A Window Into Sudan’s Neglected Crisis

This Op-Ed was originally published in Newsweek, on September 10, 2024

Sudan’s crisis is spiraling. Hunger has given way to famine. The capital, Khartoum, has been destroyed. Ethnically targeted killings in Darfur have reached levels that may surpass the genocide of 20 years ago. And diplomatic efforts have failed to bring the warring parties to the table or to secure more than minimal humanitarian access.

Amid this chaos, Sudan’s Nuba mountains region bordering South Sudan has become an island of refuge to hundreds of thousands of fleeing Sudanese. It is also a small window into what is happening in the rest of the country, as local authorities warn that it too is now in the midst of famine.

This summer, Refugees International visited the Nuba mountains and interviewed several Sudanese people who had just arrived from many pockets of the country. They shared what they have endured as hunger has swept Sudan. As detailed in a new report, their stories were marked by ongoing atrocities at the hands of the major warring parties—the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)—and their allied militias. The conversations also highlighted an important truth—at a time of global inertia on Sudan, the main things preventing the further spread of famine are the efforts of local Sudanese civilians and limited cross-border aid making it into the country. These efforts must be bolstered.

Until recently, the Nuba mountains had been among the most dangerous places in Sudan due to frequent bombardment from the Sudanese military under former dictator Omar al-Bashir. Since the outbreak of war in April 2023, it has become one of the safest. Local authorities and international NGOs estimate that between 700,000 to 1 million people have sought refuge there since April 2023. People we interviewed said they left fleeing food scarcity, rape, and indiscriminate killings. Their words were dire—while the conditions of their bodies and the faraway look in many of their eyes said even more.

Many had witnessed atrocities, committed by both sides.

Hamdul, a 25-year-old from Kosti, told us SAF soldiers killed his younger brother and he saw women raped as soldiers went house to house, looting, and shooting people indiscriminately. Another man, Hamid, fled attacks by the RSF near Lagawa, saying that soldiers were burning homes and shooting men, women, and children.

Others cited a lack of food as the main driver of displacement. Abdulbagi, a new arrival from Kadugli, said an 8-year-old he was traveling with died of hunger along the way. “Hunger is the number one reason we came,” he said.

Awadia, a 42-year-old mother, spent a week looking for food in Kadugli amid SAF soldier harassment and violence before fleeing. She arrived having not eaten in three days, saying, “The way you see us is the way we left. No shoes. No food.”

For others, both atrocities and lack of food were a factor. Rania, a woman from Khartoum, fled first to Kadugli then to the Nuba mountains. “I left Khartoum because of the war,” she said. “I left Kadugli because of hunger.”

The experiences are a handful of many amid Sudan’s broader crisis. Some 10 million people have been displaced across the country, including 2 million to neighboring countries. Half the country is facing crisis levels of food insecurity, and at the end of July, the Famine Review Committee for Sudan found that famine is present in Darfur. Sudanese humanitarians and outside experts warn that the numbers affected could be much higher.

One of the more hopeful aspects of the situation in Sudan has been the rise of local mutual aid groups, neighbors banding together to set up communal kitchens, provide medical assistance, or evacuate people to safer areas. In the Nuba mountains, local Peace Committees have operated for years, initially educating people how to survive bombs dropped by the Sudanese military. Now they work with local NGOs to assist new arrivals and to mitigate tensions over increasingly strained resources. More recently established local Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs) across Sudan have saved countless lives with moderate outside support and stand ready to expand their efforts, often in areas that international groups cannot reach. As one local representative told us, “There is a big need to empower local organizations to take on more services … but there are low resources.”

To stop the trajectory of death in Sudan, the United Nations, donor countries, and countries with influence over the warring parties must push the belligerents to allow humanitarian access. The recently announced reopening of one key cross-border access point for aid to Darfur is encouraging, but remains tenuous and should only be the beginning of stepped-up efforts. International actors must deliver aid across borders (even if the parties try to block it), increase aid to local groups, and support efforts in places of relative stability, like the Nuba mountains—where more people are sure to seek refuge.

It may already be too late to prevent famine, but action now can help to stop its spread and save hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of lives.