The civil war that broke out on April 15 of last year pits the Sudanese army against a rival military group known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The RSF and associated militias have been accused of ethnically motivated killings — in homes, schools and mosques — as well as other atrocities such as the systematic use of sexual violence against women.
The victims are primarily members of the Masalit tribe, who are Indigenous subsistence agriculturalists in the western Darfur region, where militias now associated with the RSF carried out genocide with the consent of the Sudanese government two decades ago. Ethnic tensions, long simmering between nomadic Arab herders and the sedentary agriculturalists, fuel the violence. Members of the Masalit tribe are recognizable for their darker skin that distinguishes them from their ethnically Arab neighbors.
The discovery of gold in the hills of North Darfur in 2012 accelerated tensions, as gold exports quickly rose to dominate Sudan’s international trade, jumping to 72% of the nation’s exports in 2013, up from 10% in 2010. This turned gold mines into battlefields, bringing an influx of foreign profiteers and weaponry.
In 2019, generals from both the Sudanese army and the RSF supported nonviolent civilian protests against the authoritarian government of Omar al-Bashir and took part in the overthrow of the longtime dictator, initially forming an alliance between civilians and the military. For a brief time there was hope of relief for the Masalit people under new civilian governance.
But at the end of 2020, an African Union-U.N. peacekeeping mission in Darfur expired, leaving the Masalit exposed. Then, in October 2021, the two generals of the Sudanese army and the RSF forcibly took control of the government in preference for a power sharing agreement between themselves, a tenuous arrangement that collapsed in April of 2023.
This led to intense fighting throughout the country. Since the coup in 2021, some of the same perpetrators from the early 2000s resumed looting, arson, rapes and killings — atrocities that had never fully ended during the last two decades.
In addition to the deliberate killings of ethnic groups, Sudan has seen tens of thousands of civilian casualties and 6.8 million people displaced. The two forces have been evenly matched, with the Sudanese army boasting an infantry twice as large as its rival and the RSF receiving foreign funding from Russia and some Arab countries that want to profit from Sudan’s gold. Both groups have committed war crimes, such as the torture of prisoners and other atrocities, according to the U.S. State Department. Ordinary civilians are paying a heavy price as the warring generals vie for power.
Maryknoll Father Thomas Tiscornia, who was living in Sudan until the end of 2023, writes, “Please keep Sudan and its people in your prayers, that sometime in the future we will know the peace that the Lord offers.”
Featured Image: A young Sudanese woman who fled the conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region takes refuge in a camp of makeshift shelters in Borota, Chad. (OSV News/Zohra Bensemra/Reuters/Chad)
FAITH IN ACTION:
• Ask President Biden to support recommendations by Human Rights Watch to investigate war crimes in Sudan through the International Criminal Court and through the U.N. Fact-Finding Mechanism. https://mogc.info/Sudan-Action
• Watch a short video of Maryknoll Father Tom Tiscornia talking about the three blessings that have sustained him in his ministries in Sudan, South Sudan, and Tanzania. https://mogc.info/WW-Tiscornia
• Read a report of the killings by Human Rights Watch: https://mogc.info/WW-Sudan-HRW
The Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, based in Washington, D.C., is a resource for Maryknoll on matters of peace, social justice and integrity of creation, and brings Maryknoll’s mission experience into U.S. policy discussions. Phone (202) 832-1780, visit www.maryknollogc.org or email ogc@maryknollogc.org.
Featured image: A young Sudanese woman who fled the conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region takes refuge in a camp of makeshift shelters in Borota, Chad. (OSV News/Zohra Bensemra/Reuters/Chad)
