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Sudan’s Independence to Partition With South Sudan
The history of the geographic region now known as Sudan and South Sudan stretches back thousands of years. This overview focuses on the time period after Sudan’s independence in 1956.
Photo: Children of South Sudan practice their dance routine for the performance at the football match between South Sudan and Kenya during the independence celebrations of South Sudan on July 9, 2011. (UN Photo/Paul Banks)
This historical overview provides a contextual background for understanding the issues Operation Broken Silence works on. It is part of our resource list for students, teachers, and the curious and was last updated November 2023. For more information about what's happening in Sudan and our work, please sign up for our email list.
Map: Sudan and South today. (Operation Broken Silence)
Introduction
While the history of the geographic region now known as Sudan and South Sudan stretches back thousands of years, this overview focuses on the time period after Sudan’s independence in 1956.
A chronological examination of Sudan’s contemporary era can be broken out into four main periods:
Sudan’s Independence: 1956
First Sudanese Civil War: 1955-1972
Second Sudanese Civil War: 1983-2005
Peace Agreement & South Sudan Partition: 2006-2011
Since Operation Broken Silence’s mission is focused on issues in Sudan, this historical overview ends with South Sudan’s independence in 2011.
Sudan’s Independence: 1956
On January 1, 1956, Sudan gained independence from the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium, the joint British and Egyptian colonial government that administrated the region. The new country came with a rich diversity of over 600 ethnic groups speaking more than 400 languages in an area roughly one-third the size of the United States.
The region could broadly be broken into two areas: the geographic north, which was home to roughly 65% of the population and is predominately Muslim, with various ethnicities falling into the larger categories of African and Arab. The geographic south is now largely the country of South Sudan, where many individuals consider themselves Christian or animist, with their various ethnicities falling primarily under the broader category of African. While there are evident demographic differences between these two areas, the colonial government only perpetuated division further by governing the north and south separately, with most investment going to Arab-dominated regions of the north.
Sudan’s founding constitution failed to address two crucial issues. First, it was not decided if Sudan should be a secular or Islamist state. Second, the country’s system of national governance failed to include the majority of Sudanese and protect the rights of large minorities. This has been a core driver of conflict in Sudan ever since. As the years went by and national governance became dominated by elite Arab tribal groups in Khartoum, the central government failed to fulfill its promises to create a federal system that was more inclusive.
Map: Towns where South Sudanese troops mutinied against Khartoum. (Operation Broken Silence)
First Sudanese Civil War: 1955-1972
The consolidation of the two regions following independence caused fear across southern Sudan that centralizing political power in the north would soon rule over them.
In 1955, an unorganized mutiny by southern army officers began. Sudan would never be the same again. The resulting war progressed into three stages over a roughly 17-year period.
Stage 1: Unorganized Guerrilla Warfare (1955-early 1960s)
Southern Sudanese army troops mutinied in the garrison towns of Torit, Yei, Juba, and Maridi. While revolts were quickly suppressed, many survivors fled into the countryside to begin an uncoordinated, poorly armed insurgency.
The newly formed Sudanese government and the outgoing British saw these groups and their insurgency as a mere annoyance. Regardless, the Sudanese government began rebuilding its armed forces in the south.
Stage 2: Anyanya Movement Forms (early 1960s-1971)
As guerrilla leaders consolidated control over rural areas, they began to coordinate more closely together. The Anyanya emerged as a secessionist movement composed of the mutineers from 1955 and southern students.
Despite their differences and internal conflict, armed Anyanya units began expanding their control over much of rural southern Sudan. Noticing this, the central government responded by reinforcing garrison towns in the south.
Photo: President Jaafar Nimeiry, in office from May 25, 1969 – April 6, 1985. (US Defense Department)
The Sudanese government faced just as many internal divisions as the southern Anyanya. Successive coup attempts hampered the central government during this time. Popular protests kept Khartoum’s security forces tied up in major cities, which allowed the ever-growing southern rebellion to spread further. Marxist and non-Marxist elements in the upper military and political class jockeyed for power, further exacerbating internal crisis. A short-lived coup in 1871 against Sudanese leader Nimeiry Jaafar ended when he jumped from a window while incarcerated and his supporters rescued him.
Stage 3: South Sudan Liberation Movement (SSLM) Emerges (1971)
By 1969, the Anyanya Movement posed a formidable military threat to the Sudanese government in the north. Despite its own internal divisions, Anyanya fighters now had large swaths of the rural south under control.
After several internal coups and leadership changes in 1971, various Anyanya factions united under a single command structure and vision as the South Sudan Liberation Movement (SSLM).
