The Nuba Mountains

Photo: Traditional homes (tukuls) during the rainy season in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan. (Operation Broken Silence)

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.

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Introduction

While the history of the Nuba Mountains stretches back thousands of years, this overview focuses on the time period after Sudan’s independence in 1956. A chronological examination of the Nuba region in the contemporary era can be broken out into six main periods:

• Pre-Modern & Colonial Background: 200 BCE-1956 CE

• Cultural Oppression: 1956-1972

• The Beginnings of the Second Sudanese Civil War: 1973-1988

• Nuba Face A Genocide By Attrition: 1992-2004

• Peace Agreement & South Sudan Partition: 2005-2010

• Second War & Genocide: 2011-2019

Since Operation Broken Silence’s primary Sudanese partners work in the Nuba Mountains, a summary of the current situation is provided at the end as well.

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Map: Location of Nuba Mountains. (Operation Broken Silence)

Pre-Modern & Colonial Background: 200 BCE-1956 CE

The Nuba Mountains have an ancient history, with the first known mention of the African tribes living here and other nearby areas dating to around 200 BCE by Greek scholars Eratosthenes and Strabo.

Although this geographic area has been inhabited for millennia, little direct documentation of life here is known to have been recorded before the 1900s. This undocumented history may have roots in just how isolated the region has always been; even today, the Nuba Mountains remains one of the most isolated and marginalized regions of Sudan.

This isolation does not remove the historical causes of trouble in the region. Sitting directly on the religious, ethnic, and political border of present-day Sudan and South Sudan, this demarcation highlights the roots of historical grievances and, more recently, north-south civil wars and two attempted genocides against the Nuba people by national military regimes in Khartoum.

Photo: One of the first photographs taken of the Nuba people in eastern Kao-Nyaro in 1949. (George Rodger)

The Nuba Mountains are inhabited by roughly 100 African tribes who have been referred to collectively as Nuba for centuries. These tribes are likely remnants of previous, larger tribal groups of varying languages and cultures who Eratosthenes and Strabo briefly referred to. Interestingly, until contemporary times, people living in the Nuba Mountains used their tribal name and didn’t really consider themselves to be Nuba. Famous Nuba leader Yousif Kuwa Mekki (1945-2001) mentioned this in the last interview he gave before his passing:

“It is one of the funniest things: when you were in the Nuba Mountains, you just knew your own tribe. We for example were Miri. So if we were asked: ‘Who are the Nuba?’ we would try to say: ‘The other tribes - but not us.’ Only when we came out of the Nuba Mountains, to the north or south or west, we learned that we are all Nuba.”

Photo: An artistic rendering of British colonial troops fighting in Sudan, circa 1898. (Canva Pro)

Today, virtually all of the people living here identify with their tribe and also collectively identify as Nuba. Estimations vary wildly; however, it is generally thought that roughly 45% of the Nuba people are Christian, making the mountains home to the largest community of Christians in Sudan. Other religious affiliations include 45% of the population identifying as Muslim, with the remaining 10% following local tribal regions or identifying with no religion at all.

For centuries, the Nuba Mountains have been considered a refuge for members of African tribal groups fleeing Arab slave raiders and oppression from the north. This historical reality helped cement core aspects of Nuba identity and culture that survive to this day, including tolerance, community, and an openness to the oppressed and general suspicion of non-African outsiders.

In 1899, the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium administrated Sudan as a colony. The joint British and Egyptian colonial government invested heavily in the Arab-dominated central and eastern parts of the country. Like much of the rest of Sudan, the Nuba Mountains were marginalized and ignored. British colonial troops tried to keep separate nearby Arab tribes who were hostile toward the Nuba. At various points though, the British found themselves at odds with all sides in the region.

Cultural Oppression & Rights Removals: 1956-1972

Following Sudan's independence from British and Egyptian colonial rule on January 1, 1956, the Nuba people began to witness growing tension with Arab-dominated governments in Khartoum. The violent ideologies of Arabization and Islamization gained stronger traction in Sudan’s powerful center. Government policies leading up to the 1970s saw the Nuba people become directly oppressed by Islamic Arab elites in Khartoum. Although successive governments pushed for an Arab-dominated country, relations between many African Nuba tribes and nearby, tolerant Arab tribes actually improved during this time period.

