U.S. announces the Aligned for Advancing Lifesaving and Peace in Sudan

American-led peace talks in Geneva wrapped up on Friday, August 23 without a ceasefire. U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan Tom Perriello announces new Aligned for Advancing Lifesaving and Peace in Sudan (ALPS) Group will work to save lives.

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The war that has torn through Sudan for 16 long months is still worsening the largest humanitarian emergency in the world.

Khartoum lies in ruins, as do countless other towns and villages that the army and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have fought over, or that the RSF has simply massacred. Famine claims at least 100 lives on a “good day.” Bodies are piling up in makeshift cemeteries that are now so large they are being documented from space, while more satellite imagery documents trucks dumping the dead into the Nile River. No one knows the true death toll in Sudan, but some estimates put out months ago were already exceeding 150,000 lives lost. And that was well before famine was officially declared.

Private town hall with the State Department and USAID.

The likelihood of a ceasefire being secured in Geneva was already slim, a fact made worse by the army deciding to boycott the talks and the RSF delegation in Geneva failing to show up on the first day. But as we noted in mid-August, the Geneva platform was designed to shift into being a global summit, creating space for the international community to start breaking away from off-the-shelf diplomatic solutions that have had little to no impact.

This Plan B, so to speak, is now underway as the Aligned for Advancing Lifesaving and Peace in Sudan (ALPS) Group, which includes the United States, Switzerland, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the African Union, and the United Nations.

On September 3, Operation Broken Silence joined a private town hall for Sudanese diaspora and NGOs hosted by Special Envoy Perriello and USAID Deputy Administrator Isobel Coleman. The American officials shared updates from the progress the United States and international partners made on humanitarian priorities in Switzerland and discussed next steps.

Special Envoy Perriello also gave a separate, public briefing to reporters and a review of ALPS priorities moving forward. The briefing provides a good overview of what was discussed in the private town hall we attended. You can listen and read a summary with a bit of our own analysis below.

ALPS Public Briefing

See the full press briefing readout

“Given the scale of the suffering and the paralysis diplomatically, President Biden and Secretary Blinken asked me to lead an initiative of diplomatic partners…to meet in Switzerland to see whether we could produce some breakthroughs on key elements across three areas: humanitarian access, protection to civilians, and cessation to hostilities.  We were able over a couple of weeks working intensively around the clock…to be able to produce some very significant breakthroughs.” - Special Envoy Perriello

On the humanitarian aid front, ALPS secured agreements to open the major Adré border crossing in western Sudan and to get pledges of aid access across the Dabbah Road coming east from Port Sudan. Both are now active with dozens of aid trucks already entering. This is still a drop in the bucket, something Perriello acknowledged in saying there is still much work to be done. Seasonal rains are also ongoing in Sudan, closing down many roads and making it even more difficult to get aid into some areas.

ALPS is negotiating for more aid expansions and success is being measured on food and medicine actually reaching Sudanese in starvation conditions. Perriello also noted that the United States is the largest humanitarian donor by far, contributing over a billion dollars since the beginning of the war to support humanitarian emergency needs inside Sudan as well as in neighboring countries who’ve opened borders to the Sudanese.

With regard to protecting civilians, ALPS has gotten a commitment to a public code of conduct by the RSF that will go out to combatants fighting under their auspices. The RSF has both intentionally engaged in genocide and war crimes and also has severe command-and-control issues, so it’s doubtful the paramilitary group will see improved behavior on any noticeable scale. ALPS did work with a group of Sudanese women on a number of aspects related to atrocities so as to try to ensure any progress reflected the horrors on the ground. ALPS has asked the army to submit and disseminate its own public code of conduct.

On the main priority to end the war, ALPS is seeing a lack of political will from the army and RSF to halt the fighting. ALPS is reiterating to the army and RSF that international humanitarian law and protection of civilians must be respected and is seeking new opportunities to get both sides to the negotiating table. ALPS believes that ending the war and protecting a unified and sovereign Sudan are essential, and that those pushing for alternative approaches —including partition— should not have a say in future discussions about Sudan. 

Perriello noted that the unusual approach of a combination of in-person and virtual negotiations with the army and RSF —as well as technical and international partners— is what allowed for this limited progress to be made. “We hope in the coming weeks that we can continue to build on those successes, and including the issues of addressing famine but also expanding the protection for civilians and hopefully building common ground for a cessation of hostilities.”

Our Sudanese Partners Need Your Help

While these new efforts by the international community are welcome, Special Envoy Perriello notes they are still not enough to stem the suffering from war and spreading famine. As ALPS works to try to improve conditions in Sudan in the coming weeks and months, it is critical that we do everything we can to support local heroes on the ground who are saving lives right now. Your gift will help them continue their lifesaving work in this time of extreme crisis.

$1,000 - Fully funds one classroom at Endure Primary School in Yida Refugee Camp for half a semester.

$500 - Delivers food to Darfuri genocide survivors who have fled to South Sudan.

$250 - Provides a daily breakfast to 10 children for an entire month in Adré refugee camp, where many Darfuri genocide survivors now live.

$100 - Supports the monthly work of a sexual assault counselor in Zamzam displacement camp in North Darfur, Sudan.

$50 - Helps repair classrooms in Yida damaged by seasonal rains and provide for general maintenance.

Checks can be made payable to Operation Broken Silence and mailed to PO Box 770900 Memphis, TN 38177-0900.

