News

We, the working group Lifeworlds in Crisis, including scholars from Sudan and scholars researching in Sudan, join the Sudanese civil society in demanding an end to the bloody war in Sudan that is producing a growing number of victims - dead, injured, and displaced. We join calls for an immediate effective ceasefire, humanitarian corridors, and assistance to those fleeing the violence and those staying. We call on the European Union and all governments to stop providing arms and military support to the warring parties, to concentrate all efforts to end the hostilities, enforce the Geneva Convention and demand that all powers be fully transferred to the civilian, democratic forces, fulfilling the demands of the revolutionary movement in Sudan. As a further international response, we call on the EU and UK governments to open their borders and facilitate safe passage to the refugees coming from the war zones.

A devastating war broke out in Sudan on Saturday, 15 April 2023, between two entities, the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), under the leadership of Abdel-Fatah Al-Burhan, and the former Janjaweed militias currently called the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), under the command of Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti). Since the eruption of the war, there has been heavy fighting and bombardment in the capital Khartoum and many other regions all over Sudan, and so far, none of the conflicting parties have effectively attempted to ceasefire and initiated a peace negotiation. Fighting is especially catastrophic in the Darfur region, which has been witnessing a bloody war since 2003. Without any regard for civilians, the two military units are fighting each other with heavy artillery, air bombardment, burning buildings, shelling houses, and carrying out heavy gunfights in the streets of the cities. It is reported that more than 500 people are dead and several thousand injured, but the number is very likely much higher.

Sudan has already entered a deep humanitarian crisis. Hospitals had to be evacuated because of shelling, attacks by soldiers, or running out of supplies, forcing medical staff to leave patients behind. There is a massive shortage of essential supplies, and few hospitals are currently working in the entire country. Even areas not directly affected by the fighting are suffering. Shortages cause skyrocketing fuel and public transport prices, which tightens the already limited possibility to escape for many more people. Those who manage to reach the borders find a devastating situation on-site. Chad and Ethiopia closed their borders early on, leaving thousands waiting to cross. On the border to Egypt, people report great chaos and thousands of people waiting up to 36 hours or more to part, leaving them with scarce water, food, and supplies.

This war exacerbates decades of political and social injustice and violence since the country's independence from colonial rule. The now-escalated conflict between the two generals was long in the making. Still, warnings fell on deaf ears of political elites and international mediators, such as the UN. European states have added to the militarisation of Sudan through financing the Khartoum Process - and thereby the RSF - or selling spyware to Sudan.

Civilians in Sudan have led a courageous and creative struggle for freedom, peace, justice and democratic change. In a major uprising, they toppled former dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2019. After a coup d'état was carried out by the then-cooperating military units in October 2021, civil society and in particular the "Resistance Committees", i.e., neighborhood-based revolutionary grassroots organizations, resisted strongly and relentlessly. Even now, they have self-organised mutual aid initiatives ranging from local emergency clinics to social media groups that inform about safer pathways. Protests have been staged and graffiti has appeared on the cities' walls calling for an end to the war. We join the Sudanese diaspora in Europe in their

    "call on the EU, European lawmakers, and European civil society, including the Red Cross, to close all loopholes of support to the war in Sudan, and put their full weight behind an immediate end to the fighting".
 https://www.change.org/p/urgent-call-to-the-european-union-european-civil-society-and-policy-makers?recruiter=58238406&recruited_by_id=055b70b0-dc0a-0130-fd15-3c764e049c64&utm_source=share_petition&utm_campaign=share_petition&utm_medium=twitter