On 15 April 2023, violent clashes erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan. The conflict has rapidly evolved to become the worst hunger and displacement crisis in the world. Hamid Khalafallah, a Sudanese researcher and civil society activist, speaks to Paul Knipe about the challenges Sudanese civil society are facing and what the international community can do to help.
“You need to understand what Sudanese mean by civil society”, Hamid begins. “In Sudan there are so many civil society actors, working on so many different issues. Many of the more organized, the more elite civil society actors you could say, have left, with new centers in Nairobi and Kampala. Those who remain, the smaller, grassroots groups, have had to relocate to safer areas and change their operational focus. These are new environments in Sudan, new environments abroad. Displacement has massively impacted civil society’s ability to work and the humanitarian crisis has made humanitarian work the priority.”
Civil society organisations (CSOs) in the country have had to quickly adapt and focus on the immediate needs of humanitarian crisis response. Many lack such experience, funding has evaporated, and international support within the country has gone. At the same time, they are operating under huge personal risk. “Those on the ground now are being targeted by both warring factions. They are getting detained, getting killed. They are facing accusations from opposing groups. The longer the conflict continues the more polarized civil society will become,” Hamid explains.
Yet against this backdrop, there are glimmers of hope, of acts of altruism, of civil society standing up in the most challenging of circumstances. Youth driven emergency response rooms, community-led initiatives that are doing so much for vulnerable citizens, from repairing damaged power lines to creating safe evacuation routes; or civil society groups documenting human rights abuses at great personal risk.
The complexity of the various political and economic dynamics at play, both domestically and internationally, suggest a protracted, uncertain and volatile conflict. While civil society within Sudan continues to provide humanitarian response, solutions to the conflict appear to be driven from outside the country’s borders. “Any outlook, discussion on political settlement, needs to be done outside of Sudan. There have been workshops, conferences [such as the Addis Ababa declaration]. The focus needs to be stopping the war, until then civil society in Sudan can only focus on their response”.
So, what can the international community do to support civil society in Sudan while conflict continues? “There’s lots” Hamid responds. “Make funding more available to grassroots groups, reduce the bureaucracy, increase the amount – make it easy for civil society to get money to continue their work. It’s also important that international civil society shows solidarity. It is there in other conflicts, but why not with Sudan? You can help us by stepping up and speaking out”.