Violence spread from Khartoum to other parts of Sudan. Picture used for illustrative purposes only.

It was on April 15, 2023 that the Sudanese army under Abdel Al-Fattah Al-Burhan and the para-military Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, had begun to fight each other, and people had to feel. Different parts of the capital, Khartoum, were now controlled by the army and the RSF.

The ordinary people, the civilians, were caught in the crossfire. Sudan’s democratic forces had toppled long-time autocratic leader Omar Al-Bashir in 2019, but soon the army and RSF had replaced the provisional democratic set-up. But the two groups had fallen out with each other last April, forcing thousands to leave Khartoum and other parts of Sudan and seek refuge in neighbouring countries like Egypt, Chad and South Sudan. There were thousands more who could not leave the country, but they were internally replaced as businesses shut down and there were no jobs to be had. According to international aid agencies, the internal refugees now count 8.5 million people, and five million children are on the brink of starvation. 

Violence spread from Khartoum to other parts of Sudan, including the western region of Darfur and the state of Gezira, with its main city of Wad Madani. It is also the agricultural hub of the country. But people who sped from Khartoum to Wad Madani faced a second bout of violence and uprooting when the RSF entered the city.

There is the fear that as the health system in Sudan has broken down because of the fighting between the army and RSF, there is the danger of measles and cholera. The perception among aid agencies is that the crisis caused by the civil war in Sudan is getting overshadowed by the wars in Ukraine and in Gaza, and the worsening plight of the millions of refugees goes literally unreported, and no aid is rushed to them. Sudan, the third largest country in Africa, has witnessed civil strife for many decades now, including the ethnic cleansing in Darfur under Al-Bashir and the militants.

European diplomats met in Paris on Monday to raise funds for humanitarian aid to displaced Sudanese. Germany had announced aid of 244 million euros ($260m). German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said, “We can manage together to avoid a terrible famine catastrophe, but only if we get active together now.” French Foreign Minister Stephane Sojourne said, “For a year the Sudanese people have been victims of a terrible war.” She added that they suffered from “being forgotten” and “indifference”. She reminded the European diplomats at the conference, “This is the reason for our meetings today: to break the silence surrounding this conflict and mobilise the international community.” The US is expected to pledge $100 million. But this falls far short of the $.27 billion needed to help the 24 million affected Sudanese out of the total population of 51 million, who require food and health care.

The international aid agencies have managed to rustle up a mere $145 million so far. Justin Brady, head of the United Nations humanitarian coordination office for Sudan (OCHA) remarked bitterly, “This is going to get very ugly very quickly unless we can overcome bot the resource challenges and access challenges.” He emphasised that the two factions have to be pressurised to stop the war, and humanitarian aid needs to be reached to the affected people. The UNICEF, the UN agency dealing with children in its April 14 report, said, “Sudan now has one of the worst education crises in the world more than 90 per cent of the country’s 19 million school-age children having no access to formal education. The ongoing disruption to education will result in a generational crisis for Sudan.”