By Yohannes Gebresellasie (Ph.d) Addis Ababa
The Sudan, a country in the Northern part of Africa is Africa’s third largest country and the third largest country in the Arab League with an area of 1.8886,068 million square kilo-meters (728,215 square miles) and a population of 46,728,613. Sudan shares border with Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Chad, Central African Republic and Zaire. Sudan became independent on January 1st 1956 and the capital city is Khartoum. The name The Sudan comes from the Arabic expiration ‘’Bilad al Sudan: The land of the blacks. That name was applied generally to Africa south of the Sahara. The term The Sudan gained a more restricted meaning in modern time referring to the border belt of plains and savanna land stretching from the Atlantic to the Red sea lying between the Sahara and the forest area. The Sudanese people have different ethnic and tribal background. For example the Northern and central part of the country is inhabited by population of Arabic and black African descent while the southern part is inhabited by black Africans. Arabs constitute the largest single group in Sudan and the non-Arabic constitutes a majority of population of Sudan. There are more than a hundred different languages in the country. Arabic is the official language of Sudan but English is wildly spoken in the country. Some of the other wildly used languages in the country are Baja, Nubian, Fungi, Dinka, Nuer and Zande. Islam is the religion of almost all Sudanese who live in the northern and central part of the country, others are Christians, both catholic and protestant and yet others are neither Muslim nor Christian, they practice traditional rituals. As the continent’s third largest country, Sudan is potentially rich in natural resource; however, high spending on the military (due to the previous civil war between the central governmental and the people in the southern Sudan and the general political instability within the country were some of the factor that were responsible for the political crisis in Sudan). To add this problem, tens of thousands of refugees from different part of Africa continue even to date to cross international boundaries legally or illegally in to Sudan seeking refugees and that includes refugees from Zaire, Chad, Eritrea and Ethiopia. Sudan has been exemplary in hosting African refugees. Sudan still maintains an open border policy for refugees. For example, Sudan hosted over one million refugees in 2021 making Sudan the largest refugee host nation in Africa. The people of Sudan are known to be very hospitable and very generous towards the tens of thousands of refugees who come to their country offering them with what they have even under the economic difficulties with which they have been confronted. The Sudanese people have been particularly kind to the tens of thousands of Ethiopians who have filed military repression and economic devastation in their country.
We have currently been witnessing the unspeakable and disgraceful destruction and horrific condition unfolding in Sudan. The capital Khatoum has been under segue. Clashes have been going on between two rival Generals i.e. General Abdel-Fattah Burhan of the Sudanese National Army and General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo of the Rapid Support Force (RSF). Such deplorable rivalry of Generals for who controls power is devastating the nation in unprecedented and unparalleled manner. As a result, many innocent citizens have lost their lives and many have been severely and fatally injured, many remain disabled and many have fled their country. Children, women and the elderly have been victims of this regrettable rattle of generals seeking to grasp power through the barrel of the gun as opposed to using democratic ways and means to come to power.
In bright light in day out and in dark nights, this rivalry between generals is bringing horror and nightmare especially to children, the elderly and the disabled. Shattering weapons from both sides are destroying to ashes the hard earned personal and governmental institutions, public infrastructures of individuals, groups, useful governmental institutions and generally, belongings of the public at large. Thousands of innocent Sudanese have fled the country to neighboring countries such as to Chad, Ethiopia, Egypt and others in search of peace and security leaving behind their belongings and even part of their families who have been dispersed and isolated elsewhere. So far, there has not been reasonable cease fire, negotiation or settlement to stop this devastating war of rival generals despite international efforts to stop it. The situation in Sudan right now is simply a nightmare least to say. It is not safe to go anywhere in the capital because they are completely cut off and there is a risk of being shot. No access to ambulance services, no market places, no access to bank accounts, therefore, people are faced with impossible choices. It is simply a tough and dire situation that is happening in Sudan in general and in the capital Khartoum in particular. Sudan is living in a state of civil war. It could deteriorate to one of the worst civil war in the world. People are praying to get help from the international community but people are also trying to help each other in order to deliver the basics. Nothing is working especially in the capital Khartoum now as medical, educational and other services are totally closed or destroyed. Basic necessities such as food, drinking water, medicine, transportation, electricity, fuel supplies etc. are out of reach.
Sudanese generosity does not deserve that. People do not know how long the situation will last as they never envisaged this thing to happen to begin with. There is no simple and strait forward solution to this problem. The issue at hand is dire and complex. The international community has to join hands and reach out to help. Solidarity of the international community is very much in need; in fact it is simply indispensible right now in order to figure out solutions to this problem as the problem is getting dangerous from time to time and from day to day and something has to happen to save the innocent and generous Sudanese people sooner than later.
Generally, problems in Africa can be resolved and must be settled through democratic and diplomatic means rather than through the use of arms. When African government start to respect basic and fundamental human right, peace and democracy will prevail in that continent and when there is peace at home, there will be development at home and when there is development at home, people will stay in their countries working and developing their countries thus, the question of clashes, wars and conflicts will eventually disappear or at least be minimized and so does the refugees and displacement problems in Africa. For that, peace must prevail because without peace, it will not be possible to achieve the levels of trust, cooperation and inclusiveness needed for societies to be resilient to shocks, clashes and wars and thus, they can manage disputes and adapt to changes in their environments. Peace is important for survival because without peace no nation and no individual can move forward. Ending conflict or war does not necessarily mean bringing or achieving sustainable and durable peace. Peace is a universal principle that says “treat others the way you want to be treated.” The message of this Golden Rule is simple, universal and powerful and is the most prevalent and universal moral principle in human history. Peace can be achieved without war. War is not the answer and war is not the only way to bring peace. There are many alternative ways such as negotiating to terms which are reasonable for nations, groups and individuals for resolving clashes, conflicts and generally for solving problems. There shall always be a win-win situation. Some terms shall be accepted by one party and some by the others.To achieve peace and harmony has been the eternal hankering of human beings ever since the dawn of civilization. Essentially, peace is a subject of the inner mind. The reason peace is absent from some parts of the world is because of racial prejudice or because of hatred built on the basis of caste, color, creed, gender, religion, party politics etc. Peace making is thus an active strategy to limit war and violence.
It is indeed sad that many innocent Sudanese lost their precious lives due to the shocking rivalry of two generals. It is truly a horrendous and horrific happening. We all must not look at the generals’ act of evil towards innocent people and in fact we all must join hands to support and pray for the victims, their family, friends and love ones. The international community must share their grief and sorrow with them and must scale up assistance and continue to provide them with financial as well as material support. Good and harmonious people to people friendly relationship must also flourish and developed with innocent Sudanese as well irrespective of those rivalries continuous irresponsible, regrettable policy of destruction on humanity. One hopes that they learn a lesson or two from their horrendous mistakes and start to do the right thing and the right thing is to stop fighting and start negotiating. Here, they can take a lesson from the Ethiopian Federal Government and the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF)’s peace negotiating success story. They must start caring for their people and do the right thing.
Finally, I would like to say May God/Allah rest the lives of those victims in peace and may God/Allah help their family, friends and love ones. Hope our brothers and sisters in Sudan will ultimately get peace that they rightly deserve and may those rivalries in Sudan come to their senses for the sake of their people and their nation and may the international community join hands of support and may God/Allah help the generous people of Sudan to live in peace in their beloved nation: The beautiful Sudan and the hospitable and kind people of Sudan that I personally know of.