Join Miles For Sudan | Donate Stock or Crypto

Operation Broken Silence is a registered 501(c)(3) organization. Donations are tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law.

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• The war that has torn through Sudan for 16 long months is still worsening the largest humanitarian emergency in the world. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/us-announces-the-aligned-for-advancing-lifesaving-and-peace-in-sudan-group

• The Aligned for Advancing Lifesaving and Peace in Sudan (ALPS) Group, which includes the United States, Switzerland, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the African Union, and the United Nations. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/us-announces-the-aligned-for-advancing-lifesaving-and-peace-in-sudan-group

• ALPS has secured agreements to open the major Adré border crossing in western Sudan, to get pledges of access across the Dabbah Road coming east from Port Sudan, and to get agreements from the army and RSF to guarantee access along both routes. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/us-announces-the-aligned-for-advancing-lifesaving-and-peace-in-sudan-group

• As the Aligned for Advancing Lifesaving and Peace in Sudan Group works to try to improve conditions in Sudan in the coming weeks and months, it is critical that we do everything we can to support local heroes on the ground who are saving lives right now. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/us-announces-the-aligned-for-advancing-lifesaving-and-peace-in-sudan-group

Counting 500 days of war in Sudan

As Sudan reaches another grim milestone, news outlets fail to keep a spotlight on the war and famine. World leaders fail to fund aid efforts at scale. The Sudanese people are paying an unimaginable price.

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Like countless Sudanese who have crossed an international border over the past 16 months, Aliyah expected to find shelter and food when she reached South Sudan in July. “Everyone knows the army and Rapid Support make it hard to bring help,” she says, referring to the two main combatants in Sudan’s brutal civil war. “I thought if I came here there would be food.”

Instead, Aliyah found refugees hungry and living in makeshift shelters. When she asked why, the answer provided was that aid agencies still don’t have enough money and resources. “I learned most people in the world know nothing of our suffering,” Aliyah says in frustration. “There are no reporters here. How can this be?”

500 days into the largest emergency in the world, Sudan still receives only a fraction of the attention given to Gaza and Ukraine despite a surging death toll that may have already surpassed both conflicts combined.

Extreme warfare between Sudan’s brutal national army and a genocidal militia known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has left the capital city of Khartoum in ruins. Countless other towns and villages have been razed to the ground. Famine stalks entire provinces, claiming at least 100 lives every day, likely many more. Bodies continue piling up in makeshift cemeteries that are now so large they are being documented from space. No one knows the true death toll in Sudan, but some estimates put out earlier this year were already exceeding 150,000 lives lost. And that was before famine was declared.

What makes this living nightmare even more shocking is what Aliyah and innumerable other Sudanese discover when they cross the border: most of the world seems not to care.

American news agencies especially struggle to provide consistent coverage on Sudan. Even international coverage is increasingly viewed through the prism of the fast-approaching presidential election. The social media zeitgeist continues driving journalists to doggedly pursue the smallest details of other international crises while not even mentioning the catastrophe in Sudan.

This failure of journalism continues to entrench a “doom loop of silence” around Sudan. Because this crisis is not consistently in the news, people around the world have no understanding of the extreme loss of human life underway and cannot advocate to their governments to help. This in turn has led to aid being severely underfunded for Aliyah and millions of more Sudanese.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports only 41% of the $2.7 billion the international body needs for Sudan this year has been given. It is now well over halfway through 2024. The United States government is the largest donor to Sudan relief efforts, making up 49% of all aid given. Other countries and humanitarian funds have given far, far less.

To provide some perspective on how underfunded aid is, Operation Broken Silence has sent over $210,000 directly to Sudanese heroes on the ground this year. According to OCHA’s data, out of the 67 national governments, international institutions, and major funds that have given to the UN’s Sudan Humanitarian Response Plan, we have given more than 22 of them by comparison. We are a small nonprofit. Most countries and funds still have not given a single penny at all.

The result of this historic international failure is being felt acutely by people just like Aliyah. Sudan’s warring generals are ultimately responsible for this catastrophe, but the failures of western journalists to keep a spotlight on Sudan and world leaders to mount a robust response are as shocking as they are heartbreaking.

We are not the only small entity that is struggling to fill the global leadership void. Sudanese diaspora networks, other small nonprofits, and groups of concerned citizens are raising awareness and funds for local leaders in Sudan who are saving lives. But none of us can unlock tens of millions of aid dollars with the stroke of a pen. None of us can issue arrest warrants for known war criminals or enforce an arms embargo. None of us can sit at a news desk night after night and bring Sudanese stories to millions of people, encouraging them to make informed decisions about helping. None of us can do the job of journalists and world leaders.

But this doesn’t mean we are powerless. A descent into total darkness has been held at bay for months by brave and exhausted Sudanese assisting their neighbors in fleeing to safer areas and feeding the hungry. Much of this lifesaving work is funded by Sudanese diaspora and ordinary people from around the world. After 500 days of war in Sudan, this is still the last line of defense. You can help make sure it holds. People just like Aliyah are counting on us.

Take Action

Operation Broken Silence is building a global movement to empower the Sudanese people through innovative programs as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. For over a decade, we've allied people just like you with incredible Sudanese heroes on the ground. Your gift will help them continue their lifesaving work in this time of extreme crisis.

$1,000 - Fully funds one classroom at Endure Primary School in Yida Refugee Camp for half a semester.

