“Death is everywhere” — Inside the Sudanese city under siege by a genocidal militia

Fighter jets roar overhead. Shells smash into homes and markets. Children succumb to famine. A genocidal militia inches closer by the day. The cemeteries in El Fasher, North Darfur are now so large they can be seen by satellites.

•••••

Like countless other Sudanese who have been trapped in El Fasher for months, Ibrahim was recently forced to flee for the third time in mid September. “The neighborhood I was in was bombed by Rapid Support,” Ibrahim says. “We survive by moving.”

17 months of war between the national army and a genocidal militia called the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has torn Sudan to shreds. The country became home to the largest humanitarian and displacement crises in the world many months ago, a fact only a handful of journalists and globally-minded citizens are now beginning to realize. Khartoum already lies in ruins, as do countless other towns and villages the war has swept through, or that the RSF has massacred. Multiple areas of Sudan have descended into famine.

Map: Location of El Fasher. (Operation Broken Silence)

There is perhaps no other place in Sudan right now that shows just how dangerous this emergency has become than El Fasher. Home to an estimated two million people, the city and surrounding displacement camps have been surrounded by the RSF for five terrifying months.

It is widely expected that if the RSF overruns the Greater El Fasher area, the genocidal paramilitary force will engage in a massacre on a scale unprecedented in the 21st century. Many residents and displaced people here belong to ethnic African groups like the Zaghawa and Fur that the predominantly Arab RSF is openly targeting for annihilation. A sizable portion of the RSF rank and file adheres to an extremely racist, Arab-supremacist ideology that seeks to ethnically cleanse Darfur of African tribal groups and claims all other Sudanese Arabs are inferior.

“If the bombs don’t kill us we will starve,” Ibrahim says. “We live on borrowed time. I beg the world sees us before time runs out.”

A catastrophe long in the making

Darfur is not only home to historically-persecuted African tribes, but is also the stronghold of their main oppressor: the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The RSF was born from the Arab militias that spearheaded the 2000s Darfur genocide. The militias were known then as janjaweed, a term loosely understood as devils on horseback. With arms provided by the Khartoum regime, the janjaweed swept into ethnically African villages, massacring defenseless civilians and destroying clean water wells, orchards and farms, and markets.

In 2013, the regime rebranded and consolidated the janjaweed militias into the Rapid Support Forces and began arming the paramilitaries with machine gun-mounted trucks, artillery and rockets, and anti-aircraft guns. The RSF spread into other parts of Sudan as it rapidly grew, seizing gold-rich land to further enrich and arm itself. Survivors of RSF attacks throughout the 2010s reported that some paramilitaries were not even Sudanese, but were mercenaries from Chad, Central African Republic, and even as far away as Mali.

The army teamed up with their RSF allies in October 2021, overthrowing a transitional government that was steering Sudan toward a democratic future. The RSF’s participation in the coup proved the paramilitary force’s power rivaled the army. Both sides expected to be the top player in their new regime. Predictably, in April 2023, RSF and army forces opened fire on each other in Khartoum and failed to assassinate the other side’s leadership.

Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away in Darfur, communities braced for an inevitable return to mass killing. Within days the RSF launched a long-planned assault on Darfur’s African tribes, most notably the Masalit in West Darfur. The scale of death and destruction in the Masalit Genocide has been shocking, with an estimated 15,000 people exterminated in West Darfur’s state capital alone. Refugees streaming into Chad bring stories of mass graves, Masalit men and boys being hunted down and executed, and skyrocketing levels of rape and assault, all in an environment where RSF fighters call them “slaves” and other racist epithets.

The situation spiraled further in October 2023, when the RSF launched a lightening offensive across Darfur that saw state capitals and villages fall in rapid succession. El Fasher was largely spared due to a fragile ceasefire brokered by local leaders. Many people unable to escape Darfur fled to the city, one of the last safe havens in all of western Sudan.

Time may be running out

The El Fasher ceasefire collapsed in April when the RSF cut off the last road into the area, trapping an estimated two million Sudanese with dwindling food, water, and health services. Defending El Fasher is the army’s 6th Infantry Division, surviving Darfuri rebels from the 2000s genocide, pro-army militias, and volunteer Zaghawa fighters trying to protect their people.

