Yassmin Yousif, a second-semester biology student at the University of Connecticut who is Sudanese American, said she is terrified for her family in Sudan as the country faces a civil war. According to the United Nations, Sudan is at risk of facing the largest humanitarian crisis in the world.
“It was kids getting killed back-to-back. It’s something I constantly think about,” said Yousif. “I don’t think I’ve gone a day without thinking about the safety for them [her family].”
According to Yousif, the Rapid Support Forces and the army are fighting for Sudan’s capital, Khartoum. That is where Yousif’s family lives. According to Rebecca Glade, a Columbia University graduate researching political and social issues in Sudan, the army represents the government whereas the RSF is a paramilitary group of people trying to disassemble the government. Glade said their battle for control over land, natural resources and gold in Khartoum Sudanese began the disaster.
“The soldiers in the RSF are much scarier on the ground,” said Glade. “They attack people, they commit rape, they loot houses. They’re not a professionalized force. On the other hand, you have an army that is targeting people on ethnic lines. So, like in that sense, both are pretty bad.”
The violence in Sudan has affected Maisa Aburas, a second-semester computer science student at UConn, who is also Sudanese American. Aburas said her mother’s family fled from Sudan to Egypt, while her family members on her father’s side fled to a refugee camp in Uganda. She said she hasn’t talked to those on her father’s side for over a year due to internet outages. Aburas also explained that her uncle died after being shot by the RSF in 2018.
“It was so sad, I actually cried because I saw him in person…before I went to Sudan,” said Aburas regarding her uncle. “I remember his face and everything, and I literally just talked to him, so it was surprising he passed away.”
The civil war has also led to a hunger crisis. Hunger ravages the population as Sudan risks becoming the world’s largest famine crisis, according to the UN World Food Progamme. According to UNICEF, 24.6 million people are acutely food insecure, while 638,000, the highest anywhere in the world currently, face catastrophic levels of hunger in Sudan.
“There is a huge humanitarian crisis ongoing,” said Mendy Hameda, the program manager for Hope Relief and Rehabilitation for Disabilities Support, an organization based in Sudan. “It’s literally people dying because of lack of food, people dying every day because of shelling. There is no calmness for the Sudanese.”
Yousif and Abaras both said that many of their peers don’t know about the war in Sudan and noted a lack of media coverage. Lojain Gamar, a volunteer at the youth-led organization MKE4Sudan, said that the greatest challenges the Sudanese face are lack of awareness and ignorance of the war from the rest of the world. Gamar also said anti-Black racism plays a significant role in why Sudan and other African countries facing conflict continue to be silenced.
“We have heard of their sufferings yet no action or even mention of them was made,” said Gamar. “It is a theme that continues to this day, and we see it being done to Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo and other countries in Africa.”
Mark Hackett, the executive director of the nonprofit organization Operation Broken Silence, works to provide humanitarian support to Sudan. He said less knowledge of the conflict in Sudan also has to do with the limited Sudanese population in the U.S. and more education focused on Western conflicts.
Organizations in the U.S. and Sudan are working to combat the crisis. According to Hackett, Operation Broken Silence, based in Memphis, Tenn., raises funds and partners with Sudanese organizations to provide food and medicine. According to Hameda, HRRDS has imported food for over 3,000 households in Sudan as of February 2024.
“Sudan is home,” said Gamar. “It is the country that raised my parents, a country I visited so often that I now see it being destroyed through my telephone screen. A country that taught me the meaning of family, hospitality, laughter, and joy. As a human being, this is an issue that should be of importance to everyone.”