Photo: the beautiful flag of Sudan
Today marks 1st anniversary of the devastating war in Sudan. I worked in Sudan in 2021 for 6 months and never in my wildest immagination did i thought the country would turn into this sitaution in 2 years. Sure, the political situation was tense with coups and protests but the all out war that we have witnessed in April 15 2023 was not on the cards.
Today the situation in Sudan is dire and catastrophic, as of today, 25 million people -- more than half of Sudan's total population need humanitarian assistance, 14.8 million Sudanese are displaced either within in Sudan as internally displaced persons (IDPs) or refugees to neighbouring countires, entire families are uprooted and rights abuses of any kind have been commited in this vast and beatiful land.
tens and thousands of civilians have been killed or injured, public infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, access to basic services has sharply declined, economic activity has plummeted, and food insecurity and malnutrition have surged in less than one year.
Sometime you would wonder the capacity to do evil trumphs over the propensity to do good. in many instances the consequences are very tragic, Sudan migtht never be the same due to the actions of two men who could sit and avert disaster, they choose the parrel of the gun and brought the suffering of the entire nation of 50 million people.
I have seen many conflict affected countries, once you break that bond, its like an egg shell - it will never be the same. in the case of Sudan once the first bullets were fired at the airport in Khartoum in the early hours of Saturday morning, i knew it will never be the same, the beautiful Sudan that i witnessed and cherished just 2 years prior to this horific conflict will be a distant memory.
Photo: beutiful pre-war photo of Nile street in Khartoum, Sudan. the picture was taken on august 7th 2022 less than 1 year before the conflict.
THE CONFLICT IN NUMBERS
Check NGOs working in Sudan here: https://reliefweb.int/country/sdn
National Civil society and NGOs here:https://arab.org/countries/sudan
Photo: Mr. Hatem epitomises the genuine hospitality of the People of Sudan, he is interested in photography. this picture was taken in February 2021
Concluding Thoughts
While Sudan is argaubly the worst humanitarian crisis, little attention is given to the sufferring of the sudanese population in all fronts from the political to the humanitarian to the development. While the international community is watched on we risk loosing a generation to these man made conflicts of the 21st century.
We call upon the warring parties to come to the negotiating table and find amicable, immediate and long lasting peace solution so that the poeple of Sudan can breath again.
Thank you,
Abdulahi Adem
Some relevant articles below
- Countdown to Castastrophe: a statement by IOM detailing the living experience of Khadim - a mother of seven who fled Khartoum when the conflict started. https://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/sudan-its-countdown-catastrophe-beyond-repair
- A crisis within a crisis: This is an article by the MSF explaining how the ongoing tragedy has impacted the already fragile IDP and refugee situation with personal accounts, note this article was around june 2023, the sitaution is way worse than it was in june 2023.
- UNHCR update of the displacement (10 April 2024): A year on, Sudan and its neighbours are experiencing one of the largest and most challenging humanitarian and displacement crises in the world. The number of Sudanese forced to flee has now surpassed 8.6 million people, with 1.8 million of them having crossed borders. the link of the statistics is available here: file:///C:/Users/abdul/Downloads/Sudan%20Situation%20-%20UNHCR%20External%20Update%20%2356%20-%2010%20April%202024.pdf
- IRC Year report executive summary: This report from the IRC sheds light on the grim realities after 1 year of conclict in Sudan dfile:///C:/Users/abdul/Downloads/PA2404_Sudan%201-year%20Report_Final.pdf
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