Sudan marks 1 year of brutal civil war as humanitarian crisis worsens

This week marks one year since the start of war in Sudan. What began as an internal power struggle has produced the world’s largest displacement crisis. More than 8 million people have fled their homes, around 16 million are facing catastrophic levels of hunger and tens of thousands have been killed. Nick Schifrin reports in collaboration with North African media company, Ayin.
Geoff Bennett:
This week is the one-year anniversary of the war in Sudan. What started as an internal power struggle has now forced more than eight million people to flee their homes. Sixteen million are facing hunger and even famine, and tens of thousands have been killed.
Sudan shares borders with seven countries and the Red Sea, and the U.S. warns the conflict could destabilize the entire region.
Nick Schifrin, in collaboration with the North African media company Ayin, starts our coverage as seen from a refugee camp in Chad.
Nick Schifrin:
In the windblown Sahara Desert, children of war line up for a plate of food. These families are stalked by hunger and haunted by horror.
Woman (through interpreter):
My family is poor. We are innocent. And we don’t have anything. They came to us with weapons drawn. We could not do anything.
Nick Schifrin:
She spoke to our collaborator of media company Ayin on condition of anonymity. She escaped Sudan’s West Darfur, the scene of what the U.S. calls crimes against humanity. She has lived here for 11 months.
Woman (through interpreter):
A dark-tinted car came by and kidnapped my sister and I. They beat us in our stomachs. I was in a lot of pain from the beating, that I didn’t even know where I was.
Nick Schifrin:
Hers is a story all too common in this civil war that turned residential blocks into battlegrounds.
It’s a power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces, or SAF, which the U.S. is accused of war crimes, and, on the other side, the rebel paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, accused by the U.S. of ethnic cleansing, accused of killing her brothers and scarring her for life.
Woman (through interpreter):
They took me to a faraway place. They raped me and then threw me out naked. My family thought I was dead, but they found me naked and they took me home. My brothers were also killed. There was nothing else to do but come to Chad.
Nick Schifrin:
She’s had two surgeries and battles physical and mental trauma. The U.N. says rape has been used as a weapon of war. And, for far too many victims, there is little support.
Woman (through interpreter):
I’m depressed and completely shattered mentally. I need a psychologist, or at least to change my environment to forget what happened to me, because, every time I remember what happened, I get panic attacks.
Nick Schifrin:
Inside Sudan, more than six million have fled their homes, including to this camp in the northeast.
For 10-year-old Manasa Sheikh Bashir, there are moments of distraction and even joy. For her brothers, boys get to be boys. But the parents are not all right.
Maysaa and Bashir fear the future and are scarred by the past.
Bashir Al-Sheikh, Displaced in Sudan (through interpreter): The children were frightened by any sound, and they would hide under the bed. They were terrified, and I would hug them at night to comfort them.
Nick Schifrin:
Maysaa fled her home while pregnant.
Maysaa Abdel Moneim, Displaced in Sudan (through interpreter): There was no medical treatment. I was not able to test my blood for so many days. I did not know if the baby inside me was alive or dead.
Nick Schifrin:
They are twice displaced. All they can hope now is to protect their children and provide as best they can.
The U.N. warns that, in Sudan, water and food are so scarce, hundreds of thousands of children could die just in the next few months. This weekend, donor countries pledged $2.1 billion to help Sudan, but that’s half of what’s needed.
The U.S. delegation was co-led by U.S. Special Envoy Tom Perriello .
Tom Perriello , U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan: It is absolutely urgent for the international community to increase its attention on Sudan and its contributions on the humanitarian side. And we are seeing thousands and thousands of women and children crossing the border, saying that their primary motivation right now is finding food.
We need this conference, but we also need it to not just be one day on the anniversary. We need the world to continue paying attention and pressuring the actors until we get a peace deal and ensure that humanitarian access can reach all Sudanese people.
Nick Schifrin:
Congressional officials who were recently on a trip to the region tell me that there’s a shortage of food in the camps and that it’s so bad, if you don’t get more funding, the food will actually run out by the end of the month. Is that what you see?
Tom Perriello :
That’s correct. We have seen inside the actors, including the RSF, that has burned all the harvest and looted all of the storage of food. So there’s no resiliency inside, where people are at an incredible level of fragility in what they face, in addition to the violence and the horrors particularly being conducted against women.
