Sudan - a Year of War allafrica.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from allafrica.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
In the early hours of April 11, 2019, Sudanese woke up to rumors that the army was siding with protesters demanding the ousting of President Omar al-Bashir. This led to Bashir’s removal, ending his Islamist-backed regime, which had ruled for three decades. Soon, millions gathered at protest sites across the country, hoping for real change. Behind the scenes, reports suggested that Bashir was deceived by his own security chief, who warned him about crushing the protests but then turned against him.
“The world’s worst, most complex and cruel crisis”[1], is unfolding in Sudan without making it into our prime-time news, according to UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. With nearly 9 million displaced within the country – half of them children – and almost 2 million refugees abroad, Sudan is indeed currently the largest displacement crisis in the world. And the worst is still to come: combat disrupted planting season in Sudan’s most fertile regions. Nearly 20 million people, almost one of two Sudanese, are facing acute food insecurity in a country that used to be a major food producer.
All-out fighting between rival branches of the armed forces has devastated Sudan. With millions facing famine, diplomats should push the two main belligerents much harder to accept a ceasefire – before the fragmentation in the two sides’ ranks dooms efforts to stop the carnage.