World Refugee Day: Sudan
Today is World Refugee Day. The United Nations has announced that over 1.8 million Sudanese are displaced inside of Sudan, while another 734,900 Sudanese are refugees abroad. This means that over 8% of all Sudanese have been forced to leave their homes.
The updated statistics are part of a larger report by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). Alarmingly, 79.5 million people were displaced worldwide at the end of 2019. Sudan remains in the top 10 countries with the highest levels of internal displacement. It is likely that Sudan’s displaced numbers are even slightly higher today, as recent rounds of violence orchestrated by regime paramilitaries has risen throughout 2020.
UNHCR also notes that being forcibly displaced from your home is simply no longer a short-term and temporary phenomenon.
Operation Broken Silence has seen this reality in our work. Some refugees from the Nuba Mountains region of Sudan have been living in Yida Refugee Camp for more than 8 years now. There are no signs that they will be able to return home anytime soon, despite recent changes in Sudan’s government. Yusif* knows this reality better than most.
“I came to Yida because there was a lot of bombing in the Nuba Mountains. The enemy (regime forces) was everywhere.
There is not much food here, but we’ve been able to adapt. At least here it is safe.”
I met Yusif when he was building a new house out of the traditional mud bricks that are common across Yida. It was his way of coming to terms with the reality that this was going to be his home for a long time, even if the ceasefire that is now in place came to be.
Despite Sudan’s peaceful revolution last year, not much has changed in the Nuba Mountains. A fragile ceasefire that began in the final years of the Bashir regime still has not translated into a peace agreement. Regime paramilitary forces and the Sudanese army remain deployed in the region. They routinely breach the ceasefire and launch attacks on one another. Thankfully the Sudanese military has not resumed aerial bombing of Nuba communities.
The current situation in Sudan has been made more complicated by the coronavirus pandemic, which is spreading faster there than most other places around the world.
It’s not hard to understand why Sudanese like Yusif can’t return home when conditions are this unstable. Helping them to continue make progress in Yida is the right thing to do.
Sudan’s next generation of leaders is at risk. Children living in the Nuba Mountains and nearby Yida Refugee Camp have grown up only knowing war. Most do not have access to a quality classroom.
Operation Broken Silence sponsors 24 Nuba teachers in Yida Refugee Camp. We’re the only organization in the world supporting refugee teachers here. Due to the devastating coronavirus pandemic, 60% of our donations have evaporated. We need your help sustaining these refugee teachers during this time of uncertainty.
* Name has been changed for safety reasons.
About Us
Operation Broken Silence is building a global movement to empower the Sudanese people through innovative programs as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. We focus on empowering Sudanese change makers and their critical work. Learn more here.
Donations are tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law. Give today.
About Mark
Mark Hackett is the Executive Director of Operation Broken Silence. He works with our Sudanese partners and oversees our daily operations.
Mark is one of only a few Americans to have been on the frontlines in the Nuba Mountains during the war.