Southern secession from Sudan and the formation of an independent state was the goal of the SSLM. Increasingly organized and with fewer divisions, SSLM forces fought the northern government’s bloody counter-insurgency campaign to a stalemate.
The war ended with the signing of the 1972 Addis Ababa Agreement between the SSLM and the northern government, granteing significant regional autonomy to southern Sudan. It also promised the Abyei area —located on the north-south geographic, ethnic, and religious fault line— the right to hold a referendum on remaining a part of northern Sudan or joining the semi-autonomous southern region.
Aftermath
It is estimated that the First Sudanese Civil War claimed roughly 500,000 lives, with only 20% being war-related civilian deaths or armed combatants. The Sudanese government’s violent counter-insurgency campaign left many southern Sudanese traumatized and deeply mistrustful of northern governments in Khartoum. Hundreds of thousands of southern Sudanese returned to reclaim their land; however, full reconciliation between the north and south never occurred. The seeds for the next war were planted at the end of the first, and the coming conflict would be one of the most destructive in human history.
Second Sudanese Civil War: 1983-2005
While the war and genocide in southern Sudan had racial and religious origins with roots in oppressive marginalization, the primary reason for this conflict was the system of exploitative and extremist governance in Khartoum that began to emerge in the 1970s. The Second Sudanese Civil War progressed in four stages over a 22-year period.
Stage 1: Rise of Islamic Extremism and Sudan People's Liberation Army (1983-1989)
Large quantities of oil were discovered in the south in 1978. Hungry for cash and power, Sudanese government leaders in the north violated the 1972 Addis Ababa Peace Agreement by attempting to seize control of these areas. Meanwhile, a much more terrifying force was gaining power in the shadows in Khartoum: Arab Islamic extremists.
By 1983, Arab Islamic political power had grown so much in the north that Sudanese President Nimeiry —desperate to hold onto power— declared all of Sudan an Islamic state. Under crushing pressure from the Islamists, he made the fateful decision to terminate southern autonomy. Southern leaders had been watching with great apprehension for years as the extremists consolidated power in Khartoum. Now it was clear that the violent ideology building in the north would soon be unleashed against their homeland in the southern Sudan.
The Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), the successor armed rebel movement to the SSLM, began forming almost immediately. Southern soldiers mutinied across Sudanese government ranks and returned to the south to prepare for the inevitable invasion. SPLA forces seized large swaths of rural areas in southern Sudan. The speed at which the southern rebellion grew caught the Sudanese government off guard, so much so that in 1984 President Nimeiry announced the end of sharia (religious Islamic law) in the south. However, this move did little to comfort southern leaders.
A short-lived coup unseated Nimeiry in 1985 and led to open fighting in southern Sudan between government forces and SPLA troops. Protests swept across Sudan in 1988 as the war strained the economy. Under pressure from across Sudan, the northern government attempted to secure peace with the southern SPLA. A fragile agreement was finally reached; however, it proved to be too little too late. The Arab Islamists were nearly prepared to put their twisted vision for Sudan in motion.
Stage 2: Bashir Regime Seizes & Consolidates Power (1989-1991)
In 1989, Colonel Omar al-Bashir and the National Islamic Front seized power in a military coup. Bashir took the titles of president, chief of state, prime minister, and chief of the armed forces. Wielding a Koran and an AK-47 rifle in Khartoum, Bashir declared to soldiers that he was going to reengineer the country into one dominated by an ethnic Arab elite and ruled by oppressive sharia law.
Between 1989-1991, Bashir’s military regime consolidated control over the government by banning trade unions, political parties, and other non-religious institutions. Over 70,000 members of the army, police, and civil administration were purged.
In 1991, the Bashir regime instituted sharia law across all of Sudan. Alarm bells sounded across southern Sudan: the time to prepare for war was running out.
Stage 3: War & Genocide Consumes southern Sudan (1992-2001)
The full-blown war came in the summer of 1992. A massive Sudanese government offensive into southern Sudan drove the SPLA out of their rural strongholds and into the borderlands. Unarmed communities were bombed with conventional and chemical weapons. Tens of thousands of Arab Islamist militias —which the Bashir regime had built up quietly since seizing power— were unleashed on the southern population to murder, pillage, and occupy.
The rapid invasion of southern Sudan nearly crushed the SPLA and divided the rebel army into two factions that would only split further. For the next few years, SPLA factions fought each other as well as a manipulative Bashir regime, who attempted to pit SPLA groups against each other with promises of power, wealth, and ceasefires.
