Eva Ludwig
13 million displaced, over 150,000 murdered and counting; those are the statistics in Sudan. The war crimes and genocide going on in Sudan is disgracefully unspoken about. Media worldwide failed to cover the suffering of Sudanese people.
Put simply, Sudan’s political climate has been curated over decades of unrest; its origins started with colonial rule under Britain and Egypt. Egypt’s liberation from Britain led Sudanese activists to fight for an independent country, which was gained on Jan. 1, 1956, with about 100 murdered. In a 1998 coup, Omar Al-Bashir, a member of the Egyptian military, and the Sudanese Armed Forces , seized power and led the second civil war, which oversaw the creation of South Sudan and the Darfur genocide in 2003. The Darfur genocide included the burning of thousands of villages by the Janjaweed, murder of 200,000 people, displacement of 2.5 million and mass rape.
General Burhan, and General Dagalo, or Hemedti, created a coup against Al-Bashir, and were once very close allies. Power struggles caused the two to split, leading Burhan to reform the Janjaweed into the RSF in 2013.
The fight for control of Sudan has caused mass-murder, a rape epidemic, and the suffering of Sudanese people; they have been accused of genocide by many, including Sudanese doctors.
The RSF and SAF have been in constant battle. The SAF lost much credibility for being considered a part of the former leadership of Omar Al-Bashir; the RSF has weaponized this against the SAF, stating they intend to hand military power to civilian politicians. Videos of civilians being forced to bury themselves alive, women being raped by the thousbands, and civilians including women and children run over by vehicles and hung by trees have gone viral.
Refugee camps, such as the ZamZam camp, have been terrorized, humanitarian aid workers and journalists have been killed, and the rise of sex traffiking and rape amongst women and children as young as the age of one have skyrocketed. During the RSF’s capture of Al-Fasher city this October, 60,000 have fled, mass executions have been filmed and posted on social media, malnourished children are unable to access aid and man-made famine has killed thousands.
The United Arab Emirates’ main profits come from their gold market, all of which is smuggled from Sudan. In exchange for gold, the UAE supplies the RSF with weapons to continue genociding civilians.
As someone who grew up in a school comprised mainly of Arabs, I learned much more about the suffering of Palestinian and Syrian people, compared to other oppressed groups, including Sudan. For some reason, communities across the board differentiate between blood; oppression between certain ethnicities are not treated with the same importance or faced with the same anger; they are unequal in the eyes of the public. This is a racist sentiment that echoes in many communities; a person’s skin tone or ethnic background does not determine whether or not they deserve empathy, for our blood is the same color.
Islamically, Muslims are expected to treat one another equally. In the last speech of the Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him), he stated beautifully, “…All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over black nor does a black have any superiority over a white except by piety and good action. Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood. Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim which belongs to a fellow Muslim unless it was given freely and willingly. Do not, therefore, do injustice to yourselves.
Remember, one day you will appear before Allah and answer for your deeds. So beware, do not stray from the path of righteousness after I am gone.”
This sentiment of justice and mercy toward one another is further demonstrated in an authentic prophet saying (hadith), the prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him) states, “The parable of the believers in their affection, mercy, and compassion for each other is that of a body. When any limb aches, the whole body reacts with sleeplessness and fever.”
The Quran stresses the importance of justice, such as the verse in Chapter 4, An-Nisa which states;
“۞ يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ كُونُوا۟ قَوَّٰمِينَ بِٱلْقِسْطِ شُهَدَآءَ لِلَّهِ وَلَوْ عَلَىٰٓ أَنفُسِكُمْ أَوِ ٱلْوَٰلِدَيْنِ وَٱلْأَقْرَبِينَ ۚ إِن يَكُنْ غَنِيًّا أَوْ فَقِيرًۭا فَٱللَّهُ أَوْلَىٰ بِهِمَا ۖ فَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا۟ ٱلْهَوَىٰٓ أَن تَعْدِلُوا۟ ۚ وَإِن تَلْوُۥٓا۟ أَوْ تُعْرِضُوا۟ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ كَانَ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ خَبِيرًۭا “
“O believers! Stand firm for justice as witnesses for Allah even if it is against yourselves, your parents, or close relatives. Be they rich or poor, Allah is best to ensure their interests. So do not let your desires cause you to deviate ˹from justice˺. If you distort the testimony or refuse to give it, then ˹know that˺ Allah is certainly All-Aware of what you do.”
