Global Health Justice

July 14, 2023

International Double Standards in Humanity: The War in Sudan

By Sonyta Saad

The accumulating tension over power between the two main military factions in Sudan,  finally erupted as literal hell on earth in the early morning of April 15th, 2023, traumatizing the entire nation and sending thousands fleeing the capital city of Khartoum and the country1. Intense and violent clashes took place in cities across the country, with total disregard for civilians who were neither alerted nor provided with safe evacuation routes.

The two generals who once jointly directed the government continue fighting each other and creating murderous havoc in Sudan. After the populace forced out corrupt president al-Bashir in 2019, a military authority took power and formed a joint military-civilian government that was to transition to civilian rule. But in 2021, the Sudanese military, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, took control of the government in a military coup. His deputy was General Mohamed Hamden Dagalo, commander of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). In the weeks before the conflict broke out, the two generals met with foreign mediators and made pledges to hand over power to a civilian-led democracy. The United States and Britain, as well as the United Nations, and African and Arab governments, all ignored the personnel carriers and tanks that were rolling down the streets of Khartoum. If they had called the generals out and threatened to apply sanctions, the war might well have been averted.

As of July 2023, it has been reported that nearly 1,000 people have lost their lives in this violent war, and thousands more have been injured.  The health system has collapsed2. Over two million Sudanese have been internally displaced as a consequence of the conflict3. Those trapped in the capital have almost no access to health services.

             

These numbers are potentially underestimated because of the conflicting statements released by both parties in conflict and the overflow of disinformation. Nor do they account for the thousands of lives lost in the violent escalations taking place in the West of the country where there is loss of telecommunication coverage4. The World Health Organization reports that 60% of hospitals in the country are out of service, some as a result of proximity to the conflict-affected areas and others that were bombed and forced to evict patients5. In early May, the militia of the RSF occupied 22 hospitals across Khartoum as operation bases, seized control of the national medical supply warehouses6, and further extended this destruction of the health system by burning to the ground the national medical supply warehouse in Nyala, South Darfur7.

The West’s differential treatment to humanitarian catastrophe has become abundantly clear. The war in Sudan is approached as an isolated internal conflict. The Sudanese people are bearing its brunt and surviving the aftermath. Yet at the same time, the international community’s shock and outrage has reverberated in the public showcasing of solidarity with Ukraine, including swift sanctions on Russia and the United Nations Security Council’s marathons of emergency sessions. No comparable news coverage has been extended to the Sudanese people. The international support for the Ukrainian people to flee the violent invasion and practice their right to a dignified life seems out of reach for the Sudanese people. Instead, they are reliant on their devices, with inadequate and constrained humanitarian relief. Collaboration between those in the country and supporters abroad has assisted in the evacuation and reporting on the atrocities being committed by both warring factions – but this is not nearly enough8. While the UK opened its borders to Ukrainians and pledged unwavering support to the people, the same borders were firmly shut in the faces of Sudanese people attempting to flee the war9.  The UK managed to establish a Ukrainian Family Scheme within a month of the invasion, but the same UK, Sudan’s previous colonial master – from which Sudan gained independence in 1956 – has refused to evacuate a UK passport holder with the rest of her family because of the visa status of her husband10. And the same UK abandoned an 85-year-old wounded passport holder and his disabled wife11.

             

The foot-dragging attitude of the international community toward taking definitive steps to stop the bloodshed and coordinate transparent and wide-reaching immediate humanitarian relief must be called out. Half measures such as periodic condemnation of human rights violations, calling for reports and “independent” investigations, are not enough. Endorsing pseudo-ceasefires, that are repeatedly announced to formal news outlets and effectively violated on the ground by both parties12, are all quite ill-fitted responses to a catastrophe with this magnitude. The conflict has already aggressively proliferated and morphed into ethnic targeting and cleansing of non-Arab tribes in the west of the country in Darfur, where the RSF and affiliated militia are not only scorching the land and entrapping everyone in it, but also brazenly documenting their own crimes against civilians and officials on social media with impunity. They are committing a second genocide after the genocide of 20 years ago, in the same place, against the same people13.