Southern Sudanese began fleeing into the few remaining areas underneath SPLA control. Endless streams of refugees arrived at the Ugandan and Ethiopian borders, bringing with them horrifying stories of widespread massacres and rape. Regional distrust of the Bashir regime skyrocketed. Fearful that the war would soon spill across their own borders, Uganda and Ethiopia began providing the SPLA with direct military assistance and training.
Meanwhile, the SPLA began sending arms and small units throughout southern Sudan, even as far north as the Nuba Mountains region, where war had broken out as well. Sudanese government forces soon found themselves fighting a near-invisible enemy. The guerrilla warfare strategy adapted by the SPLA began to strangle regime supply lines. Government forces regularly carried out reprisal massacres against southern Sudanese following hit and run battles with the SPLA.
Successive famines from a regime-enforced humanitarian blockade rocked southern Sudan and caused the death toll to accelerate. As horrific images poured out of southern Sudan, international efforts to end the conflict and cripple the Bashir regime increased. Half a world away in Washington D.C., a bipartisan, furious group of American leaders viewed the Bashir regime as a harbinger of international terrorism that was committing genocide in southern Sudan.
Stage 4: International Intervention (2002-2005)
By the late 1990s, the tide of the war was shifting. With arms and training from Uganda and Ethiopia, the SPLA had once again taken control of larger swaths of rural southern Sudan. Regime supply lines between government garrison towns were being strangled by the SPLA. The Bashir regime responded with more scorched-earth tactics and increased bombings on civilian areas.
In October 2002, the US government passed the Sudan Peace Act, comprehensive legislation that dramatically increased American support to the southern Sudanese cause. Underneath the Bush administration, the US government began providing direct humanitarian relief and confronting the Bashir regime on the international stage. The legislation declared that Sudanese government crimes in southern Sudan amounted to genocide.
On top of growing battlefield losses, the Bashir regime found itself fully isolated on the international stage. Crushing American sanctions and diplomatic activity had turned Bashir and other regime leaders into global pariahs. The regime’s genocide in the south had become too costly to continue.
Fighting began to recede in 2003 and 2004. Seizing on the moment, American diplomats mobilized international partners and began brokering a peace agreement that aimed to address the majority of the issues between northern and southern Sudan.
Meanwhile in the western Darfur region of Sudan, an uprising against regime oppression was beginning to be met with another brutal genocide at the hands of the Sudanese government.
Peace Agreement & South Sudan Partition
On January 9, 2005, the Bashir regime and the SPLA signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). The CPA secured a referendum vote on southern independence after an interim period of autonomy and provided a wide-array of potential solutions for a slew of other issues.
The implementation of the CPA deteriorated leading up to southern Sudan's vote for independence. The vote went ahead despite concerns of a renewed conflict and intense pressure from the international community on the Bashir regime.
After decades of war, the people of southern Sudan voted 99% in favor of independence. On July 9, 2011, mass celebrations swept across South Sudan as it became the world's newest country.
Noticeably left out of the CPA though were any paths forward for the Nuba Mountains, Blue Nile, and Abyei three areas that straddled the north-south fault line. Abyei remains a flashpoint between Sudan and South Sudan today. The Bashir regime launched new genocidal wars in the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile during South Sudan’s independence, and successive military junta’s in Khartoum have refused to seek peace in these two areas ever since.
From Learning To Action
Operation Broken Silence is building a global movement to empower Sudanese heroes in the war-torn periphery regions of Sudan, including Nuba teachers in Yida Refugee Camp. Teachers just like Chana.
The Endure Primary and Renewal Secondary Schools we sponsor in Yida are run entirely by Sudanese teachers. Your gift will help pay educator salaries, deliver school supplies and more.
If you can’t donate right now, we encourage you start a fundraising page and ask friends and family to give!
We are a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization. Your donation is tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee holds hearing on Sudan
Watch the full hearing and read a quick summary to learn more.
This morning, the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a full committee hearing on the catastrophe unfolding in Sudan.
We encourage you to watch the entire hearing, but we believe the exchange with Senator Cory Booker that begins at the 1:12:45 mark is worth honing in on specifically. These are the questions that should be asked and the points about Sudanese civil society needing to be centered in any process moving forward are critically important. You can also read several of our key takeaways below.
U.S. government diplomacy and actions
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has engaged in seven separate calls with Sudanese Generals Burhan and Hemeti —the two men responsible for the security meltdown— to negotiate multiple temporary ceasefires that have allowed for evacuations, some Sudanese civilians to escape high-risk areas, and the delivery of a limited amount of humanitarian aid.