$500 - Delivers food to Darfuri genocide survivors who have fled to South Sudan.

$250 - Provides a daily breakfast to 10 children for an entire month in Adré refugee camp, where many Darfuri genocide survivors now live.

$100 - Supports the monthly work of a sexual assault counselor in Zamzam displacement camp in North Darfur, Sudan.

$50 - Helps repair classrooms in Yida damaged by seasonal rains and provide for general maintenance.

Checks can be made payable to Operation Broken Silence and mailed to PO Box 770900 Memphis, TN 38177-0900.

Join Miles For Sudan | Donate Stock or Crypto

Operation Broken Silence is a registered 501(c)(3) organization. Donations are tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law.

Shareables

Short statements you can share online and with others. Simply copy and paste.

• Share Our Posts: Instagram | Threads | Facebook | LinkedIn | Reddit

• As Sudan reaches another grim milestone, news outlets still fail to keep a spotlight on the war and famine. World leaders still fail to fund aid efforts at scale. The Sudanese people are still paying an unimaginable price. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/counting-500-days-of-war-in-sudan

• 500 days into the largest emergency in the world, Sudan still receives only a fraction of the attention given to Gaza and Ukraine despite a surging death toll that may have already surpassed both conflicts combined. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/counting-500-days-of-war-in-sudan

• “I learned most people in the world know nothing of our suffering,” Aliyah recalls. “There are no reporters here. How can this be?” https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/counting-500-days-of-war-in-sudan

• Sudan’s warring generals are ultimately responsible for this catastrophe, but the failures of western journalists to keep a spotlight on Sudan and world leaders to mount a robust response are as shocking as they are heartbreaking. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/counting-500-days-of-war-in-sudan

Sudan at “breaking point” as US pushes forward with uncertain talks

History may look back on the next few weeks as some of the most pivotal in Sudan’s long story, as multiple crises in the war-torn country come to a head and the United States makes a long-expected move at talks in Geneva.

•••••

16 months of extreme warfare between Sudan’s brutal national army and a genocidal militia known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has gutted some of Sudan’s largest cities and smallest villages alike. What little of the healthcare system that remains is overwhelmed. Hunger is now giving way to famine, with roughly 100 people already dying from starvation every day. To make matters worse, devastating floods are hitting 11 of the country’s 18 provinces, killing dozens and damaging already collapsing critical infrastructure.

Othman Belbeisi, regional director for the United Nation’s International Organization for Migration, recently summed up where this leaves the Sudanese people, saying "We are at a breaking point, a catastrophic, cataclysmic breaking point. Without an immediate, massive and coordinated global response, we risk witnessing tens of thousands of preventable deaths in the coming months."

This situation can already be described as a living nightmare; but, despite the horrors of the world’s largest humanitarian emergency, Sudan is still very much on the precipice of an unfathomable crisis. A descent into total darkness has been held at bay for months by brave and exhausted Sudanese assisting their neighbors in fleeing to safer areas and feeding the hungry through local soup kitchens. Very infrequent and small international aid deliveries have also bought precious time.

But these efforts are now faltering from rampant insecurity, a collapsed economy, and still criminally underfunded global aid effort. Most evidence and estimations of human suffering coming out of Sudan today are widely recognized as being drastic undercounts. Indeed, this crisis has been so ignored that US Special Envoy for Sudan Tom Perriello noted in May “we don’t have a credible death count. We literally don’t know how many people have died. The number was mentioned earlier 15,000-30,000; some think it’s at 150,000.”

Three long months later and the world is only paying marginally more attention. There is still no credible death count.

With over 750,000 people already struggling to survive in famine conditions and nearly 26 million more suffering from high levels of acute food insecurity, it’s clear hundreds of thousands of lives are hanging by a thread right now. The easiest place the world can see this is at the borders, where refugees stream into Chad and South Sudan —often with dangerously thin arms and thousand-yard stares— telling stories of surviving extreme violence through the deep pangs of hunger.

A ceasefire is desperately needed. It’s unclear how talks will secure one.

It is this urgent situation that international negotiators and observers are confronting in Geneva, Switzerland starting August 14, where the United States government is leading a summit to secure a ceasefire and pry open humanitarian aid access.

The stakes are high, and not just because of spiraling conditions on the ground in Sudan. Multiple countries and international organizations have attempted to broker a ceasefire and broad aid access since the outset of the war to no avail. The American attempt is the first serious one in months and comes on the heels of Special Envoy Perriello shuttling from country to country, building considerable international consensus against a military solution and toward a ceasefire.

But even with all the work leading up to the talks in Geneva, a ceasefire anytime soon seems unlikely. The army has decided to boycott the talks, while the RSF delegation in Geneva failed to show up with no explanation.

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Powerful, pro-war hardliners in the army who do not want to negotiate with the RSF seem to have the upper hand for now. The head of the army, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, reportedly demanded that any delegation he send be recognized as Sudan’s official government, not as merely representing the army. For context, the U.S. State Department’s invitation to the talks was addressed to the Sudan Armed Forces, not the Government of Sudan. This is actually an important distinction as it suggests the United States does not see the army as Sudan’s legitimate government, a logical position to hold in light of the circumstances. After all, it was the army and RSF who teamed up in 2021 to overthrow Sudan’s legitimate government in an illegal coup.

