The political dispute between two Sudanese military generals who took to arms because they opposed being integrated, according to a transition plan to free elections following the ousting of long-ruling autocrat Omar al-Bahsir in 2019, has resulted in what is widely acknowledged as “the largest internal displacement crisis in the world.”
With agriculture in ruins and the country’s banks robbed and emptied, famine is a reality, with many vulnerable people already dead from starvation, including babies, while relief efforts remain blocked by fighting.
A report by the aid group Medecins Sans Frontiers, that accused the warring parties – the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces – of “blatant disregard” for human life and international law, detailed the horrendous levels of violence suffered by Sudanese civilians since the beginning of the war in April 2023.
MSF teams that managed to reach thousands of war wounded in areas affected by bombing, shelling of residential homes and essential infrastructure, said the physical and mental wounds of violence have been exacerbated by the collapse of the health system and the lack of an international humanitarian response.
They said that across Sudan, people’s access to lifesaving care has been drastically affected due to shortages, widespread obstruction and looting of medical supplies, insecurity and attacks against patients and medical staff, as well as damage to healthcare infrastructure.
15 months into the widely ignored conflict, survivors reportedly tell of pervasive sexual, gender-based and ethnic violence, of stories of inhuman treatment perpetrated by armed groups on civilians, of forced evictions, looting and arson amid a total lack of protection services. All mediation efforts have failed to bring a halt to the hostilities.