Since Sunday, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Molly Phee and U.S. Ambassador to Sudan John Godfrey have been engaged in pre-negotiations between the Sudan Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces. Their immediate focus is securing a declaration on humanitarian principles and a more sustainable temporary ceasefire to pry open humanitarian access. If successful, they will push forward for expanded talks that aim to secure a permanent cessation of hostilities and a return to civilian-led governance in Sudan.
The State Department and U.S. military personnel have evacuated over 2,000 people from Sudan, including 1,300 U.S. citizens, diplomats, and local staff.
Following President Biden issuing an Executive Order on May 4, the U.S. government is moving forward with preparations to hold to account those responsible for this crisis through sanctions and other actions.
Ambassador John Godfrey and other US diplomats are actively speaking and working with NGOs and Sudanese civil society groups to try to meet immediate needs, as well as to find a path forward that truly places civilians in charge of the Sudanese government.
USAID’s assessment of the humanitarian situation and actions
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has confirmed that 70% of hospitals in conflict-affected areas have been knocked out of operation.
USAID estimates that over 3 million women and girls are at high-risk of gender-based violence by various regime security forces.
More than 19 million people could be food insecure in the next 3-6 months if fighting continues. That’s over 40% of Sudan’s entire population.
170,000 people have already fled to neighboring countries. Another 700,000+ have been internally-displaced by ongoing battles between regime security forces.
USAID Administrator Samantha Power has deployed a Disaster Assistance Response Team to the region to help coordinate large-scale relief efforts that will begin when a ceasefire sticks.
Port Sudan is firmly under the control of the Sudan Armed Forces. USAID and other regional and international actors are stockpiling humanitarian relief supplies there and off the coast that can be quickly delivered throughout the country when conditions permit.
Friends and supporters,
This time of extreme crisis is making the work of our Sudanese partners difficult. We are funding emergency evacuations, medical supplies, and more. And basic program costs are rising due to the war; fuel alone has nearly doubled in price.
The military generals responsible for this violence have no vision for Sudan, only a vision for themselves that has led to the senseless deaths of countless people. Our Sudanese partners don’t know when this will end, but their vision for a healthy and whole Sudan remains resolute. This is the way. They need our help in this time of severe crisis.
A generous private donor is responding to these urgent needs by matching all donations to our Sudanese partners, up to $15,000 total. When you donate, so do they. Give now to double your impact!
Operation Broken Silence is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Your donation is tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law.
OTHER WAYS TO GIVE
Make a check payable to Operation Broken Silence and mail it to P.O. Box 770900 Memphis, TN 38177-0900
Operation Broken Silence is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization and your donation is tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law. To claim a donation as a deduction on your U.S. taxes, please keep your email donation receipt as your official record.
Biden Administration moves toward sanctions concerning Sudan
This morning, the Biden Administration announced it is moving toward imposing sanctions on persons who are destabilizing Sudan.
This morning, the Biden Administration announced it is moving toward imposing sanctions on persons who are destabilizing Sudan and undermining the country’s democratic transition.
The announcement comes nearly three weeks after the country’s official military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) plunged Sudan into the nightmare scenario we have long feared. Heavy urban fighting between the two sides in Khartoum has since spilled out to many other parts of the country.
Conservative estimates state that nearly 600 people have been killed and over 5,000 more wounded, with more than 100,000 people having fled the country the last few weeks. Dozens of hospitals and healthcare facilities have been attacked. The UN estimates another 860,000 more people will flee the country in the coming weeks.
A Sudanese fighter jet flies over the Khartoum battlefield in April 2023.
After expressing his support for the Sudanese people, President Biden said:
“Since the earliest moments of this conflict, the United States has facilitated the safe departure of thousands of people –Americans and others– by land, sea, and air and conducted intensive negotiations to de-escalate violence. Our diplomatic efforts to urge all parties to end the military conflict and allow unhindered humanitarian access continue, as do our efforts to assist those remaining Americans, including by providing them information on exit options. The United States is already responding to this unfolding humanitarian crisis and stands ready to support enhanced humanitarian assistance when conditions allow.
The United States stands with the people of Sudan—and we are acting to support their commitment to a future of peace and opportunity. Today, I issued a new Executive Order that expands U.S. authorities to respond to the violence that began on April 15 with sanctions that hold individuals responsible for threatening the peace, security, and stability of Sudan; undermining Sudan’s democratic transition; using violence against civilians; or committing serious human rights abuses.”
In a letter to Congressional leadership concerning his executive order, the President added:
“I find that the situation in Sudan, including the military’s seizure of power in October 2021 and the outbreak of inter-service fighting in April 2023, constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.”