The sincerity of the RSF and its fiendish leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (aka Hemeti) was always deeply questionable, too. The genocidal paramilitary force has regained momentum the past few months and recently smashed through army lines in southeastern Sudan. The past few days the RSF has also intensified its siege of El Fasher, the last army stronghold in the western Darfur region. RSF top commanders were likely hoping their hardened military actions would strengthen their hand in Geneva. Instead, it is only causing more suffering to hundreds of thousands of the Sudanese people who are fleeing RSF attacks.

It’s unclear how a ceasefire is to be achieved when both sides refuse to participate. But this does not mean zero progress can be made. The State Department has been somewhat secretive when it comes to the exact format and specific details of the talks, and observers from the African Union, IGAD, European Union, Arab League, and several individual countries are already in Geneva.

It appears that American diplomats wanted the option of being able to shift Geneva into being a global summit, creating potential space for the international community to work around the two warring sides to help the Sudanese people. This Plan B seems to what Special Envoy Perriello is now pursuing, saying this morning he is “moving forward with the negotiations on everything we can do, to make sure we are getting food and medicine and civilian protection to every person in Sudan.”

Regardless of what happens in Geneva, this is likely the international community’s last diplomatic opportunity to blunt spreading famine before the death toll skyrockets. As was previously mentioned, Sudanese are already perishing to extreme hunger. Every indicator suggests tens of thousands of innocent people —and likely many more— will needlessly die in the coming months.

This continues to be a war and famine of choice, brought on by a group of generals who are as dangerous as they are incompetent. We should hope that those gathered in Geneva will choose alternative measures to aid the Sudanese people directly, even if that must be done in unconventional and creative ways.

Take Action

Operation Broken Silence is building a global movement to empower the Sudanese people through innovative programs as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. For over a decade, we've allied people just like you with incredible Sudanese heroes on the ground. Your gift will help them continue their lifesaving work.

$1,000 - Fully funds one classroom at Endure Primary School in Yida Refugee Camp for half a semester.

$500 - Delivers food to Darfuri genocide survivors who have fled to South Sudan.

$250 - Provides a daily breakfast to 10 children for an entire month in Adré refugee camp, where many Darfuri genocide survivors now live.

$100 - Supports the monthly work of a sexual assault counselor in Zamzam displacement camp in North Darfur, Sudan.

$50 - Helps repair classrooms in Yida damaged by seasonal rains and provide for general maintenance.

Checks can be made payable to Operation Broken Silence and mailed to PO Box 770900 Memphis, TN 38177-0900.

Join Miles For Sudan | Donate Stock or Crypto

Operation Broken Silence is a registered 501(c)(3) organization. Donations are tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law.

Shareables

Short statements you can share online and with others. Simply copy and paste.

• Share Our Posts: Instagram | Threads | Facebook | LinkedIn | Reddit

• History may look back on the next few weeks as some of the most pivotal in Sudan’s long story, as multiple crises in the war-torn country come to a head and the United States makes a long-expected move in Geneva: https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/sudan-at-breaking-point-as-us-pushes-forward-with-uncertain-ceasefire-talks

• This situation in Sudan is already a living nightmare; but, despite the horrors of the world’s largest humanitarian emergency, Sudan is still very much on the precipice of an unfathomable crisis. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/sudan-at-breaking-point-as-us-pushes-forward-with-uncertain-ceasefire-talks

• International negotiators are confronting the humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan —now the largest in the world— in Geneva, where the United States government is leading a summit to make progress toward a ceasefire and pry open humanitarian aid access. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/sudan-at-breaking-point-as-us-pushes-forward-with-uncertain-ceasefire-talks

• The army and RSF are refusing to participate in US-sponsored ceasefire talks for Sudan, embracing extreme violence and famine instead. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/sudan-at-breaking-point-as-us-pushes-forward-with-uncertain-ceasefire-talks

Famine declared in Zamzam Displacement Camp. How you can help.

Independent experts confirm famine is ongoing inside Zamzam Displacement Camp near El Fasher, North Darfur. The area is under siege by the genocidal Rapid Support Forces. The camp is also home to Team Zamzam, a group of 20 female counselors who are providing emergency aid to the most needy, with fundraising support from Operation Broken Silence.

•••••

In a grim report published yesterday, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification’s (IPC) Famine Review Committee says famine in Zamzam likely began a month ago and that catastrophic conditions will continue through October and beyond as the siege continues.

We have been covering the threat of famine on our website, monthly newsletter, and social media for several months, so we won’t rehash all of the details of how we got here. It is worth reemphasizing though that this remains a crisis of choice. Army generals are blocking widespread aid access in Sudan, while RSF commanders are choking off the greater El Fasher area, now the only remaining army foothold in all of Darfur. For a deeper dive into the famine and our response, please see our July post here.

View fullsize

Map: Zamzam location. (Operation Broken Silence)

The IPC report closely matches anecdotal accounts of extreme hunger and acute malnutrition we have received from Zamzam over the past several weeks. There are four key excerpts from the report we want to pull forward:

“Internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Zamzam are facing increasing challenges to access food. Households are no longer consuming multiple large diversified meals per day and many are only having one meal per day. The major constraint for IDPs is financial access to food as the price of staples and other main commodities have soared.”

“Conflict and insecurity continue to shrink the humanitarian space, with access limited to the few actors who are willing and able to continue operating in this unsafe space. While large scale humanitarian operations by the United Nations and other international organizations are not feasible under these conditions, local and community organizations…are functional. While a trickle of supplies, both food and non-food, is coming in through informal trade, local traders are taking big risks to supply these markets.”

