Ongoing Sudan Conflict caused mass destruction and death

By Gabe Herman, Chief News & Features Editor|May 8, 2023

Photo courtesy of Elijah Pepe (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The conflict is a fight between two generals who are eager for power.

The 2023 Sudan conflict is an ongoing conflict that began on April 15. The fighting is a power struggle between the head of the Sudanese Army, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the leader of a Sudanese paramilitary group called Rapid Support Forces (RSF), General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, according to a May 2 article from Reuters. The fighting, which involved bombing, killing, and torturing has brought terror and grief to many families across Sudan.
The violence began over a plan for Sudan to transition from an autocratic government to a civilian-based government, according to an April 27 article from the Guardian. The Sudanese military and the RSF were required to surrender power under the plan. Though neither side actually conceded power for long, both sides blamed the other for starting the violence. The army accused the RSF of illegal mobilization in the days leading up to the conflict. Meanwhile, the RSF accused the army of trying to seize full power in an unethical way.
The chaos has caused many foreigners living in the country, including diplomats and aid workers to be stranded, according to an April 25 article of the U.K. Independent. Although, recently the U.S. has been transferring many of their diplomats to an embassy in Djibouti in efforts to take them out of the danger and get them to a safe place.
The U.S. has also officially decided to evacuate all the American citizens that wanted to leave for the United States. Already a very impoverished country that had a large population of hunger, Sudan’s issue with starvation is becoming even worse since the conflict broke out. Many are expected to perish within the next couple of days if they are not able to get access to food.
Although the U.S. has repeatedly called for a cease-fire and the generals agreed to stop the fighting for a short period of time to let foreigners out of the country, the fighting has not seemed to subside.

Photo credit: “2023 Sudanese Clashes” by Elijah Pepe is licensed under (CC BY-SA 4.0)