Sudan War: Years On, Cries Of Genocide Remain Unheard

For almost three days, gunmen went from home to home in a refugee camp in Darfur, Sudan, looking for Masalit men and killing them. This was early this month as the war in the North African country rages on with more than 10,000 people estimated to have been killed so far, and 4.8 million displaced internally, with another 1.2 million fleeing to neighbouring countries.

In Sudan, the tussle of power between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) under Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Rapid Support Forces (RAF) under Lt Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, has catapulted into a war for the past seven months filling the streets with corpses as terrified people crowd into what appears to be a mass grave.

Early this month, more than 1,000 of the Masalit community are believed to have been killed by the RAF and other allied Arab militants. Besides, reports of enslaving women and men have seen a steep rise.

Sudan has witnessed 15 military coups since its independence in 1956 with two civil wars claiming more than 1.5 million lives. With fresh tensions breaking out between the two clashing parties in April, early this year, the situation in Sudan has stoked fears of another 2003-like genocide. The current situation has led the European Union to warn that the world cannot allow a repeat of the genocide of the early 2000s, through which the Janjaweed militia rose, later formalising into the RSF, reports the Guardian. Earlier this month, Clementine Nkweta-Salami, the UN humanitarian coordinator for the country, said that the violence against civilians is “verging on pure evil”.

However, the war that has been ongoing below the eye line seems to receive minimal interest against the ongoing war on Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine which has rightfully been taken up by the global media. The threatening environment of the country has made it nearly impossible for the media to reach the grounds.

While one wonders whether there’s an end to this genocide in Sudan, it cannot be missed what causes the lack of it -- a dearth of international engagement and the silence of the West --- a precarious situation sweeping most of the world’s war-torn regions, today. The response of Western democracies to civilian killings in Sudan, Ukraine and that of Palestinians in Gaza has exposed their double standards.