News & Updates
Check out the latest from Sudan and our movement
The 15th annual Eden’s Run 5K
On October 26, our supporters came together in Memphis to celebrate 15 years of Eden’s Run 5K, our annual run and walk for education in Sudan.
On October 26, 2024 some of our supporters came together in Memphis, TN to celebrate fifteen years of Eden’s Run 5K, our annual run and walk helping to bring education to Sudan's next generation of leaders.
We couldn’t have asked for better weather. With your help we made it to 74% of our $7,500 goal! A big thank you to all of our runners for giving and fundraising, as well as our board members, volunteers, and Memphis Runners Track Club for coming together to make race day possible.
Eden’s Run was made possible by our generous sponsors:
Miss Eden’s Run? Join our virtual Miles For Sudan event!
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 who are bring emergency aid, education and healthcare to their people. And they need us now more than ever.
Miles For Sudan is a new global event for runners, walkers, and cyclists who want to help Sudanese heroes save lives. All you have to do is sign up and then ask friends and family to give through your fundraising page after each workout. And the best part? You can participate from wherever you call home.
Not ready to participate in Miles For Sudan? Make a one-time donation or start a small monthly gift! Here are a few ways your generosity can help:
$200- provides a teacher's salary for one month.
$150- helps deliver new chalkboards and repair classrooms.
$100- provides pencils, notebooks, and other basic school supplies.
$50- gives the gift of sport by providing nets, balls, and more.
Checks can be made payable to Operation Broken Silence and mailed to PO Box 770900 Memphis, TN 38177-0900. You can also 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.
Hundreds feared dead in Sudan after paramilitary rampage, suicides reported in aftermath
The latest war crimes in Sudan have torn through an area south of Khartoum, where the Rapid Support Forces recently went on a multi-day killing spree through dozens of defenseless towns and villages.
The latest war crimes in Sudan have torn through an area south of Khartoum, where the Rapid Support Forces recently went on a multi-day killing and raping spree through nearly 60 defenseless towns and villages.
•••••
18 months of war between the national army and a genocidal militia called the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has all but destroyed Sudan. The country has been ground zero for the largest humanitarian and displacement crises in the world for months, an urgent reality not reflected in the international press. Khartoum already lies in ruins, as do countless other towns and villages. Multiple regions have descended into famine and there is still no end in sight.
Annual rains in Sudan reduced fighting the past few months due to flooding and washed out roads. The rainy season came to an end a few weeks ago, but a new surge in heavy combat broke out well before then as the army and RSF launched new offensives early. As has been the case throughout this war, an uptick in armed conflict is giving way to a surge in targeted war crimes.
Map: Location of Gezira area. (Operation Broken Silence)
On October 20, the RSF began blocking access to roughly 30 communities in northern and eastern Gezira province, just south of Khartoum. Main roads were sealed off and communication channels, including privately-owned Starlink terminals, were seized to try to trap residents and prevent them from getting word out.
Over the next four days, RSF fighters marched through towns and villages in northern and eastern Gezira. They fired live ammunition at civilians indiscriminately while executing others. The paramilitaries looted property and plundered markets. Then they began sexually assaulting women and girls.
Throughout the brazen assault the RSF expanded into more towns and villages. Nearly 60 have now been attacked. Over 119,000 people have fled Gezira in the past several days.
Right now, the heaviest blow seems to have fallen on El Sariha village, where more than 120 people are reported to have been murdered by the RSF. Roughly 200 residents have been wounded. Over 150 more are missing and presumably being detained and tortured by the RSF. High civilian casualties are being reported in the villages of Rufaa and Tamboul as well.
Getting information out has proven to be difficult due to the near complete communications black out. Survivors escaping the RSF blockade bring with them terrifying stories of executions, rape, and having to flee in the dead of night to avoid being hunted down by RSF fighters. Other eyewitnesses report seeing RSF soldiers beating civilians.
These stories align with the minimal footage and photos that have appeared on social media, including some posted by RSF fighters, who look to be proud of their atrocities. One video we reviewed showed a paramilitary dragging an elderly man by his beard and humiliating him as other soldiers watch and cheer. Others show bodies covered for burial, people fleeing their villages, and the RSF rounding up civilians at gunpoint as small arms fire is heard in the background.
Sexual assault seems to be a central feature of this RSF rampage. Fathers and brothers were killed for trying to prevent RSF soldiers from raping their female family members. Survivors have said the RSF is abducting women and girls, and reports are emerging that an unknown number of women in Gezira have committed suicide instead of waiting to be raped by the RSF.
Understanding these war crimes
The RSF has a well-documented history of rampaging against ordinary Sudanese after battlefield losses. The paramilitary force is built in a way that units are undisciplined on their own, but easy for commanders to take strong control of during major operations. Top RSF commanders often use this dynamic to deny knowledge of their war crimes, even when there is evidence commanders planned and executed a genocide.
