The Forgotten War of Sudan: A Catastrophe for the Ummah
"The horror unfolding in Sudan is boundless"
Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
(Translated)
Sudan is bleeding, and the world barely stirs. Now, the brutal war between the Sudanese Armed Forces led by Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces led by Mohamed Hamdan Daglo (Hemedti), is entering its third year, plunging the country into chaos and unleashing one of the most horrific humanitarian disasters of our time. Yet, despite the scale of destruction and suffering, the war in Sudan is being ignored, forgotten, and silenced due to global indifference.
This power struggle has claimed the lives of an estimated 150,000 civilians since April 2023 - although aid organizations believe the true figure is much higher. These are not soldiers on battlefields, but women, children and the elderly, who are mercilessly killed in their homes, mosques, markets and makeshift camps (BBC). The El-Obeid massacre, in which more than 300 civilians - including 21 children - were killed by RSF fighters, is just one of countless atrocities. Entire cities were burned and razed to the ground. Mass graves were hastily dug. Entire families have disappeared. What is happening in Sudan is not just a war, but a systematic genocide.
Women and girls, as always in wars, are among the most abused victims. Both sides used sexual violence as a tool of terror and domination. Girls as young as 9 years old were kidnapped, gang-raped, and then returned home physically destroyed, if they returned at all. Survivors speak of public rapes intended to humiliate communities, and mass sexual assaults in displaced persons camps.
Medical workers report treating survivors without access to psychological support or justice. Many remain silent for fear of shame or retribution. (Human Rights Watch, OHCHR)
More than 14 million people have been displaced, making this the largest displacement crisis in the world. More than half of Sudan's 50 million people face the risk of starvation. According to the World Food Programme, famine has swept through at least 10 areas, including the Zamzam camp, which houses 400,000 displaced people. (World Food Programme).
Food and water are scarce. Not because of a natural disaster, but deliberately. Both factions have used hunger as a weapon by obstructing humanitarian aid, seizing supplies, and preventing access to basic necessities. Starvation is used to punish entire peoples.
In refugee camps, children eat leaves, and mothers go days without food to feed their children. Waterborne diseases, malaria, and cholera have spread rapidly. Health systems have collapsed. UNICEF describes the situation as a multifaceted crisis, destroying every aspect of life; health, sanitation, education, and safety. (World Health Organization). Dozens of reports have emerged of the torture of political prisoners, the abduction of civilians, and the forced recruitment of children to fight. Humanitarian workers were also targeted, killed, abducted, or prevented from reaching those in need. Hospitals were looted and turned into battlefields. Schools were bombed. No place is safe. (OHCHR).
Yet, the media barely whispers the name of Sudan. The war is described as invisible, forgotten, or simply removed from the headlines altogether. Unlike Ukraine or Gaza, there are no celebrity endorsements, no mass protests, and no political urgency.
Sudan's silence is no coincidence, its wealth of gold, oil, uranium and fertile land make it a geostrategic prize. Powers such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, America, Britain and Russia all have interests in Sudan. The country has become a chessboard for foreign interests.
The war in Sudan is not a historical coincidence. It is the legacy of colonialism, dividing borders, and secular dictatorships supported by foreign patrons. Sudan, like most existing countries in the Muslim world, was under the control of colonial powers. It was deprived of true independence, its leadership was corrupted, and its people rebelled against each other.
The democratic solutions promoted by the West are part of the problem. These systems - designed to serve the interests of the elite - have failed Sudan, as they have failed Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan.
There is only one path that offers a real and lasting solution for Sudan and the entire Islamic Ummah. That path is the establishment of the Caliphate according to the method of Prophethood.
The Caliphate will unite Muslims regardless of their ethnic and tribal affiliations, eliminate foreign influence, distribute resources fairly, establish accountability, and ensure dignity and security for all. History recalls how the rule of the Caliphate under Omar bin Abdul Aziz eradicated poverty in North Africa to the extent that no one deserving of Zakat could be found.
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: «The likeness of the believers in their mutual love, compassion and sympathy is that of one body; when one of its organs suffers, the whole body responds to it with wakefulness and fever.» Sahih Muslim. Our Ummah in Sudan is in distress, the world may not care, but we must care.
The Women's Section in the Central Media Office of Hizb ut-Tahrir calls on all Muslims to raise awareness, reject false solutions, and call for the establishment of the Caliphate according to the method of Prophethood urgently.
﴿O you who have believed, respond to Allah and to the Messenger when he calls you to that which gives you life.﴾
#SudanCrisis #SudanCrisis
Written for the Radio of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut-Tahrir
Yasmine Malik
Member of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut-Tahrir
