Resilience in times of war: how WRI members in Sudan are sustaining their work for peace

I recently had the privilege of speaking to Mamoun, a Sudanese activist and organiser involved in conflict monitoring and peacebuilding efforts across Sudan. Like everyone living in Sudan in recent years, Mamoun’s life and work has been deeply impacted by the ongoing civil war that has raged across the country since April 2023, between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Throughout our conversation it was clear that its impossible to understand what Mamoun is experiencing without some understanding and knowledge of Sudan’s recent history and the wider conflict, so before sharing some of Mamoun’s story I will give a brief outline of what has occurred in Sudan in recent years.

Background

In 2019 a popular uprising in Sudan led to the overthrow of then-dictator Omar al-Bashir, who took power in 1989 and has been accused of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court. The protests led to Bashir being arrested by the Sudanese military in a coup led by members of the military, who dissolved the government. Sudan was led by a joint civilian-military government for two years, but in 2021 Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan – the leader of the SAF – took over the country.

The RSF is a paramilitary group formed in 2013, and has its roots in the Janjaweed militias responsible for horrific violence in Darfur. The Janjaweed were used by the Sudanese military and Omar al-Bashir as a counter-insurgency force against anti-government rebel groups in Darfur, and were accused of genocide. One driver of the more recent conflict has been attempts to assimilate the RSF into the SAF, with leaders of both military groups refusing to relinquish control – the failure of talks has led to a “showdown” between the two armed groups, which began on 15th April 2023 with violence breaking out in Khartoum, the capital, before spreading across the country.

The conflict has had a collosal impact on people across Sudan – it has been described as the “world’s most severe humanitarian catastrophe”. More than 14 million people have been displaced, and there are multiple reports of mass atrocities across the country perpetrated by both the RSF and the SAF, and attacks have destroyed hospitals and other civilian infrastructure. Even as I write there are new reports of civilian casualties, with the military accused of killing hundreds of people in an air strike on a market in Darfur. However, it can also feel like the situation in Sudan has received relatively little attention from both the peace movement, or in more “mainstream” political spaces.

War Resisters’ International has maintained strong connections with activists in Sudan and South Sudan, and we want to share some of the story of what our members have experienced over the last few years. Despite the fear and violence they have remained active and organised, supporting each other and working with other networks in Sudan to monitor the conflict and share information of the shocking impact on civilians.

Mamoun's experience

When the conflict began, Mamoun and his colleagues in SONAD – the Sudanese Organisation for Nonviolence and Development - were based in Khartoum, where they had an office and ran various projects focused on nonviolence and peacebuilding. Since the revolution and coup in 2019 they had been involved in collecting data about the revolution, deepening understanding of how the nonviolence movement worked, and meeting and helping people who were victims of human rights abuses.

Even before the most recent escalation the groups members didn't feel safe - the goverment wasn't democratic and the work they were doing wasn't welcome. Mamoun told me that the organisation was “training young people, political parties, students, all in nonviolence and human rights. The previous government that was removed in the September revolutions didn't like the work of the NGOs but they couldn't stop it becasue they were afraid of the interational community and the UN. But they didn't welcome our work so we weren't completely safe.”

Religion and ethnicity is deeply interwoven into conflicts in Sudan, and SONAD sets itself apart by working with people from all religious communities, bringing together Christians, Muslims, non-believers and followers of traditional animist religions. This in itself made SONAD unpopular with the government, which under Bashir had introduced Sharia law in Sudan; Mamoun explained that some elements of the government and military still believe that Sudan should be an islamic country, and that “South Sudan is for the Christians”.

When the SAF and RSF started fighting, Mamoun didn’t immediately leave Khartoum, but it was no longer safe to go to the organisation’s office, where they stored their equipment and documents, and ran events and projects. Some members of the group left to other areas of Sudan immediately, or travelled to other countries, and the focus of the group’s work rapidly shifted to monitoring the conflict. They began working alongside other civil society groups in Sudan, under the umbrella of the Youth Civic Observation Network (YCON), which has been responsible for collecting data about the war. Mamoun and SONAD have been responsible for collecting data in Khartoum, where – despite significant risks – they are working to monitor crimes and collect data on the impact of violence by both warring parties. You can find YCON’s website and reports here: https://www.ycon-sudan.org/ 

Eventually Mamoun left Khartoum as well, but continues to travel to support the work of his organisation across the country, which continues to face the fear of arrest and violence: “Since the start of the war a lot of our members have been arrested by both parties of the war, because collecting information is seen as very serious. We have three or four members who were arrested but released after several weeks and months... When they arrest any of our members it is very difficult for us to do anything because they can also target us. Our organisation doesn't exist in a specific place so they are looking for the rest of the members, but they can't find us because we are separated across Khartoum and Sudan. We are able to communicate across the different areas, though sometimes there is no internet, electricity, or the phone lines go down. Sometimes the security situation means people don't feel safe picking up the phone and talking to each other.”

It was hard to believe the resilience that Mamoun and his colleagues have shown, managing to sustain their organisation in the face of enormous challenges. At times it reminded me of the sense of crisis when the covid-19 pandemic spread rapidly across the world, and our organisations had to find new ways to communicate in a changing world. But throughout our conversation there was a sense that Mamoun didn’t feel he was doing the work he should be – he explained that before the war they “mobilised communities against the war and for nonviolence, advocating for democratic solutions to conflict.” and the Sudanese civil society networks SONAD is part of are being impacted by the massive cuts the Trump administration has made to USAID.

Despite these challenges, Mamoun is already thinking about the work of SONAD after the war and the role they can play as one of the few organisations in Sudan advocating for nonviolence: “So many people are being traumatised, killed, raped - so many people are militarised. The impact will be felt for a long period of time, so our work as SONAD will be to teach nonviolence and help the traumatised people, and to advise people who have been impacted by the war. When the war is over we will have to regather SONAD. The economic impact of the war has been very big - lots of people lost everything - their jobs, their homes. Especially in the conflict areas, everyone has lost someone.”