With these facts in mind, the trigger for RSF war crimes in Gezira appears to be two-fold.
First, in September, the army launched a major offensive in and around Khartoum, reclaiming large swaths of Bahri (Khartoum North) and gaining a new foothold in Khartoum proper. We covered this in our last monthly newsletter. Army forces also seized control of the strategic Jebel Moya area in Gezira and areas in nearby Sinnar province a few weeks ago, driving out RSF fighters as they advance.
Second, Abu Keikel —a major RSF commander and the de facto ruler of Gezira— recently defected to the army. RSF fighters began attacking villages and towns in Gezira seen as “loyal” to Keikel shortly after. That’s RSF code for targeting just about anyone who is the same ethnicity as Keikel is. Many RSF fighters adhere to an extremely racist, Arab-supremacist ideology that says African tribal groups must be cleansed from Sudan and that all other Sudanese Arabs are inferior.
Gezira has been largely quiet for months despite the RSF occupation and, with RSF forces facing intensifying pressure from the army and losing a top commander, the paramilitaries are now taking their rage out on civilians along ethnic lines as part of their predictable pattern. RSF social media influencers (yes, that’s a thing) are even claiming that the villagers were plotting with the army to rise up against the RSF as the real pretext for these atrocities. While the army’s intelligence branch has smuggled weapons to a handful of villages in Gezira, there is no evidence that armed clashes broke out between the RSF and villagers before the rampage began
These crimes are yet another grim reminder that the Sudanese people will never be safe and prosperous as long as the RSF exists. Even if top commanders wanted to reform their paramilitary outfit, they are incapable of doing so and always will be. Sudan’s national army are no angels; indeed, that force is likely beyond reform as well. But the RSF always has been and always will be a terrorist organization, one that has reach beyond Sudan’s borders and can only survive by plundering the Sudanese state, private property, and the country’s natural resources. It is unhelpful and dangerous to understand the RSF as anything else besides the cancer it is.
Our Sudanese partners need your help
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 who are bring emergency aid, education and healthcare to their people. And they need us now more than ever.
Miles For Sudan is a new global event for runners, walkers, and cyclists who want to help Sudanese heroes save lives. All you have to do is sign up and then ask friends and family to give through your fundraising page after each workout. And the best part? You can participate from wherever you call home.
Not ready to participate in Miles For Sudan? Make a quick one-time donation or set up a small monthly gift instead. Here are a few ways your generosity can help:
$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. You can also 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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The latest war crimes in Sudan have torn through an area south of Khartoum, where the Rapid Support Forces recently went on a multi-day killing spree through nearly 60 defenseless towns and villages. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/hundreds-feared-dead-in-sudan-after-paramilitary-rampage-suicides-reported-in-aftermath
From October 20-25, RSF fighters marched through towns and villages in northern and eastern Gezira. They executed civilians, looted property and markets, and sexually assaulted women and girls. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/hundreds-feared-dead-in-sudan-after-paramilitary-rampage-suicides-reported-in-aftermath
The heaviest blow seems to have fallen on El Sariha village, where more than 120 people are reported to have been murdered by the RSF. Roughly 200 residents have been wounded. Over 150 more are missing and presumably being detained and tortured by the RSF. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/hundreds-feared-dead-in-sudan-after-paramilitary-rampage-suicides-reported-in-aftermath
Gezira has been largely quite for months despite the RSF occupation and, with RSF forces facing intensifying pressure from the army and losing a top commander, are now taking their rage out on civilians as part of their predictable pattern. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/hundreds-feared-dead-in-sudan-after-paramilitary-rampage-suicides-reported-in-aftermath
Introducing Miles For Sudan
The global event for runners, walkers, and cyclists helping Sudanese heroes save lives in the world's largest humanitarian emergency.
Miles For Sudan is a new global event for runners, walkers, and cyclists helping Sudanese heroes save lives in the world's largest humanitarian emergency.
•••••
With the war and famine in Sudan worsening by the day, our brave Sudanese partners are overwhelmed and in desperate need of more support. Miles For Sudan is our invitation to you to get into the game. It’s free to sign up. And your fundraising page automatically accepts 150+ currencies from around the world, meaning you can participate from wherever you call home.
Credits
FEATURING
Runners: Emmanuel Amido, Scott Nivens, Will Moss, Corinne Thompson, Rajan Thakur, Brittney Tucker, Paul and Xitalli Sobero, Jonahius Kemboi, Sean Ferrell, Jonathan Fogo, and Jackie Broehl.
"A Home-Sick Sparrow" by Sudanese poet Mahjoub Sahrif, who dedicated his life to seeing Sudan become free and just. Reading by Emmanuel Amido. We do not own the rights to this poem.
