This year, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) named Sudan the top country enduring disastrous humanitarian crises. Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, faces incessant conflict that has ravaged the city of its factories and stores. ACAPS (an independent humanitarian analysis non-profit) rated Sudan’s humanitarian access constraints as a five out of five, and the country currently has the largest number of displaced people and the largest child displacement crisis in the world. Since Sudan’s civil violence started, The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), has reported more than fifteen thousand fatalities within the country. Yet, Sudan, like many other underrepresented countries, falls beneath the public eye under the mass of alternate geopolitical priorities that consume our world. The complexity of Sudan’s deleterious circumstances and consequential laziness or discouragement from the general public to investigate only assist in the country’s neglect. What people don’t seem to recognize, though, is that this harmful practice of neglect extends far beyond just Sudan itself. Perpetuating ignorance risks a cycle of forgetting that affects all of us.
Primarily, what is happening in Sudan?
The civil war comprises two main groups: The Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The SAF includes Sudan’s army, air force, and navy, and represents the country’s official military force. The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces is a little more complicated. In 1989, Omar al-Bashir was able to appoint himself as head of state, following the ousting of former Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi with the help of a military coup. He took on a presidential role in 1993. Hoping to solidify his regime, al-Bashir later proceeded to advance his henchmen in Darfur into what would make up the RSF. This force would protect him from possible coups and rivals. However, in April 2019, Army Chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF’s leader, known as Hemetti, ousted al-Bashir, just as the latter did al-Mahdi. On the 11th, al-Bashir was arrested by the Sudanese army, which seized control for the following two years. Regardless, the Rapid Support Forces still sought dominance over the country. This power struggle between the SAF and RSF barreled into what has been a year now of severe civil war. Even though Sudan has made its way into various news outlets, much of America is still ignorant of the crisis at hand.
This is a result of, most prominently, a fear of putting other initiatives in jeopardy, and an eye toward what is perceived as more pressing issues. Resources like oil and water are often key points of control for global allies and countries. There likely exists a nervous sentiment in these countries that involvement with humanitarian crises that seemingly do not affect them will offset their pursuit of important resources. However, what is ultimately the most important resource is the preservation of the human race. Our world is rightfully concerned with matters including climate change (even so, not enough), Artificial Intelligence security, and European tensions. While these issues are exponentially crucial to address, the neglect of humanitarian crises like that in Sudan risks a greater scope impact, too. As Sudanese people continue to die over the conflict between the SAF and RSF, and the country wanes into ashes, those who choose to look away send a message to everyone: that humanitarian crises can be ignored. Sudan, of course, is not the first time we have sent such a message. A perpetual cycle of overlooked events is evident in the Bengal Famine in 1943, resulting in roughly three million fatalities, the Rwandan Genocide, where more than one million people perished and at least one hundred fifty thousand women raped, the Holodomor, the Congo Free State, the Mau Mau Uprising, and so many more. It is when we cease to speak of these humanitarian violations or fail to speak of them at all that we ensure their repetition. These violations can also run the risk of extended destabilization, as neighboring countries are forced to face the impacts of nearby war, conflict, and disease. Human rights make up the crux of how we coexist, so naturally, when they are threatened, our coexistence is, too.
If we hope to tackle the many other issues that our world faces, we must recognize that a global problem requires global cooperation. The ruinous conflicts and humanitarian violations that occur in countries beyond our own are just as important, and we must learn and probe them so as not to let them slip into absolution. Humanitarian crises in places like Sudan can seem incredibly out of reach to aid. However, as the problems in Sudan are not unparalleled, one’s own discourse and call to action from higher authority can mean a greater difference. Cease-fire initiatives from the United States and Saudi Arabia are struggling to gain the proper momentum to help Sudan. In 2023, the U.N. sought to build a humanitarian response plan in aid of the country — an endeavor that was left merely 39 percent funded, with almost 55 percent of that coming from the U.S. Until more countries and more people recognize that these humanitarian crises are greater than the country they exist in, they will continue to face neglect and become excluded from a force of global action.