Opposition to the RSF has united some of these former enemies for now. They collectively promised to make El Fasher the “graveyard of the janjaweed” and “fight to the death” if required. Attritional combat has been ongoing ever since, with regular surges of violence as the RSF has made repeated efforts to take key positions on the outskirts of the city.

After months of attritional warfare, the RSF seems now to be in the middle of a major assault to overrun El Fasher. The following images are from recent reports by Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab, which is using satellites and open source information to track the RSF’s siege of El Fasher (use the navigation arrows to see more):

Extremely violent battles in the eastern parts of the city —including near face-to-face combat— have seen at least one of the army’s main defensive lines breached and the RSF make advances deep into central El Fasher. On September 19, RSF fighters managed to overrun army positions close to the Grand Market, less than a mile away from the army’s headquarters. The army and their Darfuri rebel allies claim to have repelled the attack, but to what extent is unknown. Both sides are taking heavy causalities.

Eyewitnesses have reported seeing some army units depart the army’s headquarters and a subsequent increase in army checkpoints on the main highway south out of El Fasher toward Zamzam Displacement Camp. This suggests the army and their allies are worried they will be unable to hold El Fasher in the coming weeks and may be preparing to retreat further south toward Zamzam.

Civilians are fleeing El Fasher en masse toward Zamzam, with a number of neighborhoods in El Fasher already abandoned. Yale HRL observed what appears to be displaced civilians fleeing on the road south to Zamzam (see above images). An uptick in foot traffic on the highway was first noticed in early September and continues today.

View fullsize

Map by Operation Broken Silence. Click or tap to expand.

Cemeteries in El Fasher and the surrounding camps have expanded rapidly the past few months. Much like the rest of Sudan, no one knows the true death toll here. What is known is that the area is a free-fire zone, with RSF and army forces placing no restrictions on the use of weaponry. RSF artillery tears through civilian neighborhoods and army warplanes and helicopter gunships bomb just about anything that moves in RSF-controlled areas.

This is why Ibrahim and so many others like him have been forced to flee over and over again to different parts of El Fasher, where food is running out and extreme hunger kills children daily. It has now been three months since Zamzam Displacement Camp and other areas of El Fasher descended into famine. A combination of the RSF blocking humanitarian aid to the area (and the army doing the same to larger swaths of Darfur), dwindling resources, destruction of healthcare facilities, and seasonal floods has given way to severe malnutrition and preventable disease outbreaks.

But the worst likely still lies ahead. If the RSF manages to overrun El Fasher proper, it is highly likely the paramilitary force will launch a brazen attack on Zamzam in the aftermath. Zaghawa militias are reportedly preparing to defend the camp and the other anti-RSF forces in El Fasher have virtually nowhere else to go. Even if Zamzam were demilitarized, the RSF’s long history of targeting the ethnic African minorities present in the camp suggests the paramilitary force will attack Zamzam anyways.

And even if the army and their local allies manage to hold El Fasher in the weeks ahead, the RSF’s deliberate, attritional siege is succeeding in doing what it was designed to: strangle human life in the area. Whether this massacre is committed all at once or continues playing out at a slow and brutal pace, it remains a massacre nonetheless.

To translate all of this in the plainest of terms: El Fasher is home to one of the largest genocide emergencies in the world today. The international community has had months to take a more forceful approach to relieve the siege —as many residents have been crying out for— and has refused to do so. We must continue doing everything we can to help local heroes on the ground save lives.

Our Sudanese sisters in Zamzam need your help

Left: A special food distribution for children. Right: Team Zamzam prepares to distribute emergency relief. (Team Zamzam)

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

In August, Team Zamzam carried out an evaluation on most segments of the camp. The counselors distributed emergency aid comprised of red lentils, flour, and sugar to 1,123 vulnerable families. Beneficiaries included 20 widows, 63 orphans, 12 families with physically disabled family members, 13 families with paralyzed children, 72 families with acute malnutrition, and more.