Sudan is a fragile state that has long struggled with armed violence and conflict. It is critically located in the Horn of Africa, connecting the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa. Sudan neighbors Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Chad, and Libya, all countries with current or potential instability.  Sudan’s violent war could have dangerous potential to exacerbate these conditions.

     

What can be done?  Wealthy nations can do for Sudan what they are doing for civilians in Ukraine, including easing entry onto their shores for folks fleeing the violence. Civilian officials responsible for healthcare and social welfare can identify needs that could be met by the wealthy countries. Economic sanctions can be put against the generals and their aides. And the global community should demand that Russia stop aiding the RSF forces, including an embargo on Sudanese gold that helps not only the RSF but the Russian aggression in Ukraine14. Western countries must change their approach in selectively bestowing attention to humanitarian crises and atrocities. All people, regardless of skin color or nationality, deserve to be treated equally and shown the same level of compassion and humanity.

 

Written by Sonyta Saad, pictured above

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  1. Guardian News and Media. (2023, April 27). Sudan Conflict: Why is there fighting and what is at stake in the region? The Guardian. Retrieved May 4, 2023, from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/27/sudan-conflict-why-is-there-fighting-what-is-at-stake
  2. Abdel-Rahim, A. (2023, June 18). Airstrike kills 17 Sudanese civilians in Khartoum. Anadolu Ajansı. https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/airstrike-kills-17-sudanese-civilians-in-khartoum/2925266 
  3. International Organization for Migration (IOM), Jun 14 2023. DTM Sudan — Displacement Situation (8) — 13 June 2023. IOM, Sudan. 
  4. Reuters. (2023, June 14). Sudan’s western cities under fire as war spreads. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/darfur-cities-under-fire-sudanese-war-spreads-2023-06-14/ 
  5. Ibrahim, A., & Mohamed, H. (2023, April 26). At least 60 percent of Khartoum Health Centres Shut: Who. Conflict News | Al Jazeera. Retrieved May 4, 2023, from https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2023/4/26/sudan-live-news-truce-violations-worsen-civilian-suffering
  6. Nashed, M. (2023, May 7). Sudan residents describe raids, evictions by RSF soldiers. Conflict News | Al Jazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/5/7/sudan-residents-describe-looting-evictions-by-rsf 
  7. Pietromarchi, V. (2023, May 5). “an imminent catastrophe”: Healthcare disaster looms in Darfur. News | Al Jazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/5/5/imminent-catastrophe-healthcare-distaster-looms-darfur?traffic_source=KeepReading 
  8. Nashed, M. (2023, April 22). Activists mobilise in Sudan as crisis escalates. News | Al Jazeera. Retrieved May 4, 2023, from https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/22/sudan-resistance-activists-mobilise-as-crisis-escalates 
  9. Townsend, M. (2023, May 7). Home Office accused of being “unashamedly racist” towards Sudanese. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/07/home-office-accused-of-being-unashamedly-racist-towards-sudanese?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
  10. Nimmo, B. (2023, May 2). Sudan fighting: Oxford family not all allowed on rescue flight. BBC News. Retrieved May 4, 2023, from https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-65455462
  11. BBC. (n.d.). Sudan conflict: Brit who lived by embassy left without help. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-65708358.amp
  12. Al Jazeera. (2023, April 30). Fighting continues in Sudan despite new ceasefire extension. Conflict News | Al Jazeera. Retrieved May 4, 2023, from https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/30/sudan-sides-trade-blame-fight-on-despite-ceasefire
  13. Al Jazeera. (2023, June 15). West Darfur governor abducted, killed as war in Sudan spreads. Conflict News | Al Jazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/6/15/west-darfur-governor-abducted-killed-as-war-in-sudan-spreads 
  14. Elbagir, N., Mezzofiore, G., Qiblawi, T., & Arvanitidis, B. (2023, April 21). Exclusive: Evidence emerges of Russia’s Wagner arming militia leader battling Sudan’s Army. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/20/africa/wagner-sudan-russia-libya-intl/index.html
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