The Forgotten War

Newsweek/ Sudan Events

Sudan the Most Affected by Conflicts in the World
The outgoing year witnessed devastating wars and conflicts around the world, however the conflict in the Sudan which has spread into a wide ranging war since last April, has received very little coverage from the western mass media, being seen as a lesser important war that the war in Gaza and Ukraine, according to an article published by the American Newsweek magazine.
The author of the article, Mohamed Al-Bandari, an independent researcher who used to teach press in the United states and New Zealand- is of the view that there is a lack of transparency in the position of the west in general about what is going in the Sudan, because one rarely sees an articles about it in the western media during last year nor about what this war poses as challenges on other African state, including Egypt, but also on other unstable countries in the Sahel and East and North African countries.
Likewise, there was little mention for the summit conference, held in Egypt last July, to discuss the negative repercussion of the Sudan war on the seven neighbouring countries, the writer argues.
The independent writer argues that Sudan has been immersed in deep economic challenges, protests that took to the streets, new acts of violence in Darfur, since the outbreak of the popular uprising that brought down the rule of autocratic President Omar Bashir in April 2019
Fighting broke out on April 15, 2023 between the Sudanese Army, led by Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti.
With Western media busy covering other conflicts, such as the wars raging in Gaza and Ukraine, the Sudanese people remain stuck in a conflict “not of their making” with widespread hunger.
When comparing the West’s coverage of these three wars, any media researcher could notice that there was a media shortcoming in how news of the Sudan war is reported, according to the author, who adds that Sudanese refugees fleeing the conflict are often portrayed as “weak, naive and backward.”
The writer claims that the Western media views the lives of Sudanese, and Africans as a whole, as not deserving of any more sympathy than the lives of Ukrainians, Israelis, or Palestinians.
He adds that Sudan is facing a “disaster” with UN funds running out, while aid workers have described the crisis there as a “forgotten war.”
To the dismay of many Africans, the UN Security Council voted unanimously in early December to end the mandate of the United Nations Integrated Transitional Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS), which was established in Khartoum in 2020 to support the political transition process in the country
Ending the mission of UNITAMS – according to the article – threatens to have dire consequences for Sudanese civilians, dragging the country towards a disaster in 2024. The withdrawal of UNITAMS also represents a “new setback” for the United Nations, which faces a degree of hostility – mostly in Africa – related to the extent of its political and security competence.
The article concludes that the “weak” Western media coverage of the war in Sudan weakened the chances of launching peace initiatives that would put an end to the war between the army and the Rapid Support Forces.
The writer concludes by advising the Western media on the need to expand its coverage of events in Sudan, and Africa in general, beyond the issue of the “terrifying influx” of Sudanese and African refugees towards the West.