Photo: Jazira lives in the eastern Kao-Nyaro region of the Nuba Mountains, which has been targeted for Islamization and Arabization by the Sudanese government for decades. She is nominally Muslim and can speak Arabic, but mostly uses her tribal language. Government-funded childhood education is largely non-existent in Kao-Nyaro which, interestingly, has helped Nuba tribes in Kao-Nyaro maintain their identity. (Operation Broken Silence)

The First Sudanese Civil War began in 1955. The war itself had little direct impact on the Nuba Mountains; however, as Sudanese politics in Khartoum drifted toward extremism during the war, the Nuba people began to face increasing oppression that set the stage for two devastating wars and genocides in their homeland.

While the severity of the Sudanese government’s oppression varied at the local level, there are two primary areas that played critical roles: pressure on traditional Nuba culture and land seizures. Many of these pressures on Nuba culture at this time include actions which fit into the 10 Stages of Genocide, a processual model that aims to demonstrate how the crime of genocide is committed.

Government Attempts To Erase Nuba Culture

Khartoum’s oppression of traditional Nuba culture included attempts to force name-changes (from local names to Arab ones) and replace tribal languages with Arabic. Elements of the Sudanese government and Islamic political allies in Khartoum pushed an intolerant strain of Islam onto the Nuba people.

These colonizing efforts achieved mixed results. Arabic was largely adopted as a communication language, but virtually all Nuba tribal languages remain in use. A sizable number of the Nuba people consider themselves Muslim, but Nuba Muslims and Christians live largely in harmony to this today.

Government & Arab Tribal-Backed Land Seizures

The Nuba Mountains and surrounding areas are home to some of the most fertile farmland in Sudan. The national government introduced mechanized farming in 1968, which degrading security in the region further.  Some Arab tribes near the Nuba Mountains who aligned more closely with Khartoum soon found their traditional grazing and watering routes blocked by large-farms built with the support of the government.

With nowhere to go, Arab tribes such as the Baggara began to use Nuba farmland —without permission— that they traditionally stayed away from. This heightened tensions between the Nuba people, Khartoum, and some Arab tribes at odds with the Nuba.

In 1970, the Sudanese government introduced the Unregistered Land Act. This law effectively abolished communal land ownership and was an attempt to destroy the centuries-long tradition of Nuba tribes considering the farming areas around the Nuba Mountains as belonging to their communities. It stipulated that all lands not privately owned and registered would automatically belong to the government in Khartoum.

Results

By the 1970s, it was clear to Nuba leaders that a systematic campaign to Arabize and Islamize their homeland was underway. Nuba tribes began to put aside the few differences they had and move toward deeper unity. Nuba political parties and social groups emerged that attempted to solve regional issues through the lens of a broader Nuba identity.

The 1972 Addis Ababa Peace Agreement ended Sudan's civil war in the south. The agreement granted significant regional autonomy to southern Sudan. It also promised the Abyei area, located to the west of the Nuba Mountains, the right to hold a referendum on remaining a part of northern Sudan or joining the newly formed southern region. Little changed in the Nuba Mountains though. In the coming years, Khartoum’s oppression only intensified as Sudanese politics was pushed into extremism.

Photo: Displaced Nuba children and women follow well-worn paths deeper into the Nuba Mountains after receiving news of regime-backed, Arab paramilitary forces nearing their farmland. Mountain paths such as these have now existed for decades and are well-known to Nuba communities. (Operation Broken Silence)

Photo: Sudanese political leader Jaafar Nimeiry in 1983. In his second presidential tenure, Nimeiry caved to Islamists in hopes of staying in power, paving the way to the Second Sudanese Civil War and the 1985 coup that removed him from power. (US Defense Department)

The Beginnings of the Second Sudanese Civil War: 1973-1988

In 1978, large quantities of oil were discovered in the southern Sudan. Hungry for cash and power, Sudanese government leaders swiftly attempted to seize control of these areas. This violated the 1972 Addis Ababa Peace Agreement. Meanwhile, in Khartoum, Arab-Islamic extremists were on the verge of seizing control of the central government.

