Why does no one intervene to stop the massacre in Sudan?

Mushtaha was only seven months old when she died of starvation. Her family had fled the fighting, but although they were safe, they were suffering from a lack of food and medicine.

Diarrhea and vomiting killed the little girl. All the 22-year-old mother could provide was a bowl of porridge each day.

One morning she felt her heartbeat, but there was only silence. She was no longer breathing. “She stopped breathing,” said Mushtaha’s mother, Maryam Adam. Reuters“Her heart stopped.”

The suffering of civilians in Sudan is immense. The country is facing one of the worst disasters the world has ever seen:

reach to 150,000 People may have been killed. More than nine million people have been displaced, and the population is on the brink of famine.

Why is no one intervening?

Hunger as a weapon

The war has been raging for more than a year between the government army led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces. Both sides in Sudan's civil war are using hunger as a weapon.

Alex de Waal of the World Peace Foundation has been researching hunger and war in Sudan since the 1980s.

– The Rapid Support Forces are a looting machine that ravages the countryside and cities. They steal everything they can, and that's how they survive. De Waal tells the BBC.

Meanwhile, the Sudanese Armed Forces are trying to starve out areas under the control of the Rapid Support Forces in order to put pressure on them.

Darfur is threatened with a new massacre

Report from Clingendael Research Center The institute warned in May that some 2.5 million people in Sudan could die of hunger by the end of September, with Darfur and Kordofan regions the worst affected.

According to the International Classification of Famine Disasters, an expert body of the United Nations, about 755,000 people are at risk of severe hunger, at the highest level.

Mohamed Zakaria is a Sudanese journalist who has worked for Reuters and the BBC. He describes the situation in El Fasher as catastrophic. Zakaria recently fled to Uganda.

This is what Zakaria told Aftenposten.

The UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Alice Nderitu, was clear in her warning at the recent UN Security Council meeting:

“There is a great risk of genocide,” she said. “It is real and growing every day.”

El Fasher, the capital of Darfur, is the last major city in the region still under army control.

According to the New York Times, more than 40 villages near El Fasher have been burned since the beginning of April.

Mohamed Zakaria says the situation in El Fasher is worse than ever. He fears the RSF will slaughter civilians if they take control of the area.

There is a shortage of food, water and medicine. In addition, the city hospital is overcrowded.

Why does no one intervene to stop the civil war?

The civil war in Sudan has become very complicated. Several countries in the region have intervened. These countries have their own interests, such as oil, gold and access to the Red Sea.

• Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Iran support the Sudanese army.
• The United Arab Emirates is providing weapons to the rebel Rapid Support Forces group.
• Chad, Libya and Russian mercenaries also support the RSF.

Many fear that Sudan could become a “failed state” with no one to control. A new genocide could occur, as in Darfur previously.

Darfur has been a humanitarian crisis area since 2003. In addition to war and conflict, poverty and climate change have caused great suffering among the population.

Moscow supplies weapons to both sides.

Russia supplies weapons to both sides of the war in Sudan. By supplying them with weapons The Associated Press wrote that Russia contributed to prolonging the war.

According to the news agency, the Russian Wagner Group had previously concluded an arms agreement with Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces militia.

Putin has long wanted to establish a naval base on the Red Sea, which would give them strategic access to the region. The coastal city has also become a key strategic point in the conflict. The Sudanese military controls the port.

– The Russians took advantage of the situation in Sudan by telling the armed forces: If you want us to reduce support for the Rapid Support Forces and provide you with weapons, you have to promise us a naval base near Port Sudan, says researcher Jalel Harchaoui at the renowned Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) tank to Aftenposten.

Recently, Russia and the Sudanese Armed Forces concluded an agreement to build a Russian naval base nearby. Port Sudan.

Russia is also accused of plundering Sudan's gold resources in order to… Funding the war in Ukraine, according to CNNThe country is trying to make sure. Benefits whatever The side that wins the war.

The weakness of American influence in Africa

Washington has long shown little interest in Africa. This has given Russia and China an opportunity. To gain more influence. Russia has increased its military power, while China has invested money.

“We should not assume that the United States considers the Sudan crisis important or significant from a Western perspective,” says researcher Jalil Harchaoui.

“Is there any indication that the Biden administration, which has withdrawn from Afghanistan, failed to act against Bashar al-Assad, and supported the massacre in Gaza, is truly committed to preventing genocide worldwide?” he asked.

Sudan is seen as “another war in Africa,” a US official told Foreign Policy, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The war in Sudan is getting less attention in the West right now. The war in Gaza and the Russian invasion of Ukraine are consuming a lot of attention and resources. There are also tensions between Western countries and China.