“The delivery of humanitarian food security assistance (HFA) is likely to continue to be disrupted by blockage of road and reduced access to affected areas. Low chances of high-scale delivery of HFA in El Fasher and Zamzam due to roadblocks, insecurity…Even in case of the opening of corridors, a delivery of HFA at scale will take more than two months.”

“Detailed information regarding the current level of non-trauma mortality in Zamzam camp is not available due to the inability to conduct surveys and the disruption of the health information system, coupled with the limited capacity of personnel in the camp. There has likely been an increase in deaths and that many of these deaths may be happening at home due to the difficulties in accessing health facilities. An analysis of satellite imagery of graves in cemeteries in and around displacement camps, including Zamzam camp…suggested a disproportionate increase in the number of graves adjacent to the camps. In Zamzam camp, in particular, it was estimated a 26% faster growth in the number of graves between 18 December 2023 and 3 May 2024, compared to a similar period of last year.”

To translate all of this in the simplest of terms: people are dying of starvation right now. The IPC notes elsewhere that armed conflict has also decimated medical, clean water, and sanitation services. Measles cases and other diseases with epidemic potential are now being reported in Zamzam and could get worse, especially since heavy seasonal rains are currently flooding the camp.

How You Can Help

Left photo: A special food distribution for hungry children. Right photo: Team Zamzam members prepare to distribute emergency food relief. (Team Zamzam)

Team Zamzam consists of 20 female counselors who are distributing food, sanitizing soap, and medicine to the disabled and blind, the very elderly, unaccompanied children, widows who have taken in children, and those with severe acute malnutrition. They have also provided counseling to over 4,000 women who were sexually assaulted.

In July, Team Zamzam visited two shelter centers housing new arrivals from El Fasher. Out of the more than 3,600 displaced families there, the counselors were able to provide food relief to 892 of them. They need at least $20,000 per month to continue saving lives in this fashion, and more will help them expand their services.

All we can do is provide as much funding as possible to help more people survive until a major humanitarian intervention gets underway. Your one-time donation or monthly gift can:

• $2,500 - increase the supply of clean water by repairing a broken well.

• $1,000 - help provide medicines, sanitary kits, soap, and surgical masks.

• $500 - help deliver food assistance to those most in need.

• $200 - support two counselers for one month.

• $100 - support one counselor for one month.

Join Miles For Sudan | Donate Stock or Crypto

Checks can be made payable to Operation Broken Silence with Zamzam written in the memo line and mailed to PO Box 770900 Memphis, TN 38177-0900.

Operation Broken Silence is a registered 501(c)(3) organization. Your donations are tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law.

Shareables

Short statements you can share online and with others. Simply copy and paste.

• Share Our Posts: Instagram | Threads | Facebook | LinkedIn | Reddit

• Independent experts have confirmed famine is ongoing inside Zamzam Displacement Camp near El Fasher, North Darfur. Learn more and help: https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/famine-declared-in-zamzam-displacement-camp-how-you-can-help

• A new report from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification’s (IPC) Famine Review Committee says famine in Zamzam likely began a month ago and that catastrophic conditions will continue through October and beyond as the siege continues. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/famine-declared-in-zamzam-displacement-camp-how-you-can-help

• It’s not in the news, but the world’s largest humanitarian emergency is unfolding in Sudan. Here’s an update on just one camp where displaced people are beginning to starve to death. You can help save lives, too. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/famine-declared-in-zamzam-displacement-camp-how-you-can-help

Darfur Emergency Aid Update - July 2024

Program Background

Shortly after war began in Sudan in April 2023, Darfur became ground zero for some of the worst atrocities committed in modern history. The national army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces’ (RSF) battle against each other for control of Sudan morphed into the largely Arab RSF launching a hate-driven assault on Darfur’s historic ethnic African groups, such as the Zaghawa, Fur, and Masalit.

Between April and June of 2023 alone, the RSF and their allied Arab militias committed a highly organized genocide of up to 15,000 Masalit people in El Geneina, West Darfur. The brutal paramilitary force followed up this extermination with a shock offensive across Darfur in October, seizing all but one state capital and driving most army forces out of the region.

One of our private Sudanese partners assisted persecuted ethnic groups fleeing RSF war crimes during this period. They helped nearly 2,000 refugees escape the Central, South, and East provinces and cross into South Sudan. This lifesaving work ended in November when the RSF completed its occupation of the area. We are proud of the brave team who worked around the clock at great personal risk to help some of the most vulnerable escape.

Operation Broken Silence has since shifted to emergency food and medical support for some of the most at-risk Darfur displaced and refugee communities. We are supporting key indigenous leaders in three areas:

1. Zamzam Displacement Camp near El Fasher, North Darfur

2. Adré Refugee Camps in eastern Chad

3. Gorom Refugee Camp near Juba, South Sudan

We have some important updates from these partners below, but first we need to provide you with the big picture of the emergency in Darfur and the camps. It is not possible to grasp the importance of the work being done by these leaders without knowing the grave conditions they are working in.

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Map: Locations of Darfur heroes we are supporting. (Operation Broken Silence)

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Security & Hunger Overview

Acute hunger in Darfur is now threatening more lives than direct violence by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Refugees coming into Chad —often with dangerously thin arms and thousand-yard stares— bring stories of witnessing extreme violence and feel the deep pangs of hunger.

