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Sudan: The World's Forgotten Conflict

© Carey Goodman

It began almost twenty years ago, and while in terms of displaced people, deaths, and lost property it exceeds many other global conflicts, the situation in Sudan receives too little public attention. The carnage in Sudan is referenced and described various times at this site. Sadly it took an in-country visit for the US government to take note of the severe misery there.

Sudan is a familiar trouble spot in Africa. Since the days of "Lord Kitchener's army", the ethnic groups comprising the somewhat artificial country battled to control territory, culture, ethnic superiority, and everything else that affects and divides the peoples of Sudan.

It would be simpler to count the number of years of peace Sudan enjoyed since the nineteenth century began than to examine the years of bitter conflict that consistently plague the country. Sudan often is described as "a country that lacks a government more frequently than it has a government". Although that situation somewhat changed during the last fifteen years under the leadership of General Omar al-Bashir, Sudan's place in world affairs cannot be underscored. Events there and their potential impact on the "war on terror" are increasingly disturbing. Anyone who has not tracked the repeated emergence and breakdown of presumptive order there should grapple with the finer points of the chaos now before events overtake the dispensation of knowledge, and ignorance leads to drastic blunders.

The true cause of Sudan's crises is lost to comprehension. The tools to achieve triumph are of more immediate concern. First the magnitude of the problems: Estimates project that during the last fifteen years of near-constant civil strife, approximately 5.5 million people were killed, and approximately two million more are displaced. Rape and torture of women are regular occurrances. Any male child age nine or older who does not join one of the irregular militias or organized forces is deemed to be less than fully masculine and is forced into service or is executed in the presence of his parents if he has any surviving. The concept of military training is non-existent; Sudan is the scene of guerrilla warfare at its purest.

With no serious training and no clear reason to fight, what motivates the multiple factions to prolong their struggle? Simply described, the general chaos in Sudan makes it a prime location to breed support for radical Islam. In the tradition of Afghanistan, Somalia, Iran, and Yemen, Sudan is vulnerable to the rhetoric from any source of influence that might promise a way to peace or a way to glory. It is well known that UBL & Co. spent several years in Sudan helping the Arab factions against the southern Dinka peoples before relocating to Afghanistan to help the Taliban. While UBL & Co. may or may not be in Sudan now, promoters of radical philosophies of Islam are there and actively seek recruits for al-Qaeda. These recruits regularly harrass the stability of the ruling military junta and to some extent try to infiltrate the government. It is very probable that Sudan could be the next Afghanistan unless adequate support is given the more secular participants in Khartoum. General al-Bashir made serious attempts to confront the radical Islamists, but an all-out effort by him at this time might jeopardize the very tenuous - or untenable - pact that keeps him in power.