By 1983, extremist political power had grown so much in the north that President Nimeiry, desperate to hold onto power, declared all of Sudan an Islamic state and made the fateful decision to terminate southern autonomy. Southern and Nuba leaders had watched with growing apprehension for years as the fundamentalists consolidated power in Khartoum. Now it was clear that the violent ideology building in the north would soon be unleashed against the Nuba Mountains and all of southern Sudan.

The Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) began forming in the south almost immediately. Southern soldiers mutinied across Sudanese government ranks and returned to southern Sudan to prepare for the inevitable northern invasion. SPLA forces seized large swaths of rural areas in southern Sudan.

The speed of the southern rebellion caught the Sudanese government off guard, so much so that President Nimeiry ended sharia law in the south in 1984. This did little to comfort Nuba leaders, who had been preparing for a defensive war as early as 1977. Sporadic clashes with armed Arab tribes such as the Baggara accelerated on the outskirts of the Nuba Mountains as extremism grew in Khartoum throughout the 1980s.

In response to the growing military threat from Khartoum, Nuba leaders deepened their ties with SPLA generals in the south. Small groups of Nuba leaders moved south to train with the SPLA. They returned to the Nuba Mountains with small arms and other military supplies. Tensions were on the rise in nearby Blue Nile as well, where the government of Sudan had begun arming Arab militias directly. 

A coup unseated Nimeiry in 1985 and led to open fighting in southern Sudan between government forces and SPLA troops. The Second Sudanese Civil War had begun and would greatly eclipse the preceding war.

In 1986, the Sudanese army began deploying around the Nuba Mountains and arming a growing number of Arab militias. Nuba leaders responded by sending thousands of recruits to southern Sudan to train with the SPLA and return with weaponry. In 1987, a southern SPLA battalion deployed into the Nuba Mountains to strengthen Nuba defenses.

Protests swept across Sudan in 1988 as the war strained the economy. Under pressure from the economic-related protests, the government attempted to secure peace with the SPLA. A fragile agreement was finally reached; however, it was too little too late. The extremists in Khartoum were about to put their twisted vision for Sudan in motion.  

Map: Facing a common a threat from Khartoum, Nuba recruits moved to southern Sudan throughout the 1980s to train with the SPLA and bring weapons and southern reinforcements back to the Nuba Mountains. (Operation Broken Silence)

Omar al-Bashir Seizes Power

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 Islamic law.

Between 1989-1991, the Bashir 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. This highlights yet another step in the 10 Stages of Genocide.

By 1990, the Bashir regime had surrounded the Nuba Mountains with the army and Arab Islamist paramilitaries, which had been built up quietly since the junta seized power. The most notorious of these paramilitary groups was the Popular Defense Forces (PDF). The emergence of the PDF was a disturbing sign of the nature of the coming war. PDF soldiers behaved less like the armed Arab herders the Nuba people were used to seeing on their borders and more like members of a jihadist terror organization.

Skirmishes intensified in the coming months as Nuba SPLA fighters set up perimeter and fallback defenses around the Nuba Mountains. Outskirt Nuba communities were quietly evacuated for the safety of mountain caves and villages.

In 1991, the Bashir regime re-instituted sharia law for all of Sudan. Alarm bells sounded across the Nuba Mountains and southern Sudan: time to prepare for the coming war was running out.

The Nuba Face A Genocide By Attrition: 1992-2004

The war came in the summer of 1992. The Bashir regime launched a massive military offensive that swept around the Nuba Mountains and pushed deep into southern Sudan. The SPLA was driven into Sudan’s southern borderlands, far away from their Nuba allies. Tens of thousands of Arab Islamist paramilitaries were unleashed on the south Sudanese civilian population to massacre, pillage, and occupy.

Photo: A common scene in the Nuba Mountains since the early 1990s is displaced children sitting outside mountain caves. For some, a cave has been their home after their land was threatened by regime forces. For others, caves are natural bomb shelters and even a classroom. (Operation Broken Silence)

The plight of southern Sudan captured the world's attention, but the Nuba Mountains was completely cut off from the outside world. In the coming years, the Bashir regime systematically attempted to exterminate the Nuba people and their rich culture in what is now described as a genocide by attrition.