The Quran goes into further detail about how to reconcile between Muslims who are fighting, saying;
“وَإِن طَآئِفَتَانِ مِنَ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ ٱقْتَتَلُوا۟ فَأَصْلِحُوا۟ بَيْنَهُمَا ۖ فَإِنۢ بَغَتْ إِحْدَىٰهُمَا عَلَى ٱلْأُخْرَىٰ فَقَـٰتِلُوا۟ ٱلَّتِى تَبْغِى حَتَّىٰ تَفِىٓءَ إِلَىٰٓ أَمْرِ ٱللَّهِ ۚ فَإِن فَآءَتْ فَأَصْلِحُوا۟ بَيْنَهُمَا بِٱلْعَدْلِ وَأَقْسِطُوٓا۟ ۖ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُحِبُّ ٱلْمُقْسِطِينَ”
“And if two groups of believers fight each other, then make peace between them. But if one of them transgresses against the other, then fight against the transgressing group until they ˹are willing to˺ submit to the rule of Allah. If they do so, then make peace between both ˹groups˺ in all fairness and act justly. Surely Allah loves those who uphold justice.”
Furthermore, the suffering of Muslims worldwide, whether that be in Sudan, Palestine, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Myanmar, Pakistan, Kashmir, the Uyghur Muslims in China, South Africa, Congo or in any other country deserves action to support the oppressed and innocent.
Media, especially western media, often gives coverage to humanitarian issues once they reach a new record of heartbreak. For example, media coverage of Palestine has increased due to the increase in murder and genocidal war crimes committed by Israel against Palestinians.
“People care a lot about Palestine — which is nothing against Palestine,” said sophomore Zoe Farrigan. “Save Palestine of course, but if we’re going to focus on one issue, we need to focus on issues similar to it. Palestine isn’t the only genocide going on in the world; [there’s] Sudan [as well] … I would say nowadays social media is [an easier way] to access information … People who are famous [like] celebrities, they have a voice; they need to [receive] information about these [genocides] happening because people will listen to them. People don’t really listen to news anchors anymore, it’s all about [whether or not someone is] famous.”
For example, on Oct. 31, Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab posted satellite images of Sudan after Al-Fasher’s capture by the RSF, which featured a shocking image; blood stains and tents filled with dead bodies could be seen from space. These startling images caught media attention by storm. It should not take hundreds of thousands to be murdered for us to pay attention.
I want to emphasize I am not better than anyone. I remain ignorant of the majority of the political state of Sudan, and that is incredibly shameful. But you do not need to be a scholar, or a professor in political science to learn, to take action, and to help others. Learn. Educate yourself, even if it means reading one article. Don’t let yourself hear a case of oppression, and allow yourself to say “I am not educated enough on that issue.”
The prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him) states in a beautiful reminder,”Indeed, among the greatest types of Jihad (striving) is a just statement before a tyrannical ruler.” (Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2174)
This article isn’t written out of arrogance, or as a means of guilt-tripping people; it is hard to learn about genocides and oppression, but we have the privilege of scrolling away from news articles and TikTok’s about Sudan. Videos of traumatized women, starved children, and abused men show up on our feed; the normalization of suffering in Africa has desensitized us to such images.
“The reason it’s not publicized is because it’s an African country.” said Sudanese senior Mariam Al-Sherif. “People just assume [African countries will suffer]; [for example,] stereotypes like, ‘there’s no water in Africa’ … [general] struggle is normal in African countries, but it’s not normal when it happens in Europe.”
We scroll on social media, while on the other side of the screen, a child has lost his mother, a father lost his family, and a young girl has lost her autonomy. I hope this can serve as a means of inspiring someone to stand with the oppressed people of Sudan. Any truth written in this article is from Allah, and any mistakes are from me.
