Sudan: What You Need to Know and Remember

Massacres, sexual violence as a weapon of war, poisoning, mass graves, slave markets, settler colonialism. A genocide and a war that has been ongoing, ignored and fueled by major self-proclaimed liberators of a new world order. Brutal murders that have been swept under the rugs and lives that have been assigned a negative value in the hierarchy of “lives that matter.” Under the blanket of racism, prejudice, and biased narratives that covers the newsrooms and articles written about war lies an atrocity that has become so normalized that our stomachs don't churn anymore when we hear about it. This is the lived experience of the Sudanese people.

Sudan has been permanently tainted by a genocide and war that has left its people neglected and their voices muted by our ignorance. Condemning the reality of Sudan to the shadows is an injustice to the millions of Sudanese people, and there is no better time to challenge our indifference than now.

History is essential. For a short introduction to the current conflict ongoing in Sudan, listen to GUQ Speaks’ podcast episode featuring Noon ElSharif (GU-Q’27) and Ayah Ahmed (GU-Q’27). It is mandatory to listen to the podcast before proceeding, otherwise this will be a futile interaction. From the racially targeted killings of non-Arab communities in Darfur to an all-out attack on all people in Sudan, the barbaric Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have made living in Sudan impossible, resulting in the largest humanitarian crisis with 14 million people displaced and lives lost. An attack from all corners of the world has been launched on Sudan as countries like Russia, UAE, and Libya leverage this chaos to massively exploit the country’s resources like gold. The parasitic collaboration between these states and the violent RSF has been nothing but catastrophic for the Sudanese people who bear the costs of foreign war machines and mercenaries being flown into their own land to destroy them. Of course, the international community would do anything but challenge these states or the RSF as they hide behind words like civil war and proxy war to exonerate themselves from their responsibility as mentioned by Noon and Ayah in the podcast.

It is easy to walk a path of indifference especially in the context of a merciless war that has a few accurate sources to report it, but this is not an option for anyone reading this. The double standards applied by the international community should not be entertained. Our values should be consistent. Reject the excuse of a lost cause and imaginative helplessness that has been used time and again by international organizations. As Georgetown students, the task is on us to amplify the voices of the Sudanese people. We must choose to actively support the Sudanese people in this war of existence. We cannot continue living our lives, reading and hearing these stories while being detached from the lives of those who are actually experiencing it firsthand. This is denying our interconnectedness and might as well be the end of humanity. 

As we move forward, let us examine keenly the ways conversations about Sudan are approached. Let us have conversations, let us question the narratives we have held and internalized, let us question our sources, and let us re-center the people of Sudan. If we have not done this in the past, then now is the time. Approach the spaces created to talk about Sudan equipped with knowledge and having a critical mindset while being intentionally conscious to maintain a focus on the lives of millions living under this dystopian reality daily. Although years have passed, lives have been lost, and justice denied, the story is far from over.