When they get out, we need them to at least have the full set of psychosocial counseling, of at least three meals a day. And we’re not meeting that standard. The United States will have given over a billion dollars now since the war began. And the rest of the world has just not stepped up.
Nick Schifrin:
You mentioned some of the actions that the Rapid Support Forces have taken inside Sudan. The U.S. has said that the Sudanese Armed Forces have blocked aid deliveries across the border.
Bottom line, are both sides right now using food as a weapon of war?
Tom Perriello :
Absolutely.
Both sides are violating all of the basic norms of international humanitarian law. It’s about not attacking humanitarian workers and convoys or politicizing aid delivery. This is an absolutely horrific treatment of civilians, and the most fragile civilians, in a situation by both sides.
We do expect both sides to obey international humanitarian law. And these are their own people, the Sudanese people, that they are starving as a mechanism of war.
Nick Schifrin:
The U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Linda Thomas-Greenfield, has talked about the possibility of a Security Council resolution that would guarantee food deliveries into Sudan, much like the Security Council created in Syria.
But do you also believe there should be discussion about protecting food convoys inside Sudan with some kind of peacekeeping or even military force?
Tom Perriello :
At this point, we need to be considering all options. This is a situation of life and death for millions and millions of Sudanese. It’s the largest displacement crisis in the world.
The United Nations, along with ourselves and our partners, particularly our African partners across the region and the African Union, need to be thinking about all options that will solve the humanitarian crisis. And, also, we need the war to end, which is the biggest threat to the humanitarian situation.
There’s a huge amount of consensus among the Sudanese about the urgency of ending the war, wanting a unified, integrated military that’s accountable to the people, a return to that constitutional transition that began just five years ago last week and really inspired the world.
Nick Schifrin:
Let’s talk about the diplomacy, and let me begin with a large overview question.
Do you fear that the leaders could decide it is more profitable for them to keep fighting than make peace?
Tom Perriello :
The one thing that everyone should agree on is that this war right now is on a trajectory that ensures everybody loses.
This is a situation in which we are going from a two-sided war to one that is actually increasing in terms of kinetic activity. We’re seeing more of the ethnic militias coming in, some of which had stayed neutral. Some of those have dynamics with neighboring countries.
This is on a path right now, not just to famine, but to a failed state, to a regionalized and factionalized conflict.
Nick Schifrin:
Do you have the tools that you would want going into this diplomacy? I’m thinking not only of what we talked about before about a way to protect some of those convoys, but also a way to perhaps even threaten leaders that they will be held accountable for their war crimes.
Tom Perriello :
Well, as you know, the United States has led on sanctioning bad actors on both sides of this, not just individuals who’ve committed atrocities and fueled the war, but banks and other institutions that have been part of that.
That’s certainly an option. We have to expand those sanctions and also encouraging other governments to join us in expanding those sanctions. But we are, again, needing to look at all options on the table, including some of those that you mentioned, for getting to a deal.
Nick Schifrin:
Peace talks are supposed to resume imminently in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Have the Saudis agreed to a date?
Tom Perriello :
They have agreed to host the talks and to having key partners there that have not been part of the past. They have not yet set a date. We’re hoping that’s coming soon.
And, right now, I do think we are seeing a significant shift in the political will of actors in the region, who may not have been as motivated as we were by the atrocities, by the horrible treatment of women and these crises. But for those who only care about stability, this is now a time we’re seeing much greater engagement from key actors.
Nick Schifrin:
Have you sent a message to those countries, including the UAE, that, if we approach famine this summer, which is a real possibility, that that will be their responsibility?
Tom Perriello :
We have repeatedly been in contact with all the countries that are in the region. And I think part of the message too is, this is the trajectory we are on, is going from a two-sided war inside Sudan to something that could become a regional war in a failed state.
But this is also a strategic failure being fueled by key actors, more and more that are coming in, including foreign fighters being counted on the RSF side. This is not a good outcome for anyone who cares about stability in the region.
Nick Schifrin:
And is that the risk, a more factionalized conflict, one that produces even more refugees and threatens the stability of the region?
Tom Perriello :
It’s not just a risk. It’s a certainty if we don’t change course.
We hope we’re building some momentum with Paris, with some of the initiatives of Egypt and others. We hope that will come together with talks in Jeddah. The Sudanese people deserve their future back. And we don’t have much time to get to that outcome.
Nick Schifrin:
Tom Perriello , special envoy for Sudan, thank you very much.
Tom Perriello :
Thank you.

Story filmed in collaboration with Ayin media network