What about Sudan?

by Sheldon Waithe

Israel continues its march of destruction, inflicting genocide upon its neighbours, reducing their land to rubble while pretending not to target the next generation of Palestinians - in Palestine - by killing women and children.

Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin continues his vision of yesteryear, of the Soviet Union that shaped his psyche, when Ukraine belonged to Moscow.

Rightfully, these conflicts and their reverberations, have dominated world news. Add the anxiety and bacchanalia of a US election where the world waits to see if America can cross that invisible boundary to execute what nations like Trinidad & Tobago, Germany, India, the UK, Barbados and Dominica have done in electing a female leader, or chose the orange option (physical jibes are politically incorrect but in this case we’ll make an exception), there is little room to draw attention to other struggles.

Take a look a little further south, down from war-torn Palestine, past Egypt and Eritrea, then cast your gaze upon Sudan. It is a nation in the throes of anguish, where over 11 million people have fled a civil war and over 2 million have become refugees in neighbouring countries such as Chad, that can barely support their own people, far less a mass influx of desperate humans.

For those yet to flee, in their homeland over 90% of the population are either facing famine or already living in it. The lack of food and water is not only due to the effects of war, its worse than that. It is due to starvation tactics being undertaken by both sides in the civil war.

Unsurprisingly, United Nations’ staff stationed at the camps have appealed for further aid. While Ukraine receives numerous cheques for billions of dollars to arm itself and every expensive missile that destroys another Palestinian settlement is emblazoned with ‘Made in USA’, UN staff have stated that they need $1.51 billion (US) to shelter and feed the Sudanese refugees.

Thus far, they have only received 27% of that required sum.

‘On the brink’ does not paint the right picture of the situation, in fact that statement can be used in the past tense for a disaster that has been mushrooming for a year and a half.

Say ‘Darfur’ and most people will recognize the name, from brief mentions in the news, part of the also-ran summaries that play second fiddle in the media. Few recognize the main issue, perhaps because once again the catalyst is yet another instance of paramilitary forces running riot in a third world nation.

Few would know that this latest humanitarian disaster has two warlords masquerading as Generals, leading two militarized factions, at its core. Each side is not only intent on treating its countrymen as collateral damage in their lust for power but are also using weapons supplied by China, Russia, Turkey and Serbia to undertake the heinous practice of blocking what little humanitarian aid is being sent to Sudan.

General Mohamed Dagalo and General Fattah al-Burnham’s opposing actions since April 2023 should be attracting major attention from the media and the political powerbrokers of the world. In the case of Dagalo, his military group have been terrorizing the Sudanese people with unspeakable atrocities since 2013. When al-Burham’s – the country’s d facto leader with ruling power over the official army – side decided to eliminate the Dagalo’s faction of the military, attempts to form a democratically led government quickly gave way to the chaos that we see today.

A chaos that is being ignored to the future detriment of Africa and eventually, the world’s richer nations.

Immigration and refugees have become a hot political topic for all countries; it is dictating policy and garnering votes. Brexit may have been driven by inaccurate figures and some misinformation, but a large part of the result was down to growing fears over refugees entering Europe and by extension, the UK.

‘Trump’s wall’ is an eternal part of his manifesto dating back to 2016 when he won the Presidency and is championed in his 2024 campaign. It is in the self-interest for these nations to pay greater attention to Sudan because the consequences in the near future include the mass exodus of refugees towards the richer nations. A magnification of the current situation, which is already too much to handle.

There is a sliding scale of concern, where the hierarchy of the Middle East and Russia/Ukraine wars take top billing due to political interests, natural resources and economic gain. What can Sudan offer the world for it to wake up and care enough?

Ironically, October 2024 marks 40 years since the world was shocked by African strife and acted with unprecedented levels of concern that turned into care and positive results. The 1984 images of famine in Ethiopia, with flies landing on children too weak to swat them away, was almost biblical, pestilence in modern times.

Cue Live Aid, with the pressure on the richer nations to act and save lives, though after a million people already died of famine. A new era of altruism was born, as people understood, whether out of higher consciousness or guilt, the need to act.

Now, the images no longer shock because the world has become accustomed to seeing African people suffer in UN tents, with a psychological distance so far removed that these people may as well be suffering on another planet. While the world grapples with the current big two conflicts, it must ask itself “What about Sudan?”

Sheldon Waithe is the Creative Director at Communique Media Services Ltd website: communiquett.com