It is estimated that in 1992 alone, the Bashir regime mass murdered over 70,000 of the Nuba people. The regime’s Popular Defense Forces (PDF) seized surrounding farmland from unarmed Nuba civilians. The PDF offensive was only halted when they encountered Nuba fighters, who had entrenched themselves in perimeter foothill communities.

By 1993, hundreds of thousands of Nuba civilians had fled into mountains caves and villages. Those who did not escape were forced into what the Bashir regime dubbed "peace camps,” yet there was nothing peaceful about them. Nuba civilians were enslaved, tortured, raped, and starved by regime soldiers and paramilitaries. Survivors have since compared their experiences in the camps to the death and concentration camps of Nazi Germany.

Repeated attempts by southern SPLA forces to break through regime lines and open a relief corridor to their allies in the Nuba Mountains failed. The Nuba people were on their own.

Despite being outgunned and outnumbered, Nuba fighters blocked regime forces from entering the Nuba Mountains. Horrific battles lasted day and night for weeks on end. Eyewitness accounts report that combat between Nuba fighters and regime forces in some frontline areas was so intense that bullet casings were piled knee high.

By 1994, the situation in the Nuba Mountains had reached a truly desperate state. As Nuba fighters fought off multiple ground offensives, the Bashir regime began aerial bombing places where Nuba civilians were hiding. Survivors reported that conventional and chemical weapons were dropped on communities. The Sudanese military and their PDF allies also violently enforced a humanitarian and media blockade on the area.

Entire Nuba communities were facing living conditions that went well beyond emergency humanitarian thresholds; thousands were starving to death. Preventable disease outbreaks had become more deadly than daily aerial bombings. The PDF prevented civilians from farming by repelling Nuba attempts to retake critical farming areas. These early years of the regime’s genocide against the Nuba people represent one of the darkest chapters of Sudanese history.

Despite these bleak realities, there were glimmers of hope that this was not the way Sudan had to be. Nuba leaders quietly reached out to the nearby, moderate Arab tribes that they had built good relationships with for decades, who pledged that they would not bow to the Bashir regime’s pressure to join the war against the Nuba people.

Several dozen Arab tribesmen were so horrified by the genocide that they became smugglers for the Nuba people. In the coming years, they risked their lives and secretly slipped through regime lines to deliver food, medicine, and other basic goods to their Nuba neighbors.

Photo: Systematically cut off from basic, lifesaving supplies the genocide by attrition decimated communities in the Nuba Mountains, leaving communities struggling for food. (Operation Broken Silence)

The Silence Around The Nuba Genocide Begins To Break: 1995

With every regime effort to overrun the Nuba Mountains ending in a stalemate, the Bashir regime doubled down on the genocide by attrition strategy. Smuggling attempts of resources and supplies to the Nuba people were increasingly blocked. Aerial bombings of civilian areas were drastically expanded. What little farmland the Nuba people held onto was targeted to prevent agricultural activity.

Despite the near iron-fisted blockade on the Nuba Mountains, rumors of an armed conflict there had slowly slipped out of Sudan. As early as 1992, a small number of international organizations attempted to determine what was happening to the Nuba people. Yet, those efforts largely led to more rumors and no concrete information.

In 1995, British journalist Julie Flint slipped into the Nuba Mountains and returned with a harrowing documentary film. The film did not move world leaders to action, but it did spur a growing number of private organizations to search for ways to assist the Nuba people. In the coming years, various international NGOs smuggled relief into the Nuba Mountains by dangerous, low-profile ground transports and small aircraft. Flint's film also provided the first real counterargument to the Bashir regime’s denials.

These aid efforts were relatively small and had a minimal impact on the larger crisis the Nuba people faced. Several areas remained inaccessible for the entire conflict. Parts of the Nuba Mountains that were reached with humanitarian supplies managed to slightly improve their situation though.

