Church leaders in Sudan have warned of a neglected humanitarian crisis in the country, with international attention fixed on conflicts elsewhere. Source: The Tablet.
The violence in Sudan worsened in September, as warring factions fought for control of Khartoum and of the North Darfur region.
The Sudanese Armed Forces, led by General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, have been fighting the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces under Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo (alias Hemedti) since April 2023.
Both sides face accusations of grave human rights abuses – targeting civilian homes, hospitals and places of worship – and have been reported using mass starvation as a weapon of war.
Sudan Catholic Bishops Conference coordinator Fr John Gbemboyo Joseph Mbikoyezu said the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine meant the wider world did not acknowledge these crimes.
“I think it’s due to the nature of the conflict that there is little media attention,” he said. “All the attention appears to be on what is happening in Palestine.”
More than 10 million people have been displaced by the conflict, with 2.2 million forced to flee to neighbouring countries.
Aid agencies have reported outbreaks of serious disease among displaced people, including cholera, malaria and measles.
Massive floods in the region also affected at least 124,000 people. Up to 150,000 people are estimated to have died from the conflict and its effects.
Fr Mbikoyezu said many people, including South Sudanese refugees who have fled to Sudan from conflict in their own country, were trapped by the war, unable to afford the costs of departure.
In the UK, Bishop Paul Swarbrick of Lancaster said the war had “created a humanitarian catastrophe that can no longer be ignored”.
Speaking in Rome last week at the assembly for the Synod on Synodality, Cardinal Stephen Ameyu Martin Mulla of Juba said independence had failed to remedy South Sudan’s problems.
To support Caritas Australia’s Sudan Crisis Appeal, visit www.caritas.org.au/sudan.
FULL STORY
World is ignoring ‘tragedy’ in Sudan, warns Church (By Fredrick Nzwili , Ellen Teague , Ngala Killian Chimtom, The Tablet)