It cannot be overstated that this unfolding famine is entirely manmade. Darfur under RSF occupation is a human rights and humanitarian nightmare. The ethnic cleansing of historic African tribes is ongoing. Rape and sexual violence are widespread. Unhinged RSF units are running out of markets, banks, farms, and storehouses to plunder.

The national army —Sudan’s defacto regime, also guilty of heinous crimes— continues denying large-scale aid access to Darfur. Army generals who are driven by hate and paranoia wrongly believe allowing aid in would legitimize the RSF; so, they’d rather participate in starving ordinary Sudanese to death.

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Graphic: Mapping hunger in Sudan. Click or tap to expand. (IPC)

The few international aid convoys that manage to enter Darfur are at high risk of being attacked. To provide a recent example, three United Nations trucks were looted on July 1 while trying to deliver food to the rebel stronghold of Jebel Marra in Central Darfur, the last true safe haven in all of western Sudan neither under RSF nor army control.

Compounding this abysmal situation are two critical problems. First, the upcoming harvest in Sudan is expected to be severely depleted for a second year due to most farmers not being able to work. Second, a mere 16% of the funds needed to blunt famine in 2024 have been donated by the international system, and it is now over halfway through the year. This means that acute hunger is being felt in the refugee camps outside of Sudan too —where it is much easier to get aid in— simply because there is not enough funding.

This perfect storm has led the International Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) to issue 14 area famine warnings for Sudan, the majority of them in Darfur. 25.6 million Sudanese —half the country— are experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity. 436,000 of the 755,000 people facing “catastrophic” levels of hunger (i.e. famine) live in Darfur.

The IPC is a global authority on food security and nutrition analysis; as such, these famine warnings are official data-driven determinations that speak to just how large and immediate the threat to human life now is. We encourage you to watch this short explainer video from the IPC.

This is the bleak environment our Sudanese partners are operating in. Every day they witness preventable death and suffering brought on by a senseless war and a criminal lack of global attention. They need ongoing support and all the help they can get.

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Our Response

Operation Broken Silence is supporting key indigenous leaders who are bringing food and medical aid to their people. They are working in areas that host some of the most vulnerable survivors of the war:

Team Zamzam near El Fasher, North Darfur

El Fasher and nearby Zamzam camp in North Darfur are surrounded and under siege by the Rapid Support Forces. El Fasher is the only remaining army foothold in all of Darfur, and a sizable number of anti-RSF rebels and militias are holding out in the city as well. It’s estimated that around 2 million Sudanese —many belonging to ethnic groups such as the Zaghawa and Fur that the RSF are trying to exterminate— are trapped in the Greater El Fasher area.

Limited resources are still being smuggled into the area, but food prices alone have surged by more than 300%. Clean drinking water is scarce and most businesses and nearby farms are closed. Worsening this crisis is the RSF’s recent attack on Southern Hospital, which leaves no facility capable of providing care during this mass casualty event.

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Team Zamzam consists of 20 female counselors who are distributing food, sanitizing soap, and medicine to the disabled and blind, the very elderly, unaccompanied children, widows who have taken in children, and those with severe acute malnutrition. They have also provided counseling to over 4,000 women who were sexually assaulted and arranged reparative surgeries for women suffering from traumatic fistulas. This is now likely the largest ongoing humanitarian assistance program in Darfur.

In May and June, Team Zamzam provided food assistance to 600 families (roughly 3,000 people), but only by cutting in half the amounts of food received by 300 families in the preceding month. They need at least $20,000 per month to continue saving lives, and even more would help them expand their efforts. These funds purchase and deliver food and medicine, pay a small salary to the counselors, and rehabilitate broken water wells. Fistula surgeries are no longer possible due to the local healthcare system being destroyed.

Refugee Leaders in Adré, eastern Chad

Over a dozen refugee camps around Adré are overwhelmed as survivors of the Darfur genocide continue arriving. All of the camps lack services to meet minimum clean drinking water, food, and medical needs. Rations provided by the international community have been cut before due to a lack of funding and interest.

25 volunteer health professionals and support staff —all refugees— are running a small medical clinic and feeding program to serve the most vulnerable, particularly orphaned children and the disabled. This is the only general medical clinic serving all ages in the camps. Every day they provide free care and medication to 150+ people and feed 600 children who would otherwise starve to death.

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Over the past six months this team has treated several thousand patients for conditions that include malaria, typhus, diarrhea, malnutrition, heart disease, gynecological issues, diabetes as well as a full range of pediatric illnesses and conditions. Over 20 different types of medications have been distributed to those in need. Due to limited resources the clinic has a first come-first serve policy, with hundreds of patients lining up as early as 6AM. The feeding center serves millet porridge and beans and rice with milk for breakfast at 9AM daily. Similar to the clinic, children begin forming a line as early as 7AM in hopes of getting food.

The clinic and feeding program need at least $8,500 per month to continue operating at current levels. They are able to expand the services they provide to meet more needs, but currently lack the funding to do so.

Nuba Education Partner near Juba, South Sudan

Darfuri refugees who are unable to reach eastern Chad usually head for South Sudan, where refugee camps are overwhelmed and there are few to no services. One of these camps is Gorom just outside of Juba. The camp was originally planned for 2,000 refugees, but it has exploded in size over the past 9 months to include over 17,000 people, mostly from Darfur.

