Fight for Khartum: Catholic cathedral abused as a weapon camp!

Fight for Khartum: Catholic cathedral abused as a weapon camp!

In Sudan, a cruel civil war has been raging since April 2023, which has previously demanded tens of thousands of fatalities. The weapons hardly rest, and the humanitarian situation passes. Local contacts of church in need report that the Catholic cathedral in Khartum was misused by Rapid Support Forces (RSF) troops as a arms camp. This is another example of the devastation that the country has suffered, during the conflict between government troops and the RSF raged for the control of the country. The government troops recently recaptured Khartum, but the RSF continues to keep strategically important positions in the west of Sudan.

The fights have been underway for two years, triggered by a power struggle between the military ruler Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, alias Hemeti, who commanded the RSF. While both sides repeatedly agreed for weapons and at the same time broken, the humanitarian crisis intensifies in Sudan. According to the United Nations, the largest humanitarian disaster was triggered here worldwide. Currently over 26 million people, around half of the population, are affected by hunger, while almost 13 million people were forced to leave their homeland.

Humanitarian crisis and escape movements

The humanitarian crisis in Sudan is alarming because about 25 million people urgently need humanitarian aid. Around 17.7 million people are threatened by acute hunger, including more than 16 million children who are otherwise at risk. Many have lost their home, and since the beginning of the war there have been over 6.5 million people within the country on the run, while almost 2 million have left Sudan. The international community has only given limited attention to this conflict in recent years, and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has spoken of "global amnesia", which makes the situation even more frightening.

A look at the chronology of the conflict shows that the RSF, which was founded by Omar al-Bashir in 2013, plays a key role in the fight. This paramilitary militia has been associated with serious human rights violations and receives support from international actors, including the Russian Wagner Group. In contrast, the regular army receives support from countries such as Egypt and Turkey.

The role of the Christian community

The small Christian community of Sudan, which made less than five percent of the 43 million inhabitants before the war, suffered greatly from the conflict. Many members have fled what the community has further decimated, as reports from the Church show in need. The financial support for the Sudan is of essential importance in view of this crisis situation, since the United Nations need $ 4.2 billion for humanitarian aid for 2025.

Current violence not only led to a massive loss of human life, but also fueled the ethnic tensions in Sudan, especially in regions such as Darfur. There are reports of ongoing ethnic attacks that contain possible peoples, and the International Criminal Court has already investigated.

The international community faces the challenge of not only providing humanitarian aid, but also promoting political dialogue in order to put an end to this bloody conflict. Sudan, who has a dark story of ethnic violence, urgently needs solutions to pave the way for permanent stability and peace.

For more information about this tragic situation in Sudan, you can report the reports from Exxpress , bpb and Deutschlandfunk consult.