By 1996, the Nuba people were fighting another war: one of cultural survival. Nuba political leaders rallied their people to make personal sacrifices for the betterment of the community. Fathers and mothers led classrooms from caves, even though there were no textbooks or chalkboards. Tribal elders orally passed down their traditions, stories, and history. Community organizers kept Nuba traditions alive by setting up famed wrestling matches. Nuba children helped their parents nurture small gardens wherever arable land could be found.

Humanitarian conditions remained abysmal, but these efforts to strengthen the Nuba identity and retain their distinct culture in the midst of the genocide were successful. Even today, many of the older generation who were part of these efforts call it “a miracle.”

The Bashir regime’s genocide against the Nuba people began faltering in 1998. Exhausted regime forces were now fighting a highly motivated, battle-hardened army of Nuba soldiers who knew the mountainous terrain by heart. Most of the civilian population was sheltered in mountain caves and knew the warning signs of impending bombings and Arab smugglers had once again found ways around the humanitarian blockade.

In 1999, regional pressure on the Bashir regime to end the broader war in southern Sudan began to have an impact in the Nuba Mountains region as well. The United Nations gained limited access to some regime-held areas around the Nuba Mountains in June; however, violence and intimidation by regime forces minimized the international presence.

Meanwhile, half a world away in Washington DC, a bipartisan group of American officials had come to view the Bashir regime as a harbinger of international terrorism that was committing genocide in southern Sudan. As the world entered a new millennium, American and international diplomatic activity concerning the crisis in Sudan ramped up.

In November 2001, over a decade after the Nuba Mountains was cut off from the outside world, the United Nations began to airlift emergency humanitarian relief directly into the Nuba Mountains. In October 2002, the United States government passed the Sudan Peace Act, comprehensive legislation that dramatically increased American support to the southern Sudanese and Nuba cause. Underneath the Bush administration, the US government began providing direct humanitarian relief and confronting the Bashir regime on the international stage. The Sudan Peace Act finally declared that regime crimes amounted to genocide.

On top of growing battlefield losses in southern Sudan and a never-ending stalemate in the Nuba Mountains, the Bashir regime found itself isolated on the international stage. Crushing American sanctions and diplomatic activity had turned Bashir and other regime leaders into global pariahs. The genocide had become too costly to continue. Fighting decreased in 2002-2004 and, 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 the north and south. Meanwhile in the western Darfur region of Sudan, an uprising against regime oppression had led to the beginning of another brutal genocide. 

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 solutions for a variety of other issues as well. A small UN peacekeeping and ceasefire monitoring force was deployed to the Nuba Mountains in June 2005. The war and genocide against the Nuba people had finally come to an end.

Peace Agreement & South Sudan Partition: 2005-2010

While the CPA dealt with a large number of issues that had plagued Sudan since 1956, undoubtedly the largest problem with the agreement is that it did not include a solution for the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile regions. Unlike southern Sudan, these two areas were not given the option to have more autonomy, declare independence, or join what was about to become the world’s newest country: South Sudan.

This was a devastating decision in the peace process. The Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile were essentially sacrificed to reach a deal that would permanently end the regime’s war in southern Sudan. Negotiators stated that the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile would be able to express what they wanted through “popular consultation votes;” however, in practice, this process was ill-defined and meaningless, creating no mechanism for either region to secure permanent peace.

Only a few short years after the CPA was signed, it was clear that peace would not last in the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile. Under the agreement, the SPLA was supposed to withdraw from the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile. Regime forces were supposed to reduce their number to pre-war levels to reduce tensions. Neither side cooperated fully in this area.

As early as 2008, tensions were once again on the rise as Arab paramilitaries began attacking Nuba communities. Talk of armed resistance spread throughout the Nuba Mountains as it became clear the Bashir regime was once again arming the militias. Nuba leaders began stockpiling weapons, fuel, and food in preparation for another war.

Map: Despite siding with southern Sudan during the war, the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile were left on the north side of the border. (Operation Broken Silence)

The Second War & Attempted Genocide: 2011-2019

In January 2011 and in accordance with the CPA, a referendum vote was held in southern Sudan to determine whether the region would become an independent country or remain a part of Sudan. 99% of the southern Sudanese population voted for independence.

