In recent days, the “Rapid Response Forces” of Sudan, which failed to overthrow the government in 2021 and sparked a civil war, have taken the largest city in southwestern Sudan, El Fashir, after years of siege, and then carried out mass slaughter of the local people, resulting in shocking atrocities. The area is littered with corpses, and even on satellite maps, large piles of bodies can be seen scattered. Since 2023, 150,000 people have died in Sudan, and nearly 13 million have been displaced by the war.
This is a short news article I wrote around the same time last year. Due to limited information and relatively low writing skills, it was only published for discussion about the recent situation in Sudan.
A famine possibly the most severe in the past 40 years is approaching the Northeast African country of Sudan. Located in the upper Nile River basin in southern Egypt, Sudan has vast land area and a population of about 49 million. It could have been a prosperous and powerful country. However, since independence, complex religious and ethnic conflicts left by imperialist invasions have long plagued Sudan internally, often leading to war and the people living in extreme suffering and misery. In 1983, Sudan erupted into civil war, dividing the Christian-majority and Black-majority southern regions from the Islamic and Arab-majority northern regions through prolonged conflict, which lasted over twenty years. In 2011, South Sudan voted to secede from Sudan, ending the north-south war. However, neither the people of South Sudan nor North Sudan have achieved the peace they deserved. South Sudan soon fell into frequent civil wars, and now North Sudan has been embroiled in a large-scale civil war for a year and a half. In 2019, Sudan’s long-time military dictator Bashir was overthrown after more than four months of protests by the Sudanese people. The military took over power, but due to widespread opposition, transferred it to some civilian leaders leading the protests, who later betrayed the people and reached a shameful compromise with the military. However, in 2021, Sudan’s military attempted a coup to overthrow the civilian government, prompting millions of Sudanese to launch large-scale protests, fighting bloodily and risking their lives to oppose military dictatorship, ultimately thwarting the coup. Yet, Sudan’s warlords have never given up their dream of restoring military dictatorship. In April 2023, the “Rapid Support Forces,” originally a military organization used during Bashir’s regime to suppress and kill revolutionaries, launched a rebellion, temporarily occupying most districts of Khartoum, the capital. Due to widespread opposition from the people and resistance from lower-level civil servants, they were mostly expelled from the capital by late September. Now, they control the Darfur region in western Sudan and oppose the Sudanese government. The chaos in Sudan has quickly become a battleground for various imperialist powers. After the outbreak of the civil war, Russia and reactionary Middle Eastern countries like the United Arab Emirates provided military aid to the rebels. Russia repeatedly transported military supplies via transport planes and sent Wagner mercenaries controlled by Russia in Africa to support the rebels. Western imperialist countries aim to support the Sudanese government to completely oust Russia’s influence and dominate Sudan. Even Ukraine has sent special forces to manipulate drone attacks against the rebels. Under the support of various imperialist forces, Sudan’s factions are fighting fiercely, bringing unprecedented disaster to the Sudanese people. In May this year, officials from the World Food Programme pointed out that due to severe food shortages, many people in Darfur, controlled by rebels, are forced to eat grass or peanut shells to survive. Over 20 million people are suffering from severe malnutrition. Originally, international food aid could prevent a large-scale famine, but because the Sudanese government blocked transportation routes to Darfur, aid supplies could not reach the rebel-held areas even if they arrived in Khartoum. The region is mainly desert, with extremely low food production capacity, and ongoing conflict has destroyed basic agriculture. Local people are in severe famine. The Zamzam refugee camp in North Darfur now shelters over 500,000 people, with 75–100 dying daily from diseases and complications caused by malnutrition. Due to long-term blockade, the living standards of refugees here are even lower than those in Gaza refugee camps. According to current statistics, since the outbreak of civil war, nearly 780,000 Sudanese have fled to Chad, nearly 700,000 to South Sudan, and 130,000 to Ethiopia. The displaced population exceeds 14 million, about one-third of the entire country. These countries are among the least developed in Africa, many suffering from famine and war. The Sudanese people even have to flee their homeland, living in hellish conditions.
In 1993, during the Sudan famine, South African journalist Kevin Carter took a world-famous photo titled “The Vulture and the Little Girl,” showing a starving Black child lying on the ground, with a vulture watching intently. Today, Sudan faces even more severe hunger and suffering than then. Both sides in the civil war lack popular support and are incapable of defeating each other or ending the cloud of famine hanging over the Sudanese people. Sudan is a country with a glorious revolutionary tradition. Under the leadership of Muhammad Ahmad (Mahdi), the Sudanese once united for independence and liberation, fought against colonizers, and killed the executioner Gordon who suppressed the Taiping Rebellion, leaving a glorious mark in history. But now, they are divided by imperialist religion and ethnicity, used by Sudanese ambitions as tools for regime change. Imperialist manipulation in Khartoum cannot bring true national liberation, and the bullets of ambitious men cannot feed the hungry Sudanese people. If the vast and beautiful lands along the Blue Nile are to regain vitality, it can only be through the strength of the Sudanese people themselves. https://news.cri.cn/2024-10-16/3a50bc08-89dc-6443-d198-5d77e39fd3d8.html https://view.inews.qq.com/k/20240826A091HN00?web_channel=wap&openApp=false