We don’t want to see any Black people. We don’t even want to see black trash bags.” He then promptly shot a black donkey, signaling his intent. After that, the RSF men set about executing all Black males over the age of 10, including Maryam’s five brothers, and some younger ones too. A day-old baby boy was thrown to the ground and killed, and a male toddler chucked into a pond to drown. And then, “they raped many, many girls”. They called them “slaves” and told them: “There is no place for you Black people in Sudan.” Said RSF militia men storming Maryam Suleiman village in Darfur, Full article here.

In the article, published in the Guardian on Friday 11 Oct 2024, Jonathan Freedland argues that Sudan is enduring one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Yet, the global community has largely ignored it. Despite tens of thousands of deaths and millions displaced since the war began on 15 April 2023, there has been little media coverage or public outcry. Freedland highlights the contradiction between the global support for movements like “Black Lives Matter” and the indifference toward Sudan, where the victims are predominantly Black. He attributes this neglect to a dismissive attitude toward African conflicts, exemplified by the ethnic cleansing perpetrated by the Rapid Support Forces, a rebranded version of the Janjaweed militia responsible for the Darfur genocide.

Freedland further explores why Sudan’s conflict fails to capture global attention. He shares survivor stories, such as that of Maryam Suleiman, and emphasizes how the violence has gone largely unrecorded, with death toll estimates reaching up to 150,000. He suggests the complexity of the conflict, with both sides committing atrocities, prevents the global left from rallying behind it since it doesn’t fit a simple “oppressor vs. oppressed” narrative. Freedland also argues that unconscious biases towards Africa contribute to the apathy, reinforcing the idea that such violence is expected there. Ultimately, he calls for an apology to the Sudanese people for the global indifference to their suffering.