Meanwhile, in the Nuba Mountains, regime militia attacks on isolated Nuba communities increased throughout 2010 and 2011. Nuba leaders tacked a "N" onto SPLA for "North" and transitioned their self-defense forces into a more permanent, standing army. The Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement-North (SPLM-N) began to import and stockpile large amounts of weapons in expectation of another war and genocide.

In May 2011, the Bashir regime rigged a gubernatorial election in South Kordofan, where the Nuba Mountains are located. Ahmed Haroun, an indicted war criminal and member of Bashir's inner circle, became governor instead of Abdel Aziz al-Hilu, the widely popular Nuba candidate.

Photo: Nuba soldiers on patrol during the rainy season near an area that would soon become the border of Sudan and South Sudan. The Nuba Mountains sit just north of the South Sudan border today. (Operation Broken Silence)

On May 23, 2011, the Bashir regime sent an ultimatum to the south Sudanese SPLA. It stated that all Nuba soldiers must withdraw south of the 1956 North-South border before June 1, 2011. The SPLA responded that the Nuba soldiers were not southern Sudanese, so they had no authority to withdraw them from the Nuba Mountains. The Bashir regime responded by deploying large numbers of army and paramilitary forces around the Nuba Mountains. Regime attacks on outlying Nuba communities began to rapidly escalated.

The return to war came early on the morning of June 6, 2011. Regime forces invaded the state capital of Kadugli and began massacring Nuba civilians. Survivors witnessed army soldiers and regime intelligence agents dragging Nuba people from their homes and executing them in the streets. Additional agents hunted through the city for Nuba leaders and intellectuals to kill.

Over a three-day period, the Bashir regime oversaw the systematic mass killing of thousands of Nuba civilians in Kadugli. Survivors who could not escape the city began fleeing to the perimeter of the UN peacekeeping base in Kadugli seeking safe haven.

A small team of UN military observers who attempted to exit the base and document survivor reports of mass killings were arrested by regime army forces, stripped naked, and submitted to a mock execution by laughing soldiers. They were sent back to their base after being warned they would be killed if they ever returned.

Meanwhile, outside the UN base in Kadugli, roughly 9,000 terrified survivors of the massacre were begging the UN to protect them. The force’s lightly armed peacekeepers and unarmed military observers expanded the protective perimeter of the camp, placing a majority of the survivors under international protection, despite the UN having neither the manpower nor firepower to be a significant deterrent to regime forces.

On June 5, regime intelligence agents and Popular Defense Forces (PDF) militiamen began breaching the protective perimeter and dragging away men, women, and children for execution. Outnumbered and outgunned UN peacekeepers stood by as Nuba civilians were abducted. Survivors witnessed regime agents examining kill lists that named Nuba individuals to be executed, yet another step of the 10 Stages of Genocide. Several of these people were shot and killed within eyesight of UN forces and the Nuba people under their protection.

Hawa Mando, a teacher and mother who was seeking refuge inside the protective perimeter on June 5, said “They had lists of people they were looking for. Local spies would point people out and they would shoot them. In front of my eyes I saw six people shot dead. They just dragged the bodies away by their feet like slaughtered sheep. People were crying and screaming and the UN soldiers just stood and watched in their watchtowers.”

By mid-June, Kadugli was under the complete control of regime forces. Local army commanders approached the UN base and ordered survivors to return home or go to a local soccer field, where they would be allowed to leave Kadugli from there. Several large trucks were brought in and began shuttling thousands of people away from the UN base. Most were never heard from again.

Photo: Nuba civilians protest on the outskirts of a UN monitoring base in the Nuba Mountains on June 27, 2011, begging the force commander and international community to intervene. The UN would instead shutter their peacekeeping and observation force. (Operation Broken Silence)

Within days of the massacre in Kadugli, the regime had launched a widespread aerial bombing campaign on communities across the Nuba Mountains. Large numbers of Sudanese army forces and allied PDF paramilitaries began to advance on the outskirts of the Nuba Mountains. Tens of thousands of Nuba civilians fled for the safety of mountains caves as thousands of Nuba soldiers marched to the frontlines.