Friends and supporters,
This time of extreme crisis is making the work of our Sudanese partners more difficult. Basic program costs are rising due to the war and we are receiving requests to fund emergency needs that include evacuations, medical supplies, and more.
Our Sudanese partners don’t know when this will end, but their vision for a healthy Sudan remains resolute. And they once again need our help in a time of severe crisis.
A generous private donor is responding to these urgent needs by matching all donations to our Sudanese partners, up to $15,000 total. Give now to double your impact!
Operation Broken Silence is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Your donation is tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law.
Onward,
Mark C. Hackett
Executive Director
What Sanctions Mean & More
President Biden’s full executive order can be viewed here. In summary, the EO aims to impose sanctions on the following types of people:
Persons determined to have engaged or attempted to engage in actions or policies that threaten the peace, security, or stability of Sudan
Persons engaged in actions or policies that undermine the formation or operation of a civilian transitional government, Sudan’s transition to democracy, or a future democratically elected government
Persons engaged in actions or policies that undermine democratic processes or institutions in Sudan
Persons engaged in censorship or other actions or policies that limit the exercise of freedoms of expression, association, or peaceful assembly
Persons engaged in government corruption, serious human rights abuses, or the targeting of women, children, or any other civilians
Persons engaged in the obstruction of the activities of United Nations or attacks against United Nations missions in Sudan
The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control is now enforcing the Executive Order. We expect to see announcements of specific sanctions in the coming weeks, whether fighting between regime security forces ends or not. As in the past, we want to note that sanctions on their own will not end this crisis. While important, sanctions are only one component of the U.S. government’s broader diplomacy in and around Sudan right now.
Speaking at a US Senate hearing today, the US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said:
“The fighting in Sudan between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) is, we assess, likely to be protracted as both sides believe that they can win militarily and have few incentives to come to the negotiating table…Both sides are seeking external sources of support, which, if successful, is likely to intensify the conflict and create a greater potential for spillover challenges in the region.”
The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee is scheduled to meet on Wednesday, May 10 to discuss “options for an effective policy response.”
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.
Donations are tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law. Give here.
Saying farewell to The Yida Photography Exhibit
We are retiring one of the most successful Sudanese storytelling projects Operation Broken Silence has ever crafted.
Today we retire one of the most successful Sudanese storytelling projects Operation Broken Silence has ever crafted: The Yida Photography Exhibit. We cannot put into words our gratitude for all of you who joined our mission after experiencing this exhibit.
We began dreaming up this project in the Summer of 2016. Our goal was to create a traveling exhibit that immersed viewers into one of the primary refugee camps for Sudanese people who had fled their country. With the help of dozens of supporters and their top-notch creativity, this stunning story came to life.
This exhibit put faces, culture, and experiences into the crisis stats people see on the news. It shined a bright light on the dignity and resilience of the Nuba people of Sudan in the face of a dehumanizing conflict.
A Story Like No Other
The Yida Photography Exhibit was designed and built over several months in 2016-2017. It was an ambitious undertaking from the beginning. As a traveling storytelling project, it needed to be easy to setup and break down, fit in the back of a single moving truck, and be highly customizable to fit a variety of spaces.
We leaned into the ingenuity of the Sudanese people themselves to do this. Display places were inspired by actual, physical locations in Yida Refugee Camp and handcrafted to match the aesthetic as closely as possible. Materials like metal framing, stained wood, crepe myrtle branches, and barbless barbed wire were donated or purchased. Each display piece was designed and custom-made for the photos they would serve as the backdrop for.
The 313 breathtaking images placed in the exhibit were hand-selected from a collection of 4,535 photos taken by three of our photographers in Yida Refugee Camp: Katie Barber, Jacob Geyer, and Mark Hackett. Photos were curated into various sections that examined what it means to be a Sudanese refugee, Nuba culture, and questions about Sudan’s uncertain future.
The final result was an exhibit that exceeded our expectations. Viewers talked, cried, and found hope in the story. Some people were so captivated by what they say that they would stand motionless or sit on the floor as they processed it all. Countless people invited friends and eagerly jumped into our mission as volunteers, donors, and fundraisers. This special project captured the resilience, somberness, and strength of the people we serve in a way we did not expect. It also brought together people of all different ages, faiths, ethnicities, and backgrounds into our mission.
Final Results
The Yida Photography Exhibit cost $6,775 to build. Costs were driven down by more than 60% thanks to donated materials and labor. When we shared our vision with people who could help bring this story to life, most all jumped at the opportunity.
