For almost three years, Sudan was torn apart by a very cruel civil war. On the one hand the regular army led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and on the other the paramilitary group of General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti, whose name is the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who used to call themselves Janjaweed, “devil on horseback”. Clashes between factions show a brutal war involving ethnic violence, rape and child soldiers. Francesco Lanino, Deputy Director of Save the Children in Sudan, told Il Giornale this
Dr. Lanino, what is the current situation?
In Sudan, the situation is very bad, in the sense that we are in the biggest humanitarian crisis globally. Often media attention, especially in Europe, is heavily focused on Ukraine and Gaza. But here there has been a humanitarian crisis for 3 years, a war that according to the UN has caused more than 150,000 deaths and there are still around 11 million people who have fled or fled to neighboring countries.
This is a civil war that is now taking place along the western central part of the country, therefore in parts of Darfour that have historically experienced conflict situations in the past, but also in Kordofan, which is located further south towards the border with South Sudan.
Can you give us a humanitarian overview of the conflict?
Currently, according to the latest UN data, more than half of the population is in a humanitarian emergency, which means they need any help: food, medical, education, protection. Half of this number are children. Their situation is very dramatic, especially for us as Save the Children, not only are half of these refugees children, they are children themselves, but the school system has also completely collapsed and only one in two children is in school. Schools are closed, there are no teachers available and there are not even health facilities that guarantee a minimum right to health for minor children who have experienced so much cruelty.
Where does Save the Children operate in Sudan?
We operate in 13 states, in Darfour in El Fasher and Tawila, and also in parts of West Darkfour, near the border with Chad. All areas where there were large concentrations of clashes, such as in the fall of El Fasher, with the most recent massacre carried out by the RSF. We are also present in Kordofan in the city of El-Obeid and in the city of Kadugli which perhaps now, with the fall of El Fasher, will become a new area of clashes.
What are the most serious deficiencies you see?
In all these regions, according to the UN, there is a situation of extreme hunger. There are hundreds of thousands of people who are starving. It is clear that the situation in El Fasher is the most serious. This was a city that was under siege for 18 months, meaning no one could bring 1 kg of flour, a loaf of bread or anything else to the people living there. We’re talking about almost 300,000 people. Now, with the region falling into the hands of the RSF, there is a movement of people seeking safety in other areas of the country.
What was your experience of the siege of El Fasher by the RSF?
We had our own team in El Fasher when the RSF occupied the city and obviously it was a very stressful and difficult time for us. There is no active communication, no telephone network, no internet so we cannot understand what is happening inside the city and the fate of our humanitarian workers.
Luckily they managed to reach Tawila, after two days of walking, and told them what had happened. The house-to-house killings, the indiscriminate slaughter of people, men, women or children, killed based on their ethnic origin, constituted unprecedented brutality.
What happens now that the siege is over?
We have information about people fleeing 60-70 km to areas filled with armed militias who rob refugees, rape women and kill as many people as possible. Some of the people who managed to escape told us that they had not eaten for days and many had died of starvation.
Currently approximately 90,000 people have managed to escape, but perhaps between 200 and 250,000 people are still there and we don’t know what happened.
What are you trying to do?
Let’s try to understand whether it is possible to open humanitarian corridors. Unfortunately all attempts at dialogue ended without any results. As an organization, we accept many unaccompanied children. We witness the constant movement of the population from one city to another, with the paradox that they seek refuge in centers controlled by the RSF or other affiliated groups, namely the same people who commit these ethnic-based atrocities.
What is the impact of this perpetual vulnerability?
There is great concern and fear that many people are moving towards Chad, others are moving towards the SAF-held areas of Khartoum, but we see that there is a movement that is starting to grow towards Libya and from Libya and then towards Italy. If we observe the latest landing data, it can be seen that there has been an increase in the population of Sudan.
Is there a risk of a domino effect on Europe?