Our Nuba education partner has an office in Juba and recently provided food aid to 112 of the most needy families here. Food bags have included items such as sorghum, beans, oil, and salt. Similar to the situation in the Adré camps, a severe lack of international funding and attention means few food and aid services are available in Gorom, and none at the scale needed.

They need at least $4,500 per month to continue this lifesaving work. For now, they have completely run out of funding to feed the hungry in Gorom. They are able to expand to meet more needs, but will require additional funding to do so.

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These heroes need your help.

Each of our Sudanese partners are a bulwark against spreading famine and food insecurity. They are uniquely positioned to do tremendous good. With the international community doing so little to fight this crisis, directly funding their efforts are all the more critical to fend off the most dire outcomes. Your generosity can save lives now and help them prepare for what lies ahead.

$4,000: fund the children’s feeding program in Adré for a month

$2,500: repair a broken well in Zamzam Camp

$1,000: provide most basic medicines needed at the Adré clinic for one week

$500: feed 10 families in Gorom Camp for a month

$250: help Team Zamzam expand their services

$100: support a Zamzam counselor for a month

$50: feed a family in Gorom Camp for a month

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Checks can be made payable to Operation Broken Silence with Food written in the memo line and mailed to PO Box 770900 Memphis, TN 38177-0900.

Operation Broken Silence is a registered 501(c)(3) organization. Your donations are tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law.

Shareables

Short statements you can share online and with others. Simply copy and paste.

• Share Our Posts: Instagram | Threads | Facebook | LinkedIn | Reddit

• It’s not in the news, but the world’s largest humanitarian emergency is unfolding in Sudan. Learn more and help: https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/darfur-emergency-relief-update-july-2024

• Operation Broken Silence is helping provide emergency food and medical support to some of the most at-risk Darfur displaced and refugee communities. Learn more and get involved: https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/darfur-emergency-relief-update-july-2024

• “It cannot be overstated that the unfolding famine in Sudan is entirely manmade. Darfur under RSF occupation is a human rights and humanitarian nightmare.” https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/darfur-emergency-relief-update-july-2024

• These heroes are a small bulwark against spreading famine in Sudan. With the international community doing so little to fight this crisis, small efforts like these are all the more critical in fending off the most dire of outcomes. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/darfur-emergency-relief-update-july-2024

Nuba Education Update - June 2024

Program Background

In 2015, Operation Broken Silence began funding four Sudanese teachers in Yida Refugee Camp. They were giving lessons underneath a tree with half of a broken chalkboard and no support.

We sprung into action and helped them scale their effort into the Endure Primary and Renewal Secondary Schools. 24 Nuba teachers overseen by a headmaster come to work here every day, where they instruct over 700 students in their classrooms. Endure Primary is the top-performing elementary school in the region and Renewal Secondary is the only fully-functioning high school in Yida. More than 11,000 children have been served at the schools to date.

Beyond these schools, we also provide teaching support to Yida’s only other secondary school, supply a limited amount of supplies to eight additional primary schools in the camp, and oversee a national exam prep program for most of Yida’s primary students.

Today, Operation Broken Silence remains the only nonprofit in the world supporting childhood education in Yida Refugee Camp. The teachers and students work hard every day, and they rely on supporters like you to continue doing so.

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Hannah’s Story

Hannah’s family came to Yida as refugees several years ago. She was born in the Nuba Mountains but was too young to remember her village when they left.

“My mother brought us to Yida because there was no water or food in the village. She remembers seeing the Antonov (regime warplane) fly above but it never hurt us the way it did others.”

Humanitarian conditions in Yida were better than in the Nuba Mountains when they arrived. Hannah’s mother had heard there was ample clean water access in Yida and multiple schools for her children to attend, but even she was surprised by just how much safer and easier it was to thrive in Yida.

Like so many families here, Hannah’s hopes to return to their village in the Nuba Mountains when there is peace one day. For now she is enrolled in our education program, which is funded entirely by people just like you. For Hannah, she knows the best thing she can do right now is come to school.

“I don’t think people in the world know how bad it is for students in Sudan. A girl who came to Yida early this year joined our class. She says most schools in Sudan are closed because of war. I try to imagine all the empty classrooms. It is hard. All the children of our generation need the opportunity we have here. We come to school everyday for them and not just ourselves.

We are thankful for bringing us school supplies and helping our teachers. My people feel alone right now but at school we can see that we heard and believed in by people all over the world. Thank you for supporting our schools.”

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Recent Updates

Endure Primary & Renewal Secondary. Life at the schools goes on despite Sudan’s severe hardships. Student attendance continues to fluctuate at Endure Primary as some families return to Nuba and others arrive in Yida, which is more or less the trend since 2021. Over the past two months attendance at Endure has hovered around roughly 500 students. Daily attendance at Renewal Secondary has been a bit more stable due to the lack of secondary schools in the Nuba region, with 210 students sitting for classes on most days. This is on the lower of end of enrollment compared to previous years; however, as we’ll get to in a moment, we expect attendance to start ticking up again soon.

Teachers at both schools will begin preparing Primary 8 and Secondary 4 students for national exams in August. Endure Primary and Renewal Secondary have been the top-performing schools in the region when it comes to testing the past several years. Last year, we saw a record 43 of the 45 students who took the Grade 8 national exam pass.