6,263 people were introduced to the crisis in Sudan and the people Operation Broken Silence serves through the exhibit. We can trace $104,500 in direct giving and fundraising to showings. The amount of money raised greatly exceeds that as some supporters have continued to give annually, fundraised multiple times, come to other events, and started giving monthly. Over the past several years, these funds have been invested into the amazing teachers and students at the Endure Primary and Renewal Secondary Schools in Yida Refugee Camp.
Any nonprofit would be thrilled with results like these. We certainly are, but we’re mostly just grateful. For our Sudanese partners. For the folks who helped bring this story to life. For the supporters and friends we’ve made along the way. For the opportunity to tell a difficult, but amazing story. It’s easy to point at the numbers and claim success! It’s much harder to quantify the countless conversations, words of encouragements, questions, and friendships that were born in this exhibit. Concrete numbers are certainly important, but our organization exists first and foremost to bring a diversity of people together to help others.
You may be asking “If this exhibit is so powerful then why retire it? Why not keep going?”
Sudan and Yida Refugee Camp are very different places today than they were when this project was made. The exhibit would need major updating to stay true to the story. Our organization has also changed a lot over the past few years. We are still finding our footing in this ever-changing, post-pandemic world. Our sense is that it’s better to close this chapter on a high note to make space for what comes next. The story of Sudan is not over yet, but one of the ways we have been telling it is. Some good things come to an end.
The good news is that small parts of the exhibit will live on. We’re keeping all of the photos and a few display pieces to be used at our annual events, private fundraisers, and brand partnership opportunities. You’ll still see them popping up around Memphis from time to time.
Thank you again for being a part of this story. Our friends in Sudan have benefited from your compassion and we are personally encouraged by all of you. The mission to discover a brighter future in Sudan continues. We invite you to recommit to our Sudanese partners alongside of us.
Get Involved
Operation Broken Silence has been working next to our Sudanese partners on the ground for over a decade. Our mission has always been focused on the long run, which is why empowering local solutions in the oppressed Nuba Mountains region is our top priority.
Supporting local teachers like Chana makes all the difference for students in Yida Refugee Camp. The fastest way to empower them is to make a quick one-time donation online, or setup a small monthly gift to help provide them the consistent support they need. A generous private donor is matching all donations, up to $15,000 total. Give now to double your impact.
OTHER WAYS TO HELP
Start a fundraising page and ask friends and family to give
Make a check payable to Operation Broken Silence and mail it to P.O. Box 770900 Memphis, TN 38177-0900
Operation Broken Silence is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization and your donation is tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law. To claim a donation as a deduction on your U.S. taxes, please keep your email donation receipt as your official record.
We'll send it to you upon successful completion of your donation.
Sudan Crisis: Update & How To Help
One week into the civil war in Sudan and there is no end in sight.
Friends and supporters,
It’s been nearly one week since the the Sudan Armed Forces —the country’s official military— and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces began waging war on each other.
Our top priority continues to be ensuring the safety of our Sudanese partners and contacts. I can confirm that our partners and direct contacts are all accounted for, but some of them have lost dear friends and family members to the fighting. Some are in safe spaces, others are not. We grieve with them, and we share their outrage.
We have an update on the situation for you below; but, before you read it, can you make a quick donation to our Sudanese partners? Program costs are rising due to the war and we are preparing to meet emergency needs when they arise. A generous private donor is matching all donations, up to $15,000 total. Give now to double your impact.
Other Ways to Give: Mail A Check | Donate Crypto | Donate Stock
We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Your gift is tax-deductible within the rules of US law.
An Update On The Situation In Sudan
This update is meant to provide you a general overview of the current political and security environment in Sudan. This is not an exhaustive update and the situation is changing by the hour. For more frequent updates, please follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
Since the initial outbreak of fighting between army and paramilitary forces in Khartoum on April 15, violence has spiraled out of control and into other parts of Sudan. The Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) —the country’s official military— currently has the upper-hand in most parts of the country. With the official death estimate already over 400 and the numbers of wounded at 4,000 and climbing fast, this crisis is likely far from over. Considering the brutality of some of the fighting and war crimes we are seeing, these numbers are certainly a vast undercount.
In the long-oppressed western Darfur region, SAF is largely in control of all state capitals, although some fighting continues north of Nyala, the capital of South Darfur. It appears that the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) expected army units would put up little resistance in El Fasher and Nyala. That proved to be a severe miscalculation, with eyewitnesses reporting fierce fighting before RSF units were mostly driven out of both cities. Widespread looting and war crimes have been committed by both sides.
