Sudan Trend 2024: The Memory of Tragedy on Social Media

When the floodwaters swallowed the city of Tokar and reached levels so high that they prevented pedestrians from walking, Dr. Mudather Ahmed swam his way to the hospital in order to reach his patients and provide support with extraordinary courage. This moment became one of the key highlights that shaped the Sudanese “trend” in 2024.

Throughout the year, Sudan witnessed many events that topped the trends in the country, becoming the focus of public discussions in the media and on social media platforms. These trends were closely linked to the political and social events in a country suffering from the ongoing war between the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces, which has been raging for nearly 20 months.

A video spread on Sudanese social media showing a Sudanese doctor swimming in floodwaters to reach his workplace in Tokar, in the eastern part of the country, following the collapse of the Arbatat Dam last August, which caused a humanitarian disaster in the region.

It was later revealed that the doctor in the viral video was Dr. Mudather Ahmed, the medical director of Tokar Hospital. The doctor explained in press statements that he swam to bring an obstetrician to perform an urgent delivery at the hospital, as communication was cut off in the area due to the floods, making it impossible to reach the doctor except through this method.

Martyr First Lieutenant Mohammed Sidiq posed a question to a group of Rapid Support Forces militia who had captured him after battles between the army and Hemeti’s forces at the Jili Refinery in the capital, Khartoum. He asked, “From which direction?” after they asked him about his opinion on the Rapid Support Forces.

Lieutenant Mohammed Sidiq is considered one of the key figures who played a prominent role in the December revolution that overthrew the Bashir regime, after he declared his support for the revolutionaries and famously shouted, “The one who is weak is defeated.” He was later retired in 2020, but mass protests calling for his reinstatement in a rally called “The Million-Man March for Gratitude” followed. Although the army began the process of reinstating him, he refused and disappeared from the public eye for years.

Mohammed Sidiq reappeared after the outbreak of the war in Sudan, rejoining the army. In May, the Rapid Support Forces released a video of the martyr, showing them beating and torturing him, to which he responded with unparalleled bravery. This video became one of the most prominent clips in Sudanese trends in 2024.

A statement from the Oslo Peace Research Institute circulated on digital social media regarding the emergency rooms in Sudan, which were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize this year. This news dominated the Sudanese trend significantly.

The “Emergency Rooms” initiative is a grassroots project launched by a group of volunteers in response to the outbreak of war in the country in mid-April of last year. The rooms provide basic services to citizens, including shelter, food, and healthcare, whether in conflict areas or in safe zones that host displaced people.

The Rapid Support Forces committed atrocities against unarmed civilians in the state of Al-Jazeera since they took control of large parts of the state in December of last year. These included widespread looting, killings, torture, enforced disappearances, and sexual violence against women and girls.

The areas affected by these violations included “Wad al-Nora,” near the town of Managil, which was under the army’s control in June. The Rapid Support Forces attacked the rural area with heavy weapons, resulting in nearly 200 deaths in the region, which was devoid of military presence.

Users on social media shared images of the bodies of the massacre’s victims, as locals prepared to pray over them in a heart-wrenching scene. Such images will remain etched in the memory of modern Sudanese history.