Not being able to create a stable security space where humanitarian workers can truly deliver aid here, in Darfour or in other parts of the country, could mean many people have to look elsewhere for safety, perhaps in Europe.
In conflicts such as those in Sudan and Darfur, when does ethnic hatred become important?
There is political use of ethnic differences, there is propaganda that incites hatred against those who are different, against those who do not come from the same tribe, family or area of origin as me which is fanned by local politicians and armed groups. A phenomenon that touched the hearts of an entire generation of teenagers, because most of these guerrillas were children, they were teenagers who had never had access to the school system.
Is Sudan also a victim of the scourge of child soldiers?
Yes, there are a lot of children who serve in the army. It’s really hard to imagine. How could such a small child be trained to do such things, inciting hatred and murder. We have dedicated programs to try to help these children and then work on their reintegration into the social order. The problem is that they are never released, that is, used until they die. This is a dramatic situation.
How to break this spiral?
This is not a class that does military service. They are the ones who continue to take advantage of children because they are easy to take advantage of, follow orders and don’t understand what they are doing. The problem is what will happen to these children or people in the future.
Is there a recovery program?
They are already complicated for adults. I worked on a program for former child soldiers who came from northern Uganda during Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army, and there things got very complicated, even though the war was over, because there was a desire for revenge from family members and victims who identified with the children. Great patience is required to return these children not only to stable mental health, but also to being part of the fabric of the community that they have completely lost and no one wants them to be a part of again.
Is there any weight to international players?
Weapons arrived in Darfur and a lot of gold came out of Darfur. All of this is driven by the economic interests of other countries. This is why we, international organizations, ask the international community to commit to resolving the conflict. It is not enough for the international community to feel angry about what happened, but to keep Sudan alive, the international community needs to take a strong political position regarding crimes against humanity committed by certain people, individuals, whose responsibility is known with clear evidence.
Have you received responses from the countries most involved?
There is no desire in the international community to find a political solution for Sudan. Maybe because this conflict is seen as another conflict in Africa and Africa is distant, complicated, tribal, or maybe because the media attention is focused on Ukraine and Gaza.
Will there be at least a truce, or a temporary truce?
There appears to be an intention to call a ceasefire on one side, which is then opposed by the other side. Despite intentions for a ceasefire, drone attacks continue. The massacres continued, people continued to starve to death. We don’t have access to El Fasher or in many areas of this country where we have medicine, we have food, even the UN has prepared it, but we can’t distribute it.
What do you do as Save the Children?
Our priorities, like our mandate, relate to the rights of children and minors. In this country we have almost 100 health points in conflict zones that provide free medical care and medicines to thousands of people every week through our volunteer doctors and in the country.
We carry out vaccination campaigns for children under 5 years of age. Currently hundreds of schools in the country have reopened thanks to Save the Children and we are supporting around 1 million children who have successfully returned to school.
We have protection activities for all children who have experienced physical violence or who have experienced trauma related to the loss of brothers, sisters, parents, relatives and those to whom we provide psychological support.
Do you also provide other types of assistance?
We address hygiene and prevention of ongoing epidemics, such as cholera which has caused thousands of deaths. We handle the distribution of shelter supplies, namely materials so that people can rebuild tents or have mattresses or kitchen equipment.
We distribute food and drinking water, especially in refugee camps and we also provide economic support, through programs where we provide some kind of cash transfer to the most vulnerable families.
What are your needs?
We need continued media and international attention to the conflict in Sudan. We need to talk about Sudan, there needs to be media mobilization, because this conflict needs to be resolved at the political level.
Then there is the urgent need for medicines that must continue to arrive. There is a need for flexible funding which can obviously change depending on the emergency. If we imagine going back to El Fasher, feeding 250 people.
000 for at least 6 months is a huge commitment and of course this requires presence, but also funds that will allow us to undertake long-term interventions, to try to keep Sudan alive in the dark months of its history.
