A genocide is taking place in Sudan, and the world is indifferent. Murder, rape, arson, assault, people burned alive – crimes against humanity of epic proportions. The majority of this ethnic cleansing is being perpetrated by a predominantly Arab paramilitary group the Rapid Support Services (RSF) against Sudan’s Masalit and other indigenous Black communities.
How We Got Here
In 2019, protests erupted against Sudan’s strongman Omar-al Bashir. General Abdel-Fattah al Burhan, commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), and General Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo, commonly referred to as “Hemedti,” leader of the RSF leveraged a window of opportunity created by the civil unrest and joined forces to oust Bashir in a coup, concluding his three decades in power unceremoniously.
The plan was for Sudan to transition to democracy; but that never materialized. Though a peace accord was signed between the military and a caretaker government, the generals worked together to prevent a civilian-led government from establishing permanent control.
In April 2023, the mistrustful alliance between General Burhan, by then Sudan’s de facto president and SAF commander, and General Dagalo, leader of the Rapid Support Services (RSF), disintegrated. On April 15th, the generals formally turned on each other in a bid for unchallenged authority, leading to open warfare.
A (Very) Brief History
General Dagalo (Hemedti) was a key player in the “Janjaweed”, a predominantly Arab militia responsible for much of Darfur’s first genocide, which occurred from 2003 until 2005. Over 200,000 civilians were murdered, and 2,000,000 displaced after Omar al-Bashir instructed the Janjaweed to quell unrest among Darfur’s non-Arab population.
Following Sudan’s first genocide, General Hemedti strengthened the Janjaweed into a 100,000-strong mercenary force called the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Among other unscrupulous engagements, Hemedti sent fighters to Yemen and joined forces with the now infamous Wagner Group to pilfer Darfur’s gold mines.
General Burhan’s hands were not clean either. For a time, he was a regional commander in Darfur for the SAF and provided military and logistical support to the Janjaweed.
(Un) Civil War
Following Sudan’s first genocide, a deal was brokered that handed some power (and land) back to the region’s Black communities, including the Masalit, a traditionally agrarian people. Displaced Darfuris were given the right to return to their land, now settled by Sudan’s Arab population, where their livestock grazed, and inhabitants mined for gold and other metals.
The Wall Street Journal stated, “The RSF found easy allies in the region’s Arab leaders, who felt threatened by the ascent of the Masalit and other Black communities.” Immediately after the alliance between General Burhan and General Hemedti collapsed, fighting broke out between the SAF and the RSF. The RSF, buoyed by a steady influx of weapons courtesy of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) rapidly gained the upper hand.
The RSF now controls all but a sliver of Darfur and, according to The Economist, seem “intent on eradicating the Masalits.” The RSF is also consolidating control of the capital, Khartoum, which has been reduced to rubble, with civilians remaining trapped. However, recent reports indicate that after being overwhelmed early in the conflict, the SAF has begun to pair their earlier losses and go on offense. A protracted conflict looms with little signs of abating.
Nevertheless, two permanent members of the UN Security Council, Russia and China, have thus far blocked calls for a ceasefire.
Genocide
As described in the WSJ: “…Sharif Adam, a 33-year-old car mechanic, watched the summary executions of 12 of his friends…Other survivors say they were raped by multiple men…Several say their attackers pelted them with racially charged insults, calling them “slaves” or “dogs…”
A recent report commissioned by the U.N. and cited by The WSJ found that in just the Darfur city of El Geneina, “fighting between Arab militias and poorly armed self-defense forces from the Black Masalit community killed as many as 15,000 people between mid-April and June last year…” Many thousands more have undoubtedly been ethnically cleansed.
Displacement & Famine
Sudan currently hosts the largest population of internal refugees in the world; as of March, ~8.5 million people are seeking refuge. Of those displaced people, ~2 million have fled to neighboring countries, including Chad and the Central African Republic.
Sudan also has the largest population of citizens facing starvation; ~25 million people. Despite two billion dollars belatedly pledged a few weeks ago by international donors, aid agencies report they are desperately short of money and supplies. Malnourished children are dying every day from drinking unpotable water. The UN predicts that in the next few weeks over 200,000 children could die of starvation. By year-end, that number could be ~700,000. Most of the hospitals in Khartoum are not functioning; the healthcare system was already precarious before the fighting began.
The Economist reported, “For most of last year refugees arriving in Chad, which borders Darfur, said they were escaping a fearsome campaign of ethnic cleansing unleashed by RSF troops and allied Arab militias against local black Africans. Now the new arrivals tell aid workers they are fleeing hunger.”
Both sides are to blame. The SAF refuses to allow food and medical aid to areas controlled by the RSF. The RSF attacks trucks ferrying aid and pillaged warehouses.
The Economist continued, “The SAF is able to starve its people and the RSF is able to ethnically cleanse Darfur largely because of the wider world’s utter indifference. The UN Security Council has been just as toothless…This is not because its hands are tied by strategic interests or deep divisions between great powers…but because of gross neglect…”
Pitifully Predictable
At TQC, we find it highly suspect that “human rights advocates” have willfully ignored the genocide in Sudan. Where are the athletes, celebrities, student activists, and other influencers that seemingly latch on to every trendy civil rights movement? Why have internet warriors barely mentioned the genocide in Sudan? Is Sudan not trendy enough? Will Sudan not garner enough “likes” on Instagram?
If these self-proclaimed activists have even an iota of concern for the lives of ordinary Darfuris being murdered or starving to death, where are they? Perhaps it doesn’t fit a narrative they are willing to contemplate: Arab-Muslims ethnically cleansing Blacks.
What about Yemen? Thus far, over 150,000 people have been killed in Yemen’s civil war. Many others have died from malnutrition and lack of access to medical care and essential medications. Do students “protesting” from the comfort of their college quads feel “unsafe” highlighting atrocities when Muslims are at war with other Muslims?
Predictably, despite the ongoing genocides in Sudan, Yemen, Myanmar, Haiti, and Afghanistan, almost all human rights “protests” in the United States and around the world continue to hyper-focus on Israel. And Israel is not staging a coup or engaged in a civil war. It was the target of an act of war, the subject of a terrorist attack that left over a thousand innocent civilians dead and hostages taken. No sovereign nation would sit back and accept this. This begs the question then, why only the intense focus on Israel? Here is a hint: the reason begins with an “A” and ends with an “M.”
To be certain, critiquing the Israeli government regarding their response to Hamas’s terrorist attacks, tactics, values, policies, etc., and doing so in the form of peaceful protest or forum that fosters useful dialogue is of course reasonable. Eliminationist chants and violence perpetrated by “peaceful protestors” against anybody wearing Yarmulkes are not.