Sudan war: How a year of devastation didn't spur the world to act

A year has gone by since the first stirrings of the debilitating conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) were felt in Khartoum.

April 15, 2023, was just the curtain-raiser to what would follow. In the months since, relentless aerial bombardments and heavy artillery fire reduced the once vibrant city, located just south of the scenic confluence of the Blue and White Nile rivers, to a shell of its former self.

When Jill Lawler, UNICEF's chief of field operations in Sudan, returned to Khartoum and neighbouring Omdurman after almost a year, she couldn't believe her eyes. She found a battered ghost town clinging to its last vestiges of existence.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that Khartoum's population, which used to be around six million people a year ago, is now barely a million.

"It is striking how much destruction has taken place. The scale of devastation, the untold pain, and the upheaval in people's lives have been massive," says Lawler.

On her recent mission to Omdurman, Lawler's team visited a hospital that performed 300 amputations in a month. Patients were seen sharing beds so that everyone could be accommodated.

In Darfur, ravaged by ethnic conflicts two decades ago, the bloodletting has marked a return to horror. Humanitarian agencies say most survivors have scampered to the safety of neighbouring Chad, fearful of more massacres.

Rampant use of the infamous "scorched-earth policy" — a guerrilla warfare tactic of destroying anything of potential use to an enemy when retreating from a position — has worsened the situation.

"I recall the time when I told my colleagues that I couldn't believe there was a war in Sudan — not just in Darfur, where my career started, but also in Khartoum and other parts of the country," Edem Wosornu, director of operations and advocacy at OCHA, tells TRT Afrika.

"It was utterly devastating to see a country that was coming together pushed to the brink of a catastrophe."

Test of survival

The year-long war has made Sudan a tough place to survive for those who remain in the country, many out of compulsion. Nearly nine million Sudanese have fled their homes, with two million among them having crossed the national borders to seek refuge in neighbouring countries.

The UN reports that about 12,000 civilians had been killed by the end of 2023, although the actual death toll is believed to be much higher. Still, the war rages on, with no sign of ending anytime soon.

"A year on, how can the war continue like this? How can we watch Sudan continue to decline in this manner? How can the world not act now? How can we not get enough funding to support the people of Sudan?" wonders Wosornu.

She is concerned not just about the tepid response to the humanitarian appeal for assistance to the people of Sudan but also about the international community's failure to rein in the warring sides.

"When we say that we have failed the people of Sudan, it means that the world cannot see what's going on in Sudan. It means that the world's attention has moved on. Some say the world's attention was never on Sudan," says Wosornu.

Humanitarian disaster

On the ground, signs of hunger are everywhere, and millions are desperate for assistance. In her latest briefing to the UN Security Council, Wosornu did not mince words when she described the deterioration of the situation in Sudan.

The consequences of the seemingly unending conflict have put the lives of almost 24 million Sudanese children into jeopardy, according to UNICEF. Around 14 million require urgent humanitarian assistance.

"Consider this: 24 million children have been exposed to conflict, of whom 19 million remain out of school. This is another year of school closure. In a couple of years, some children wouldn't have been in school for four consecutive years," explains Lawler from UNICEF.

Like their peers in Gaza, Sudanese children are battling malnutrition, trapped in a conflict they know nothing about.

“Children shouldn't have to be dealing with this; they shouldn't have to be hearing bombs go off and be displaced multiple times," says Lawler.

"Some families have moved three to four times. For example, families that left Khartoum for Al Jazirah State were displaced again in December to an unknown location. So, it's been a long, hard year of conflict that must end."

If this weren't depressing enough, nothing has happened to fuel hope of improving things. The first anniversary of Sudan's horrific crisis has come without any progress towards a peace deal that many Sudanese living through the shelling and fighting had been hoping for.