic essentials.
Danger To People In Jazirah State
Along with Darfur, the ongoing violence has also been taking place in Khartoum which has not seen one day of respite since the war began. In recent weeks, the violence continued to extend to other parts of Sudan, moving further south and threatening the safety of more than 366,000 people seeking shelter in Al Jazirah state which is just south of the capital.
The Sudanese people are in a current state of fear as the RSF are planning on setting up checkpoints along the road between Khartoum and the Jazira State capital Wad Madani to monitor movement.
What Is Being Done To Help
Recently, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and his counterpart President Salva Kiir held a talk concerning the Sudanese crisis at the presidential palace. Both presidents agreed that more effort needs to be applied and more communication with the relevant parties within Sudan need to be made to find solutions to the crisis.
When it comes to the media, more attention needs to be given to the ongoing crisis. The Sudanese conflict may not be making headlines like before but that in no way implies that the crisis is over and doesn’t deserve attention.