Elsewhere in Sudan, SAF has retaken the Meroe air base north of Khartoum, a major resupply route used by RSF forces. Port Sudan in the east is also under SAF control. El Obeid in Kordofan has seen rolling battles between SAF/police and RSF units. In South Kordofan —home to the Nuba Mountains, where the bulk of our programs are— SAF is in control of all major towns in regime-held areas. The situation there is largely quiet, but tensions are high. Fighting has also been reported in countless small and medium-sized towns across much of Sudan where the army and paramilitaries both have a presence.
The most brutal fighting remains in Khartoum. Over the last few days, both sides have poured thousands of reinforcements, artillery, and weapons and ammunition into the capital. The heaviest fighting is in central Khartoum and neighborhoods in nearby Omdurman. Shelling and heavy gunfire continues around what is left of the army headquarters, international airport, and presidential palace. There are widespread reports of RSF paramilitaries using hit-and-run attacks out of residential areas, with the army launching airstrikes and shells indiscriminately into neighborhoods in response.
Large parts of Khartoum are without power and the city is running dangerously low on fuel, water, and food. The healthcare system is at high-risk of a total collapse in the next few days, with several hospitals having been attacked and all running low on supplies and staff. Deaths and injuries will likely skyrocket soon as fighting continues and what is left of basic social services deteriorate.
Looking beyond Sudan’s borders, ceasefire attempts by the international community have failed. Several diplomatic convoys in Khartoum have been fired on and fallen back to their embassies. Most all international aid operations in the country have been halted. Multiple countries, including the United States, are preparing for military evacuations of diplomatic personnel and whatever citizens sheltering in place they can reach. These realities are best understood as grim warnings that Sudan’s generals have no interest in negotiating an end to this madness.
To make matters worse, other countries are now entering the tempest. There are reports of Egypt launching airstrikes against RSF bases and supply lines as far as they can reach into Sudan. There are unconfirmed reports that the United Arab Emirates is attempting to resupply the RSF through Libya. And the Russian mercenary group Wagner, which has a sizable presence in Sudan, is reported to be furnishing the RSF with surface-to-air missiles. Efforts like these to prop up both sides in this conflict will likely only stretch out this crisis even further, even if this eventually devolves into ongoing, lower-level conflict in more rural and periphery regions of the country.
Predicting when and how this ends is a futile effort; however, considering the nature of the crisis and posture of SAF and RSF commanders, it seems apparent that the current goal of the army is to eradicate the RSF paramilitary force once and for all.
We anticipate that al-Burhan and his army generals will continue pressing their advantage as RSF units retreat or collapse across the country. And it seems like Hemeti and his paramilitary commanders will continue to try to decapitate army leadership in Khartoum as, right now at least, this appears to be the RSF’s only viable path to dominance. As always, the Sudanese people stand to lose the most. Caught in the crossfire and directly targeted by the very security forces tasked with keeping them safe, millions of ordinary Sudanese are living through one of the worst nightmares in Sudan’s recent history.
While the rule of law has been largely absent from Sudan for decades, the oppression of regime rule provided minimal stability in the power centers that the generals relied upon to survive. Even that is now gone. The regime is cannibalizing itself; its generals wholly committed to each other’s destruction in the name of individual self-preservation. One is forced again to see the truth for what it is: if this is not total governmental ruin, then there are no rules of governance.
At the end of this post you can find additional public reporting that provides more background on Sudan’s generals and the roots of this new crisis. Before that though, we encourage you to take action in this moment of severe crisis.
Get Involved
Operation Broken Silence has been working next to our Sudanese partners on the ground for over a decade. Our mission has always been focused on the long run, which is why empowering local solutions will remain our top priority, even during this crisis.
Supporting local teachers like Chana makes all the difference for students who have survived war and want to build a better future for their country. The cost of life-changing programs like these is going up due to the war, and we anticipate that we will soon be called to fund emergency needs. We can’t let this crisis stop our Sudanese partners from doing what they do best: lifting up their people.
The fastest way to help them is to make a quick one-time donation online, or setup a small monthly gift to help provide them the consistent support they need. A generous private donor is matching all donations, up to $15,000 total. Give now to double your impact.
OTHER WAYS TO HELP
Start a fundraising page and ask friends and family to give
Make a check payable to Operation Broken Silence and mail it to P.O. Box 770900 Memphis, TN 38177-0900
It’s been a long week for our friends in Sudan. There’s still a lot of uncertainty ahead, too. What we know is that our Sudanese partners need our help. Let’s each play our small part in giving them the best chance for real, lasting change.
Onward,
Mark C. Hackett
Executive Director
Additional Reporting You May Find Helpful
Sudan's nightmare scenario has arrived
The Sudan Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces are now waging war on each other.
