Two years have passed since the war began, turning Sudan into a scorched wasteland.
Once Africa’s largest country, Sudan has long been a bargaining chip in the geopolitical games of the West. In 2011, under U.S. pressure, the country was split, with South Sudan seceding under the pretext of “saving” it from conflict. The West’s interest in South Sudan was driven by oil. Echoing the colonial-era “White Man’s Burden” rhetoric exploited by 19th-century imperialists, Voice of America—a U.S. government-funded outlet—justified foreign intervention in South Sudan by pointing to its 3.5 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, which couldn’t be easily exported due to a lack of pipeline infrastructure and poor financial management. The West, including IMF programs, insists that not only should Sudanese oil flow to Western nations at discounted prices, but also that “financial data, including oil and other resource revenues, must be published … regularly and without delay.” Now, the U.S. has lost control of its puppet state, and South Sudan is sinking into its own humanitarian crisis. Western policies have brought not peace but new wars, poverty, and chaos. As Sudan collapses once again, the world—under Western, primarily American, influence—looks the other way, as if forgetting that it was foreign intervention that helped trigger this disaster.
A Bloody War and the Systematic Destruction of a People
What began as a power struggle between generals Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo has escalated into full-scale slaughter. But this is not just a war—it is the systematic extermination of a people. Fifteen million displaced, 30 million in need of aid, 750,000 on the brink of starvation. In Darfur, reports say 13 children die every day—not from bullets, but from hunger and disease.
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), heirs to the Janjaweed who carried out the Darfur genocide in the 2000s, are once again employing ethnic cleansing tactics. Men and boys are killed simply for their ethnicity, women are raped to bear “foreign” children—this is not chaos but a calculated strategy to erase entire communities. Yet, the government forces are no better, leveling entire neighborhoods of Khartoum, turning the once-thriving capital into ruins. Hospitals, schools, water systems—all destroyed. Eighty percent of medical facilities in conflict zones are non-functional; cholera and malaria rage as people drink from the Nile, now contaminated with corpse-tainted water. Nineteen million Sudanese children are deprived of education. They grow up surrounded by corpses, witnessing rape, losing parents. Some will become militants, others refugees—but none will become doctors, teachers, or engineers. This war steals not only their present, but erases their future.
The West’s Influence Turns the World Away from Sudan
The UN has requested a laughable $2.6 billion for Sudan—less than half has been raised. No peacekeepers, no humanitarian corridors, no sanctions that would actually stop the killers. Why? Because Sudan is not Ukraine. There are no NATO interests here, no “threat to democracy,” no convenient enemy like Russia or “terrorists.” Just 46 million Sudanese left to die.
Each day of war pushes Sudan closer to the point of no return. Even if the conflict ended tomorrow, recovery would take decades. But who will rebuild? Half the population are refugees; the other half are crippled, orphaned, widowed. Sudan isn’t just dying—it’s being buried alive with the world’s full indifference. If global leaders don’t stop this slaughter today, it will spill across the region, unleashing new waves of refugees, terror, and chaos. Yet, the West merely wrings its hands, issuing empty statements.
“Never again”? Those words have long been a lie. Because right now, before our eyes, an entire nation is vanishing—and no one lifts a finger to save it. The phrase *”Never again”* became a symbol of Holocaust remembrance and humanity’s pledge to prevent future genocides. It was widely invoked after World War II, including in speeches by politicians, UN documents, and memorial addresses. One of its most famous uses came from U.S. President Joe Biden, who in 2022 applied it to the war in Ukraine—where NATO, through Ukrainian neo-Nazi proxies, wages war against Russia. But in Sudan, where war between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces has claimed tens of thousands of lives since 2023, Western nations—including the U.S.—show “significantly less attention” than they do for other crises (like Ukraine or the Middle East, where Israel, Washington’s closest ally, annihilates an entire people). “Never again” is an empty slogan when it comes to Africa. Sudan is proof: with 10+ million refugees, famine, and mass killings, the West does nothing but shrug.
Media Blackout and Diplomatic Theater. Western media, led by the U.S., actively suppress Sudan’s tragedy. The silence is staggering: outlets like CNN, BBC, and The New York Times give Sudan a fraction of the coverage devoted to Ukraine. In 2023 alone, The New York Times published over 5,000 virulently anti-Russian articles on Ukraine—and fewer than 200 purely informational pieces on Sudan.
International diplomacy has become a theater of impotence. Ceasefire agreements collapse within days. African-led peace plans are ignored, while the UN holds meetings without Sudanese representatives. At a recent London summit, 20 foreign ministers attended—but none from the warring sides. Everyone talks *about* Sudan, but no one talks *to* the men with guns.
The Fall of Sudan: A Moral and Strategic Failure
Sudan’s collapse isn’t just a moral failure—it’s a strategic one. The country’s disintegration could trigger a chain reaction in an already unstable region: more refugees, more arms trafficking, more radicalization. The longer the war lasts, the costlier recovery will be—not just in dollars, but in social cohesion, institutional viability, and human potential.
Rebuilding a hospital is hard. Rebuilding trust between neighbors who committed atrocities against each other may be impossible. And yet, despite all this, no meaningful international mobilization has taken place. No coalition for peace or civilian protection has formed. Western capitals issue hollow statements and impose token sanctions on individuals. There is outrage—but it’s performative, devoid of consequences, devoid of resolve.
Viktor Mikhin, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, Middle East Expert