CREDITS
Producer: Mark Hackett
Director: Joshua Cannon
Director of Photography: Jacob Geyer
Assistant Director: Brody Kuhar
G&E: Stuart Taylor & John Christman
Art: Dustin Brantley, Will Knutson & Scott Nivens
Sound: John Christman
Still Photography: Nate Packard & Mark Hackett
On-site Support: Jeffrey Cannon
Music: Tim Mann, licensed via The MusicBed.
SPECIAL THANKS
To the Amido family for being a central part of this story and inviting us into your beautiful home.
Nashville Camera for serving us with our equipment needs.
Farther Bag Co. for opening up your shop and making a Sudanese flag.
Our Sudanese brothers and sisters, who will one day live in peace made possible by a whole and just Sudan.
Filmed on ARRI Alexa Mini and Cooke Anamorphic/i FF Prime Lenses.
Frequently Asked Questions - Miles For Sudan
Learn about the global event that is helping to save and change lives in Sudan.
What is Miles For Sudan?
With the war and famine in Sudan worsening by the day, our brave Sudanese partners are overwhelmed and in desperate need of more support. We’re doing everything we can, but it’s nowhere near enough to meet the massive needs on the ground.
Miles For Sudan is our invitation to you to get off the sidelines and into the game, from wherever you call home. This virtual event helps runners, walkers, and cyclists attach their favorite workout in a given month to a fundraising goal. You can participate from almost anywhere in the world.
How does this event work?
Miles For Sudan is very simple:
Pick a month to participate.
Set your workout and fundraising goal.
Get moving and fundraising!
You will get a personal fundraising page that includes a video and information about Sudan when you register. Every time you run, walk, or bike, all you have to do is share online how far you went and the link to your page asking people to donate!
You can even start a Miles For Sudan team and ask friends to sign up and compete.
If you live in the United States and raise at least $500, we will mail you a t-shirt roughly 4 weeks after your fundraiser ends! It’s our small way of saying thank you for your hard work.
Where does the money I raise go?
It’s a three-step process from your fundraising page to lifesaving programs in Sudan:
Donations are made to your fundraising page.
The funds you raise in a given week arrive in our bank account the following Monday.
We gather up donations for an entire month. Then, on the first day of each month, we send funds raised in bulk to our partners.
The total amount we send to our Sudanese partners is then reported in our free newsletter each month.
If you have a question about the emergency in Sudan or our Sudanese partners, we encourage you to check out these more detailed resources on our website.
Additional Questions
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Absolutely! This is a global event and you can run, cycle, or walk from wherever you call home. There are a few exceptions as outlined by U.S law.
Your fundraising page automatically accepts 150+ currencies from around the world, which means most people can give in their local currency.
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That’s entirely up to you, but we recommend starting at $250! You’ll set your fundraising goal when you register. You need to raise at least $500 and live in the United States to secure a t-shirt though. Every dollar you raise helps or Sudanese partners meet the needs of their people.
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If you are looking to track your miles, you can use your Apple Watch, Fitbit, or favorite exercise app! We also have a free, printable daily tracker we’ll email you when you sign up if you prefer that. Your fundraising page auto-updates with every donation that is made, so the tracking there is done for you.
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Absolutely! If you prefer giving your full goal amount instead of fundraising that is okay. Just go through the registration process and then donate to your own page.
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We would love to see everyone achieve their fundraising goals, but we know that life happens. You have no obligation to reach your goal. Every mile you knock out and dollar you raise will still help Sudanese teachers, healthcare professionals, and aid workers.
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Check out our Fundraising Assets if you haven't yet! Every now and then we have a fundraiser who has a hard time getting people to give despite doing everything right. Please reach out to us at info@operationbrokensilence.org if you’re struggling. Our team is here to help!
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We've been working in Sudan for over a decade. Our years of experience have taught us this is the best way to do things, for three reasons:
It helps our Sudanese partners plan and spend the funds you raise more wisely, since they know how much money they have to work with for a month. They prefer we send funds this way.
It reduces banking fees by 75%, which means our partners get even more of the money we send them. Every penny counts when you're saving and changing lives.
It streamlines our accounting, gifting our staff extra time to focus more on fundraising, educating, and planning.
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Participants who raise $500+ and live in the United States get a free shirt! Please allow at least 4-6 weeks after your fundraiser ends for delivery. If your shirt hasn’t arived by then, shoot us a quick messge at info@operationbrokensilence.org
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Unfortunately we are unable to ship outside of the United States at this time.
Still need help? Drop us a quick message here and we’ll get back to you ASAP.
“Death is everywhere” — Inside the Sudanese city under siege by a genocidal militia
El Fasher has become a free-fire zone, with RSF and army forces placing no restrictions on the use of weaponry.
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.
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
"Let it be clear: the United States will not abandon our commitment to the people of Sudan who deserve freedom, peace, and justice."
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.
$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.
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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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“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