GLOBAL CONCERN FOR GAZA WHILE SUDAN HUMANITARIAN CRISIS MOUNTS
While Sudan slips towards a disaster of historic proportions there is minimal media coverage and global concern! By Allan Wolman First published in the Daily Friend, an online newspaper of South Africa's Institute of Race Relations The BB…
While Sudan slips towards a disaster of historic proportions there is minimal media coverage and global concern!
By Allan Wolman
First published in the Daily Friend, an online newspaper of South Africa's Institute of Race Relations
The BBC recently featured on both their radio and TV platforms - "Sudan the Forgotten War" - highlighting a conflict that has been raging for over a year.
In April this year, Paris hosted the International Humanitarian Conference for Sudan and neighbouring countries, drawing attention to the ongoing crisis. The conflict in Sudan, rooted in tensions between Arab herders and non-Arab farmers over land, resources, and political power, has led to over 2 million refugees fleeing to neighbouring countries.
How Sudan has become the world's 'forgotten war' | BBC News
The conference condemned the violence, including ethnic attacks, indiscriminate bombings, and gender-based violence, particularly against women and children, describing the situation as the worst child displacement crisis globally, highlighting that the war in Sudan has triggered the world's most severe humanitarian crisis this year. The head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees(UNHCR) for the region reported shocking accounts of widespread rape and sexual violence.
Competing with Gaza. Sir William Patey, former British Ambassador to Sudan told Sky News there appears to be no end in sight to the conflict. What's more, he warned that efforts of coming to some kind of resolution with international partners are difficult as attention is focused on Ukraine and Gaza.
UN Women - charged with advocating for the rights of women and girls, and focusing on a number of issues, including violence against women and violence against LGBT people - responded to the Sudanese conflict in stark contrast to their silence on the gender-based and sexual violations faced by Israeli women victims on 7 October. The organisation issued a statement titled "A Year of Suffering for Sudanese Women and Girls," calling on the international community to ensure that the conflict in Sudan does not become a neglected crisis.
Sudanese women and girls face heightened risks of gender-based violence, with widespread and increasing reports of sexual exploitation, abuse, and trafficking.
Again, UN Women "stands with the people of Sudan during this difficult time" yet remains mum on the plight of Israeli hostages, some of whom may be about to give birth after being raped and sexually assaulted almost nine months ago.
Millions in Sudan face disaster as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group that has been fighting the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), are accused of using food access as a weapon in the ongoing war. It's worth noting that within days of accusing Israel of genocide in the International Court of Justice, President Ramaphosa proudly hosted the mass murderer, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (aka Hemedti leader of RSF), at his Pretoria residence.
Sudan: The 'forgotten war' where mediation efforts have failed'
FICKLE FAMINE FOCUS
Sudan is facing a potential famine worse than any the world witnessed in Ethiopia 40 years ago, according to the UN. Aid deliveries continue to be blocked by the warring armies, though arms supply to both sides flow in.
With much of the world's attention focused on Gaza, Sudan, already the worst humanitarian crisis globally, is slipping towards a disaster of historic proportions, with minimal media coverage and global concern. A UN humanitarian appeal for the country has received only 16% of the funds it needs.
Save Sudan. Despite a UN humanitarian appeal for the country, it has received only 16% of the funds it needs.
The UNHCR, together with the Egyptian government, estimates that more than 500,000 people have fled from Sudan to Egypt since hostilities began, and are in need of international support.
In response, the UNHCR and other NGOs, in collaboration with the Egyptian government, are working to support those fleeing Sudan. The UNHCR is coordinating a response to address the needs of those crossing into Egypt. Egypt, being a signatory to International Refugee Conventions and Protocols, is fulfilling these obligations and providing life-saving assistance for those fleeing the war on its southern border, as it did by hosting its brother Arab refugees fleeing the carnage of the Syrian civil war.
Concern diverted elsewhere. "All the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing", but too few care!
The question therefore must be asked why Egypt refuses to extend the same humanitarian relief to its north-eastern neighbours - the Gazans - who share a common language, religion, and culture.
Historically, this territory was part of a larger cultural and political entity under Egyptian influence, yet today, the border is strictly reinforced and sealed, preventing any refugees from crossing into Egypt. Again, this crisis is being ignored by the media.
Egypt's decision to seal its border with Gaza is largely driven by concerns over Hamas's strong ties with the Muslim Brotherhood. President Sisi and the military view the Muslim Brotherhood as an Islamist organization with a fundamentally different ideology from their secular nationalist stance.
Unwelcome in Egypt. While Egypt supports those fleeing Sudan, no such service for Gazans and to ensure no entry, builds a new miles-wide buffer zone and border wall along its border with Gaza. (satellite image from Maxar Technologies)
They fear that the Brotherhood could gain power and potentially alter the secular nature of the Egyptian state. This fear has led to strict measures, including the closure of the Gaza border, to prevent any potential influence or power consolidation by the Brotherhood.
About the writer:
Allan Wolman in 1967 joined 1200 young South Africans to volunteer to work on agricultural settlements in Israel during the Six Day War. After spending a year in Israel, he returned to South Africa where he met and married Jocelyn Lipschitz and would run one of the oldest travel agencies in Johannesburg – Rosebank Travel. He would also literally 'run' three times in the "Comrades", one of the most grueling marathons in the world as well as participate in the "Argus" (Cape Town's famed international annual cycling race) an impressive eight times. Allan and Jocelyn immigrated to Israel in 2019.
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
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