THERE is a huge humanitarian crisis unfolding in Sudan. Some have described it as the gravest humanitarian crisis in recent times.
The starkest manifestation of this crisis is mass starvation. 825,000 children face severe acute starvation. Governments have done little to alleviate the crisis. People have stepped in to help. Community kitchens have sprung up. Nurses, teachers and neighbours are in the forefront of these efforts.
The International Movement for a Just World (JUST) joins other organisations in appealing for donations to sustain these kitchens. People can donate to Avaaz which has done a stupendous job in responding to this humanitarian challenge.
But collecting funds alone is not enough. The war which is the root cause of this crisis has to end.
The war is between two groups, one linked to the Sudanese armed forces and the other a breakaway faction some of whose leaders were also connected to the armed forces. It is a conflict over power. The conflict began in April 2023 and so far has claimed more than 150,000 lives.
Both groups have support within the populace. Both have external support. There have been casualties in both camps.
There have been attempts to resolve the conflict through mediation. So far there has been no progress.
Perhaps more groups and individuals should speak up. In the Global South in particular, very few voices have urged the warring parties to stop the slaughter. Some civil society groups in the Global North have expressed concern. But overall, it is the sound of silence that dominates the conflict.
One of the main reasons why civil society groups or citizens movements don’t speak up or act on armed conflicts in other lands is because they feel that they can’t do much. Since the principal actors in these conflicts are often governments or other powerful players, the feeling of helplessness among ordinary citizens in the country where the conflict is occurring or in other countries is often pervasive.
The silence of ordinary women and men does not reduce the intensity of the conflict. The silence of ‘we the people’ does not decrease the number of deaths in a conflict or the scale and scope of destruction and devastation. On the contrary, if more individuals and groups especially in other countries campaigned for a war to end in a particular country, it is quite conceivable that the actual combatants will take notice. It can be argued for instance that it was when Vietnam’s and Indo-China ‘s neighbours became deeply concerned about the war in that region, that the aggressor nation, namely the United States of America, began to re-examine some of its strategies. Of course, it was after the body-bags of dead American soldiers were brought back to their homeland that both the public and the US government changed its position on that futile, senseless war.
There will be no body-bags returning to the US in the case of Sudan. But Sudan is a dramatic illustration of the utter futility of war. I would not be surprised if at the end of this war, some of its principal combatants will realise that the war has brought nothing but pain and suffering to the people. This is what happened in the case of Lebanon. After a long civil war decades ago, some of its leading actors came to the tragic conclusion that the war had only resulted in death, destruction and desolation.
Are there enough women and men of character and virtue in Sudan and among other nations involved directly and indirectly in the conflict to save the nation that was once a shining beacon for the entire African continent?
* The Executive Committee, International Movement for a Just World (JUST) Malaysia.
** The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of Astro AWANI.