Several weeks later, satellite imagery combined with eyewitness testimony was released confirming the existence of multiple mass grave sites around Kadugli. It is believed that these mass graves are where the thousands of people who sought protection at the UN base in Kadugli were buried. Global outcry was brief, but world leaders quickly turned away. Once again, the Nuba people were on their own.

By the end of June, less than a month after the war began, it had became clear that the Bashir regime had severely underestimated the new strength of the SPLM-N. Nuba resistance now took the form of a much larger and more cohesive fighting force than the previous war. Nuba units were better armed and trained, more mobile, and supported by artillery fire. A rapid Nuba counter-offensive against the Sudanese army and PDF led to regime forces losing 55 of the 60 frontline positions that were attacked.

Seizing on these early gains, tens of thousands of Nuba soldiers pushed out of their mountain strongholds and took control of critical farmland they had not been able to hold during the previous war. Key Sudanese army units around Kadugli were pinned down and the SPLM-N seized control of border crossings with South Sudan, allowing Nuba refugees to flee into refugee camps and for humanitarian aid to flow into the mountains, although few humanitarian organizations expressed an interest in doing so. Specialized Nuba units launched hit and run strikes on regime supply lines.

Photo: The Satellite Sentinel Project confirmed and documented mass grave sites around Kadugli. (DigitalGlobe/Maxar)

Already high Nuba civilian support for the SPLM-N soared to unprecedented levels. As survivors of the Kadugli massacre began testifying to what they witnessed to communities across the mountains, the Nuba people came to accept the grim reality that the Bashir regime was determined to erase their communities and culture from existence. Similar to the previous war and genocide, volunteers surged into the ranks of the SPLM-N. Women were allowed to fight for the first time. Teachers and tribal elders doubled down on their sharing of Nuba history and culture in their communities.

Asked to speak to the state of the war at the end of 2011, Nuba leader Abdel Aziz al Hilu said “This is the not Sudan army I know—and we are not the SPLA we were. In 1987, we attacked a 10-man police post with a 100-man company and fought all day to defeat them; on July 1 this year, we routed two SAF (army) brigades in 35 minutes.” Advancing Nuba SPLM-N forces began capturing heavy weapons from retreating regime forces. Tanks, vehicles, artillery, and anti-aircraft weapons were incorporated into the SPLM-N's growing arsenal and turned back against regime troops.

The Bashir regime’s ground war floundered. In response to growing battlefield losses, the regime leaned hard into the genocide by attrition strategy that had been so effective in the previous war and subsequent genocide. Aerial bombings of civilian areas accelerated and a humanitarian blockade order was issued.

Throughout 2012 and in the coming years, food shortages became common in the Nuba Mountains and access to basic medical care was limited to a single hospital. The bombing campaign suppressed trade, farming, and schooling, generating a new humanitarian crisis. However, conditions were not nearly as dire as they were in the 1990s, with some localized exceptions.

By 2016, it was clear that the Bashir regime’s second attempted genocide of the Nuba people was a failure.

Khartoum’s plans for a new military offensive went off the rails when SPLM-N leaders caught wind of the attack early. Nuba soldiers ambushed regime supply lines and used hit-and-run tactics to curb the military buildup. This preemptive Nuba strike largely worked: regime forces repeatedly delayed their offensive for months, and their final attack was far weaker than expected.

Against the backdrop of the regime’s war against the Nuba Mountains, Sudan’s economy was growing increasingly unstable. Small protests had begun breaking out in major cities over rising costs of basic commodities, and the war being lost in the Nuba Mountains was draining government resources. Begrudgingly, Bashir and his generals began looking for a way to reduce the scale of the conflict while not losing any additional territory around the Nuba Mountains.

The first ceasefire was announced in 2016 and successive ceasefires largely held until 2023. There was little large-scale fighting in this time; however, regime paramilitary groups such as the new Rapid Support Forces, which were born out of the Janjaweed militias in Darfur, and Popular Defense Forces sporadically attacked frontline communities.