Basic repairs are currently underway at a few classrooms at both schools. Seasonal rains just arrived and, as usual, exposed some maintenance needs. New weatherproofing tarps and roofing are being replaced and a few walls rebuilt. Most of the materials needed were pulled from storage and those stocks are beginning to run low. By the end of the rainy season in a few months we’ll likely need to replenish several building and repair items.

Supplementary Education Support. Endure Primary School continues serving as the central national exam preparation facility for primary students in Yida. The camp’s eight other primary schools receive support and resources annually from our teachers for student test prep. This supplementary program is expected to positively impact 1,600 students this year!

Vision Secondary, the only other high school in Yida, remains afloat with help from our teachers. The school was founded several years ago with pledges of support from outside nonprofits and churches, not a single one of which materialized. The teachers at Vision are all untrained, so a handful of our teachers at Renewal Secondary have stepped in to help teach science and provide general guidance.

Our Nuba education partner has made three deliveries this year of limited supplies to Yida’s eight additional primary schools, most of which operate with no outside support. There continues not to be enough basic items like chalk, paper, pencils and notebooks. While deliveries like these don’t meet all the material needs we are seeing, they are critical to sustaining Yida’s fragile education system.

Classroom Repairs

Classroom Repairs

Students at Renewal Secondary

Beginning of School Day

How war is impacting life at the schools

The devastating civil war that began in Sudan last year rages on today. Yida remains an oasis of calm, but the extreme violence and catastrophic humanitarian conditions in Sudan have cast a dark shadow here and brought new financial burdens for the schools.

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

Local officials estimate that over 900,000 Sudanese have fled into the Nuba Mountains as war and famine have spread across Sudan. This is placing significant strains on the region and made prices of basic goods soar in Yida. Sporadic fighting on the western and northern frontlines in Nuba remains ongoing. The teachers and families at our schools are war-weary and frustrated that the world is ignoring the crimes being committed against their country.

If violence does erupt on a larger scale or humanitarian conditions worsen in Nuba —the latter of which especially seems likely— larger refugee flows into Yida will begin. This means more children will need to rely on our schools and the supplementary assistance we provide.

Like nearly every other need in Sudan right now, funding remains the largest obstacle for education in Yida. Rapidly rising costs from the war and a grueling international fundraising environment means our schools have only 55% of the funding needed to provide a holistic experience to students.

Internationally-minded donors are still struggling to comprehend the massive needs in Sudan as major media outlets cover Gaza 24/7 —and to a lesser degree Ukraine— despite Sudan being the largest and most severe emergency in the world. Our awareness efforts are slowly bringing more attention and funding to bear; however, this is still very much an uphill battle and not nearly enough to keep up with rising costs and needs. The teachers and students in Yida are facing a $65,000 shortfall in needed funding this year.

Despite the severe hardships in Sudan and these financial challenges though, the work being done by brave teachers and students at the schools continues on. We are pushing ahead with our fundraising as well despite the enormous barriers we face. Needs are rising and most everything is more expensive than it was a year ago; but, with your help, the lives of children —Sudan’s future hope— can still be changed for the better. We invite you to join us in supporting these amazing people to that end.

The Endure Primary and Renewal Secondary Schools are a small bulwark against the massive education crisis brought on by the war in Sudan. With so many schools across the country closed, every open classroom is more critical than ever. As humanitarian conditions in the Nuba Mountains get increasingly unstable, there is a rising chance we will see larger numbers of children returning to Yida in the near future. Right now, we don’t have the resources to mount an adequate response.

Your generosity can make the difference now and help the teachers prepare for what lies ahead. Giving options highlighted in bold are the best way to make the largest impact.

$2,200: Fund an entire classroom at Endure Primary for one semester.

$1,000: Support one teacher for an entire semester.

$750: Deliver three new chalkboards to classrooms.

$500: Provide additional materials and extra pay to teachers who are working with students to prepare them for national exams.

$250: Give pencils, notebooks and other supplies to 40 students in Yida Refugee Camp.

$100: Helps repair classrooms damaged by seasonal rains and provide for general maintenance.

$50: Give soccer balls and other sporting equipment to students.

Join Miles For Sudan | Donate Stock or Crypto

Checks can be made payable to Operation Broken Silence with Education written in the memo line and mailed to PO Box 770900 Memphis, TN 38177-0900.

Operation Broken Silence is a registered 501(c)(3) organization. Your donations are tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law.

Shareables

Short statements you can share online and with others. Simply copy and paste.

• Share Our Posts: Instagram | Threads | Facebook | LinkedIn | Reddit

• “I don’t think people in the world know how bad it is for students in Sudan...most schools are closed because of war. All the children of our generation need the opportunity we have. We come to school everyday for them and not just ourselves.” - Hannah https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/nuba-education-update-june-2024

• Operation Broken Silence remains the only nonprofit in the world supporting childhood education in Yida Refugee Camp, right outside of Sudan. They rely on supporters like you to continue doing so. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/nuba-education-update-june-2024

• Like every other need in Sudan, funding remains the largest obstacle for education. Rising costs from the war and a grueling fundraising environment means our schools have only 55% of the funding needed to provide a holistic experience to students. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/nuba-education-update-june-2024

• Sudan is home to the largest and most dangerous humanitarian emergency, far outpacing every other crisis in the world. Food and healthcare are dwindling, and children are some of the most impacted. Here’s one way to help: https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/nuba-education-update-june-2024