Friends and supporters,
The crisis we have feared for months began in earnest over the weekend. The Sudan Armed Forces —the country’s official military— and the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces are now waging war on each other.
As of the time this is being posted, millions of people who call Khartoum home are watching in terror as fighter jets scream through the skies. Intense fighting involving armored vehicles, tanks, truck-mounted machine guns, and artillery has consumed areas around the Presidential Palace and other government installations. Smoke was seen billowing from the international airport, where civilian airliners were bombed as soldiers battled for control. Artillery and heavy gunfire pummeled random neighborhoods, schools, health facilities, and more.
And the military headquarters —a building long viewed as a symbol for all that has gone wrong in Sudan— has been decimated by the brutal security forces born in its halls.
The violence is now quickly spreading to other parts of Sudan, so quickly that we still do not have a full picture of what is happening. Nyala in Darfur has been described by one of our contacts there as “Hell coming to Earth.” Hospitals in El Fasher are buckling as large numbers of wounded seek care. Gunfire was heard throughout Port Sudan over the weekend. El Obied. Menroe. El Geneina. Zalingei. We could spend the rest of this update naming the cities and communities where fighting is underway. This cancerous war is spreading into all corners of Sudan.
Nearly 200 people have already been reported killed, with over 1,800 more injured. This is almost certainly an extreme undercount considering the severity of the violence and the inability of people to move freely about and see how much damage is truly being done.
As for the generals who started this war? They’re hurling childish insults at each other and refusing to stand down, playing make-believe and telling themselves they are saviors of a country whose people see them as dictators. Looking at the transgressive malevolence of Sudan’s generals, one is forced again to see the truth for what it is: if this is not total governmental ruin, then there are no rules of governance.
Smoke is seen rising from Khartoum's skyline on April 16, 2023. The Sudanese military and a powerful paramilitary group battled for control of the chaos-stricken nation for a second day Sunday, signaling they were unwilling to end hostilities despite mounting diplomatic pressure to cease fire. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)
How this impacts our mission
Our sole priority over the weekend was ensuring the safety of our Sudanese partners and contacts. I can confirm that our partners and direct contacts are all accounted for, but some of them have lost dear friends and family members to the fighting. Some are in safe spaces, others are not. We grieve with them, and we share their outrage.
In my 16 years with the Sudanese people, I have never seen as much raw anger as I am seeing now. Calling this war senseless would be a catastrophic understatement. One of our partners summed this reality up to me well yesterday, saying “The generals are fighting to overthrow themselves. This is the dumbest thing yet I have seen them do.”
How many more must die at the hands of narcissistic generals who only care about their own power? How many more lives must be destroyed before these men realize they are unfit to lead? How much more innocent blood must be shed for the Sudanese people to be free of this insanity?
As most of you know, the bulk of our Sudanese partners operate in and near the southern Nuba Mountains region of the country. For now, the situation there remains quiet. But we are already seeing severe challenges in programing because of this absurd conflict. Critical parts needed to complete the clean water project we recently fundraised for are now indefinitely delayed. Some program costs will go up soon as supply lines are closed off by the chaos that comes with war. And the hum of anxiety in our Sudanese partners that eased last year has returned.
How much longer? When does this end? How much more are we supposed to bear?
The generals responsible for this mass violence don’t have the answers to these questions. They certainly have no vision for Sudan, only a vision for themselves that has already led to the senseless deaths of countless people they never met.
Our Sudanese partners don’t know the answers to these questions either, but their vision for a healthy and whole Sudan remains resolute. This is the way. And they once again need our help in a time of severe crisis.
Get Involved
Operation Broken Silence has been working next to our Sudanese partners on the ground for over a decade. Our mission has always been focused on the long run, which is why empowering local solutions will remain our top priority, even during this crisis.
Supporting local teachers like Chana makes all the difference for students who have survived war and want to build a better future for their country. The cost of life-changing programs like these is about to go up due to the war. We can’t let that stop our Sudanese partners from doing what they do best: lifting up their people.
The fastest way to help them is to make a quick one-time donation online, or setup a small monthly gift to help provide them the consistent support they need. A generous private donor is matching all donations, up to $15,000 total. Give now to double your impact.
OTHER WAYS TO HELP
Start a fundraising page and ask friends and family to give
Make a check payable to Operation Broken Silence and mail it to P.O. Box 770900 Memphis, TN 38177-0900
This has been a difficult few days of major setbacks for our friends in Sudan. We don’t know what the coming days and weeks look like. All we know is that our Sudanese partners need our help. Let’s each play our small part in helping to give them the best chance for real, lasting change.
Onward,
Mark C. Hackett
Executive Director