Photo: A home smolders in the Nuba Mountains after being bombed by a regime warplane. Although much safer from ground attacks than the previous war, aerial bombings terrorized Nuba communities from 2011-2016. (Operation Broken Silence)

Photo: A Nuba mother and her daughter doing laundry in Yida Refugee Camp, the primary camp for Nuba refugees who still cannot go home. (Operation Broken Silence)

The Nuba Mountains Today (2019-Present)

In 2019, a civilian revolution swept across Sudan, leading to dictator Omar al-Bashir being overthrown by his own generals in April of that year. Following a horrific massacre of peaceful protesters in Khartoum in June, renewed protests surged across Sudan and forced the regime to the negotiating table. A transitional government that was supposed to move the country toward free elections, democracy, and protection of basic human rights was implemented.

The transitional government was overthrown by surviving regime forces in October 2021. Leading the coup were the Sudanese army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), two uneasy allies whose generals never saw eye-to-eye. Military leaders in both organizations desired to see themselves as Sudan’s new ruling junta, with other armed regime groups beneath them.

From the time of the coup to early 2023, conditions in Sudan deteriorated on almost fronts. Inflation surged, peaceful protests resumed, humanitarian needs spread, and the web of oppression that transitional civilian leaders had been lifting was reinforced.

The RSF used this time to double down on becoming a self-sustaining force in Sudan. RSF generals fully secured their own weapons supply lines, launched international diplomatic efforts, entrenched themselves further in Sudan’s gold-mining sector, and began recruiting more fighters, both within Sudan and from other countries across the Sahel region. These actions almost always came at the expense of ordinary Sudanese, who faced increasing attacks by RSF soldiers and dwindling economic opportunities.

Photo: SPLM-N soldiers in the Nuba Mountains stronghold of Kauda in January 2020. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

It also deteriorated the RSF’s tenuous relationship with the more dominant army, to the point of collapse. With a long-promised peace agreement elusive and coming fracturing of the regime all but sure, Nuba leaders had begun preparing for a new war shortly after the October 2021 coup.

The new war came on April 15, 2023. The RSF launched multiple attacks on army bases across Sudan and attempted to seize government buildings in Khartoum. The lightening strike failed to knock the army out of power, with army units across the country putting up stiff resistance and bombing civilian areas RSF units attacked from. Both sides have engaged in large-scale war crimes, with the RSF using the fog of war to double down on their genocide of ethnic African minorities in Darfur.

At first, the Nuba Mountains were seen as a safe haven, with roughly 200,000 people from Khartoum and other areas fleeing into Nuba SPLM-N controlled areas.

Fighting reached the western Nuba Mountains in June 2023. Small skirmishes between the army and SPLM-N devolved into major fighting around Kadugli and spread north to Dilling. The RSF entered the fray as well, attacking army forces from the west and north. While some Nuba communities near the frontlines have been forced to evacuate and prices of basic goods have soared, life goes on as usual in much of the rest of the Nuba Mountains. There has been no widespread aerial bombings of villages as in previous wars, but the situation remains tense. It is believed that if the RSF makes serious gains in the region, more frontline communities will be at-risk.

The army-RSF war continues today, as does fighting on the western frontlines of the Nuba Mountains. For more up to date information on the situation in the Nuba Mountains and across Sudan, please visit our blog and sign up for our email list.

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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.

Sudan’s Independence to Partition With South Sudan

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.

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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.

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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

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

• Give stock and mutual funds

• Donate cryptocurrency

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 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.”

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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

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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.”

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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

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.

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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

• Give stock and mutual funds

• Donate crypto

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

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.

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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.

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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.

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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

• Give stock and mutual funds

• Donate crypto

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

Operation Broken Silence

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Additional Reporting You May Find Helpful

Recent News

U.S. positioning troops ahead of possible Sudan embassy evacuation

Evidence emerges of Russia’s Wagner arming militia leader battling Sudan’s army

Haftar's 'support' for Sudan's RSF shows growing ties with Libyan commander

Background

Sudan’s outsider: how a paramilitary leader fell out with the army and plunged the country into war

The Failed “Coup-Proofing” Behind the Recent Violence in Sudan

Sudan conflict: why is there fighting and what is at stake in the region?