Team Zamzam needs at least $20,000 per month to continue saving lives at this scale. Even more will help expand their direly needed services. Whether you can spare $10 or $1,000 doesn't matter; what matters is that we all do our part to support these brave women in this dark hour.

Here are just a few ways your donation can help:

• $5,000 - support all the work Team Zamzam does for an entire week.

• $2,500 - repair a broken water pump and increase the supply of clean water.

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

• $500 - help deliver emergency food assistance to families who are starving.

• $200 - support two counselors for one month.

• $100 - support a counselor’s services for one month.

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. Your donations are tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law.

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• Fighter jets roar overhead. Shells smash into homes and markets. Children succumb to famine. A genocidal militia inches closer by the day. The cemeteries in El Fasher, North Darfur are now so large they can be seen by satellites. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/inside-the-sudanese-city-under-siege-by-a-genocidal-militia

• Extremely violent battles in the eastern parts of the city —including near face-to-face combat— have seen at least one of the army’s main defensive lines breached and the RSF make advances deep into central El Fasher. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/inside-the-sudanese-city-under-siege-by-a-genocidal-militia

• Cemeteries in El Fasher and the surrounding camps have expanded rapidly. No one knows the true death toll here. What is known is that the area is a free-fire zone, with RSF and army forces placing no restrictions on the use of weaponry. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/inside-the-sudanese-city-under-siege-by-a-genocidal-militia

• El Fasher is home to one of the largest genocide emergencies in the world today. The international community has had months to take a more forceful approach to relieve the siege —as many residents have been crying out for— and has refused to do so. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/inside-the-sudanese-city-under-siege-by-a-genocidal-militia

• Team Zamzam is made up of 20 female counselors who are distributing food to the disabled and blind, the elderly, unaccompanied children, widows who have taken in children, and those with severe acute malnutrition. And they need your help. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/inside-the-sudanese-city-under-siege-by-a-genocidal-militia

Statement from President Joe Biden on Sudan

Photo: President Biden's official White House portrait. (White House)

In June, Operation Broken Silence joined over 150 organizations and experts in calling on the Biden Administration to take more decisive action in Sudan, specifically with regard to the genocide emergency unfolding in the city of El Fasher. The U.S. government has since stepped up diplomatic and humanitarian efforts, including the launch of a new global coalition to end the war and famine, which has pried open a handful of aid routes into parts of Sudan.

The White House today released the following statement from President Biden regarding Sudan:

For over 17 long months, the Sudanese people have endured a senseless war that has created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Nearly 10 million people have been displaced by this conflict. Women and girls have been kidnapped and sexually assaulted. Famine has taken hold in Darfur, and is threatening millions more elsewhere. And today, a violent history is repeating itself. The city of El Fasher, Darfur—home to nearly two million people and hundreds of thousands of displaced persons—has been under a months-long siege by the Rapid Support Forces. That siege has become a full-on assault in recent days.

I call on the belligerents responsible for Sudanese suffering—the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)—to pull back their forces, facilitate unhindered humanitarian access, and re-engage in negotiations to end this war. The RSF must stop their assault that is disproportionately harming Sudanese civilians. The SAF must stop indiscriminate bombings that are destroying civilian lives and infrastructure.  While both sides have taken some steps to improve humanitarian access, the SAF and RSF continue to delay and disrupt lifesaving humanitarian operations. Both parties need to immediately allow unhindered humanitarian access to all areas of Sudan.

The United States stands with the Sudanese people. Since the start of the conflict, we have pressed for peace and sought to hold accountable actors seeking to perpetuate violence.  The United States has advanced efforts to rally international partners, end hostilities, protect civilians, expand humanitarian access, and elevate civil society voices—most recently through talks last month in Switzerland, where we launched the Aligned for Advancing Lifesaving and Peace in Sudan Group with a collection of influential partners, the African Union, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, the United Nations, and the United Arab Emirates. The ALPS Group has secured the opening of new routes into Darfur and Khartoum, through which desperately needed humanitarian assistance is now being delivered, and permission to access some airstrips to further increase aid delivery. But we must keep pressing for more.  

