MES Statement on the Ongoing War in Sudan

The Middle East Section calls upon anthropologists and scholars of Southwest Asia and North Africa to recognize, and call attention to, the man-made crises in Sudan engendered by the fighting that erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces on 15 April 2023. In addition to a high number of casualties and injuries, the ongoing violence has brought about a famine, led to the displacement of millions of civilians and the spread of infectious diseases, crippled the education sector, and been accompanied by sexual violence and other forms of atrocities.

Filippo Grandi, the UN Commissioner for Refugees, has characterized the level of suffering in the country as “truly unconscionable.” He added that “Sudan is the definition of a perfect storm: shocking human rights atrocities, with millions uprooted by this insane war and other wars that came before it. A terrible famine is looming, and severe floods will soon hamper aid deliveries even more. We are losing a generation to this war, yet peace efforts are not working.”

Since the war broke out, a conservative assessment estimates that 150,000 people have been killed, and around 33,000 others have been wounded or injured though rights activists believe that the numbers are much higher. In addition, UNICEF has estimated that nine million people have been displaced since the outbreak of the war, most of whom are living in abysmal conditions due to overcrowding and lack of facilities. There are also reports of sexual violence and other atrocities that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity according to rights groups. Moreover, the collapse of the health system has led to the spread of infectious diseases, in particular cholera which has claimed the lives of 430 people recently. Sudan’s health ministry has estimated that there are around 14,000 people who have infected with cholera. 

A recent report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) has estimated that 755,000 people in ten states “face Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5),” and that 8.5 million, namely eighteen percent of the population, “face Emergency (IPC Phase 4).” These statistics means that millions of people in Sudan are facing extreme food insecurity or imminent famine. Commenting on these findings, Martin Griffiths, the outgoing UN aid chief, has remarked that “These are staggering numbers. It’s beyond imagination.” Experts have blamed the two warring factions for causing a hunger crisis by using food as a weapon of war against civilians, and for hampering relief efforts by targeting local responders and civil society. 

Alex de Waal has called upon the United States and its Western allies to “call out Sudan’s terrifying hunger crisis for what it is—an intentional aim of the warring parties,” and “to push the Gulf powers that have clout to force the two sides to end the tactics that are driving it” in order to avert a catastrophe. Noting the use of starvation as an instrument of ethnic cleansing, de Waal has emphasized that “Those who are starving are the Masalit, Fur, and Zaghawa ethnic groups that the RSF has targeted for ethnic cleansing—or on whose lands Hemedti’s fighters have taken everything that can be stolen or eaten.”

The ongoing war has also led to collapse of the education system in Sudan. In a recent statement, the Middle East Studies Association’s Committee for Academic Freedom has expressed concerns over “the destruction of universities, the conversion of campuses into defense positions, and the displacement of students and professors.” Many universities have suffered considerable damage, or were repurposed as shelters to house displaced people. According to the Sudanese Minister of Higher Education, Mohamed Hassan Dahab, around 115 public and private universities and colleges in the Khartoum area alone have “been destroyed or lost buildings, equipment, libraries, and other facilities to vandalism and looting that occurred in the wake of military clashes.” A report published by UNICEF in January 2024 estimates that around 19 million Sudanese children were out of the school, that 10,000 schools had to close down, and that many schools were turned into shelters. The statement by the Committee for Academic Freedom concludes that “The war jeopardizes the future of a whole generation of students in Sudan, just as it limits the educational opportunities for students from African and Arab countries, some 24,000 of whom were studying at Sudanese universities.

We call upon educators and scholars in the United States to amplify the voices and expertise of Sudanese scholars like Nisrin Elamin who call for accountability for those who have been perpetrators of war crimes across generations, and to highlight scholarship on the region. We would like to stress the need to support Sudanese higher education institutions operating online and undertaking exams in safe areas materially by helping pay for dormitories and housing for students moving to take exams, and for internet access. In addition, higher education institutions in North America and Europe can support Sudanese academic and students displaced by the war to Egypt and the Gulf by allowing library access for Sudanese academics, providing opportunities for collaboration and employment for Sudanese academics, and facilitating and subsidizing enrollment for Sudanese students. There is a significant number of Sudanese academics in MENA outside of Sudan right now and more needs to be done for them. 

We would like to highlight the recently published report, “Research in Displacement: The Impact of War on Sudan’s Higher Education and Academic Research Community” written by Muna Elgadal and Rebecca Glade. This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the status of higher education in Sudan, as well as a list of recommendations for supporting the education sector. In particular, we would like to accentuate the following ones: 

Assist Sudanese academic institutions continuing or restarting activities:

• Medium-size grants can be developed to assist Sudanese universities in moving to online and distance education. Funds can be earmarked for student support, helping students purchase internet bandwidth to download lectures and notes to prepare for exams. The cost of the internet is prohibitive for many, even in areas with stable networks, but funds are vital in areas with telecom blackouts, where satellite internet like Starlink is the only way to gain internet access.

• Technical and material support for Sudanese universities, to develop and maintain e-learning platforms, will help universities restart. While some universities in Sudan already have experience with such platforms, ongoing engagement and offers to host servers, or help manage the systems, would assist in universities where no such program exists or the capacity to scale it up is limited.

• Material support for universities in organizing accommodation and travel for students to take their exams will help students unable to complete their studies due to financial constraints and will likely increase participation in exams for female students 

Provide material support to Sudanese academics displaced by the war:

• Emergency grants for Sudanese lecturers, particularly those displaced outside Sudan will be essential to encourage academic employment and research. Many of those displaced during the war lost everything, including their laptops and all their data. Some found themselves in so difficult a position they were forced to sell their laptop to pay for items essential for them and their families. This has made applying for jobs or grants extremely difficult. It has also made it difficult for those who have found work to carry it out. Provision could be made to issue them grants or laptops themselves in Egypt, South Sudan, Uganda and Ethiopia.

• International institutions, working on the preservation of cultural and scientific facilities, should employ Sudanese scholars with specialties in those fields. 

Create pathways for work and study at academic institutions in neighboring countries:

• In neighboring countries, institutions of higher education should offer access to academic facilities, particularly libraries, to Sudanese lecturers and graduate students at no cost. This would be a large and low-cost step that would make a difference to Rift Valley Institute Research in Displacement 35 Sudanese researchers as they try to stabilize their lives and rebuild their research in a new country.

• Academic advising and mentorship should be offered to students, and mentoring for graduate students and early career academics, to help them navigate choices and alert them to opportunities to further their study and academic careers.

• Grants should be provided for university departments, research institutes and researchers to facilitate collaboration between academics in host countries and Sudanese academics on joint research projects.

• Whenever possible, scholarships should be offered to Sudanese students at all levels to help them continue their studies when re-enrolling in university outside of Sudan.

This statement represents the view of the elected board of the Middle East Section. It should not be construed as representing the American Anthropological Association as a whole. The American Anthropological Association is a voluntary, non-profit, scholarly association. Membership is worldwide. It has diverse sections representing specialized interests within the field.

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