The World Ignores Sudan's Civil War
Sudanese ask outsiders to pay attention to more than Gaza.
Invisible War
No Eyes on Sudan
As civil war lays the third largest country in Africa to waste, Sudanese ask why the world is calling for a ceasefire in Gaza but not Sudan.
A conflict with no end in sight has claimed thousands of civilian lives. NGOs warn of famine. The UN reports millions displaced and hundreds raped. If you’re thinking of Gaza, think again — it’s Sudan.
Of course the two conflicts differ in many ways. Whereas the UN recently halved its prior death toll of Gazan women and children, Sudan’s present body count of 15,000 is widely considered a severe underestimate. Identity and ideology fuel the Gaza war, while Sudanese fight primarily over control of resources. Perhaps the starkest contrast lies in degrees of international attention: whereas Gaza occupies the limelight, war in Sudan largely rages in the dark.
When CPC interviewed Sudanese civilians across the country last week, most took the opportunity to highlight what in their view constitutes a galling double standard. “The little attention we attract fades away immediately,” observed Abu Muhammad, a Khartoum merchant. “It’s the opposite of what is happening in Gaza: all the media channels are about Gaza, Gaza, and Gaza, and I don’t know why.”
Part of the reason may be that whereas Israelis and Palestinians have countless sympathizers in the West, Sudan’s feuding factions do not inspire much sympathy. The Rapid Support Forces grew out of Janjaweed militias which waged a genocidal campaign in Darfur in the mid-2000s. The Sudanese Armed Forces, fighting mainly to keep control of their economic empire, represent the last bastion of Sudan’s pre-2019 authoritarian regime.
Whatever the cause, media disinterest in Sudan helps ensure a lack of diplomatic pressure to effect a ceasefire. As USIP Africa Center advisor Alex Rondos told The Washington Institute, “Washington’s apparent disengagement from this crisis has had a profound effect … There is no catalyst to bring everyone to the table.”
This drift brings consequences beyond the humanitarian realm. Sudan, a country of more than 50 million people, had recently begun to emerge from decades of Iranian influence and Islamist rule and formally committed to join the Abraham Accords. Today, Iran and its Russian ally are vying again for dominance amid the chaos — and counting on their Western adversaries to turn a blind eye.
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