The United States is the world’s largest provider of assistance to the Sudanese people, funding over $1.6 billion in emergency assistance in the last two years. We have previously determined that members of the SAF and the RSF have committed war crimes, and that members of the RSF have committed crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing. The U.S. Treasury Department has sanctioned sixteen entities and individuals for contributing to the conflict, exacerbating instability, or serious human rights abuses. And we will continue to evaluate further atrocity allegations and potential additional sanctions.

Let it be clear: the United States will not abandon our commitment to the people of Sudan who deserve freedom, peace, and justice. We call for all parties to this conflict to end this violence and refrain from fueling it, for the future of Sudan and for all of the Sudanese people.

Our Sudanese Partners Need Your Help

While we welcome increasing U.S. engagement on Sudan, President Biden is correct that much more progress needs to be made. The war continues, as does the famine. 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.

$2,200 - Fully funds one classroom at Endure Primary School in Yida Refugee Camp for one semester.

$1,000 - Supports the monthly work of 5 midwives in the Nuba Mountains.

$500 - Helps purchase emergency food and medicines in Zamzam Displacement Camp, North Darfur, which is currently under siege by the RSF.

$250 - Supplies food to Darfuri genocide survivors who have fled to South Sudan.

$100 - Provides a daily meal to 6 children for a month in Adré, eastern Chad, where many Darfuri genocide survivors live.

$50 - Delivers a day’s worth of basic medicine to three clinics in the Nuba Mountains, Sudan.

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

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

• “Let it be clear: the United States will not abandon our commitment to the people of Sudan who deserve freedom, peace, and justice.” - President Joe Biden https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/statement-from-president-joe-biden-on-sudan

• Sudan is home to the largest and most dangerous humanitarian emergency, far outpacing every other crisis in the world. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/statement-from-president-joe-biden-on-sudan

• Operation Broken Silence is building a global movement to empower the Sudanese people through innovative programs. For over a decade, we've allied people just like you with incredible Sudanese heroes on the ground. Will you join us? https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/statement-from-president-joe-biden-on-sudan

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.

•••••

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.

$2,200 - Fully funds one classroom at Endure Primary School in Yida Refugee Camp for one semester.

$1,000 - Supports the monthly work of 5 midwives in the Nuba Mountains.

$500 - Helps purchase emergency food and medicines in Zamzam Displacement Camp, North Darfur, which is currently under siege by the RSF.

$250 - Supplies food to Darfuri genocide survivors who have fled to South Sudan.

$100 - Provides a daily meal to 6 children for a month in Adré, eastern Chad, where many Darfuri genocide survivors live.

$50 - Delivers a day’s worth of basic medicine to three clinics in the Nuba Mountains, Sudan.

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.

•••••

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.

$2,200 - Fully funds one classroom at Endure Primary School in Yida Refugee Camp for one semester.

$1,000 - Supports the monthly work of 5 midwives in the Nuba Mountains.

$500 - Helps purchase emergency food and medicines in Zamzam Displacement Camp, North Darfur, which is currently under siege by the RSF.

$250 - Supplies food to Darfuri genocide survivors who have fled to South Sudan.

$100 - Provides a daily meal to 6 children for a month in Adré, eastern Chad, where many Darfuri genocide survivors live.

$50 - Delivers a day’s worth of basic medicine to three clinics in the Nuba Mountains, Sudan.

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.

$2,200 - Fully funds one classroom at Endure Primary School in Yida Refugee Camp for one semester.

$1,000 - Supports the monthly work of 5 midwives in the Nuba Mountains.

$500 - Helps purchase emergency food and medicines in Zamzam Displacement Camp, North Darfur, which is currently under siege by the RSF.

$250 - Supplies food to Darfuri genocide survivors who have fled to South Sudan.

$100 - Provides a daily meal to 6 children for a month in Adré, eastern Chad, where many Darfuri genocide survivors live.

$50 - Delivers a day’s worth of basic medicine to three clinics in the Nuba Mountains, Sudan.

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

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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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• 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.

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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.

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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.

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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