Canon Ian Woodward, from our Sudans partnership, writes:
As most of us get back to our regular post-holiday regimes please spare a thought for the people of Sudan and the regions of the Horn of Africa. As the conflict in Sudan intensifies, more than half the population of the country - approaching 25million people, is struggling to live on one meal a day – in official UN language a state of ‘Food Insecurity’. Indeed, for only the third time in 20 years the UN has declared a full-blown famine.
Archbishop Ezekiel, the primate of the Episcopal Church of Sudan and re-established with his staff in in Port Sudan, has long stressed that his first need for his people is ‘food’. We in our Salisbury – Sudans Partnership are focussing on this priority where we can. United Nations humanitarian aid is starting to come through the western border with Chad and Port Sudan in the east. Whilst at the same time people are fleeing to that country, and south to South Sudan as well as Ethiopia, and Egypt, and beyond; to wherever they can.
The conflict in Sudan between the Government forces of the SAF and the militia force of the RSF is led by warlords who seek power with complete disregard for the safety and future of their people.
News reporting on Sudan has been very limited, being eclipsed by the tragedies of Gaza and Ukraine but in some rare but encouraging in-depth articles in this week’s Economist magazine, the writers explain ‘Why Sudan’s war is the world’s problem’. This is because both factions are supplied with weapons from different factions in the Gulf, and through former Wagner Group contacts whose influence and support still abounds. The United Arab Emirates denies supporting the RSF.
To quote the Economist, “Both sides encompass an increasingly complex constellation of armed factions. The regular Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) have enlisted both Islamist militias and voluntary civilian defence units. Foreign mercenaries and Arab militias work with the RSF, itself best understood as a sprawling network of business interests underwritten by plunder. Though it is the more decentralised of the two sides, neither has complete control over its forces. Both block aid and terrorise civilians. It goes on ’Sudan is a chaos machine’. The war sucks in malign forces from the surrounding region then spews out instability – which unless the conflict is halted will only get worse.” Very sobering observations indeed – it is hard not think that if peace cannot be brought to Sudan the risk of division of the country might be the consequence of continuing conflict.
The UN Security Council is split on what to do about Sudan. The SAF failed to turn up to ceasefire talks in Geneva sponsored by Qatar and Switzerland and urged on by the United States. But as the Economist says ‘it is wrong to suggest that nothing can be done and it would be a grave mistake to ignore Sudan on the grounds of morality and self-interest. Consider for a moment that 60% of people in camps in Calais, on the south side of the English Channel are Sudanese.
What can we, in the Diocese of Salisbury do in this ongoing catastrophe?
Firstly, we will continue to hold Abp Ezekiel and all the people of Sudan and South Sudan in our prayers and support them as much as we can with food aid, and secondly to continue working with our own Government in the Foreign Office and the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on the Sudans to commit to ending the conflict with our international partners. As we move into our 53rd year of partnership with the Sudans, we will not give up doing what we can for our brothers and sisters there.
Thank you for the support you give in both prayers and material ways.