The war in Sudan has become the worst of humanity

In Sudan, 20 months of armed conflict between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Army (SAF) have killed at least 20,000 people and left some 25 million people – half the country’s population – suffering. of severe famine and urgent need. humanitarian aid. Meanwhile, 14 million Sudanese have been displaced, and around 3.1 million have sought refuge outside the country, mainly in Chad, South Sudan, Uganda and Egypt.

As is often the case, it is children who suffer the consequences of this brutal war.

According to the medical organization Médecins Sans Frontières, known by its initials MSF, about one in six people treated at Bashair University Hospital in southern Khartoum for war-related injuries, such as gunshot wounds, shrapnel and explosions, between January and September 2024. were aged 15 or younger.

The medical team revealed that they recently treated an 18-month-old baby, Riyad, who was hit by a stray bullet while taking a nap in the family home. They said they were able to stabilize him, but were unable to remove the bullet from his chest. Amid ongoing conflict and limited access to medical care, Riyadh’s future, like that of thousands of other war-wounded, traumatized and orphaned children across the country, remains uncertain.

Sexual violence is also common in the Sudanese conflict. Forces commanded by the RSF and SAF committed rape and other acts of sexual and gender-based violence, the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan found in its report released in October. The report accuses both sides of using rape as a weapon of war, but claims that RSF is behind the “vast majority” of documented cases and is responsible for “large-scale sexual violence”, including “rape collective and kidnapping and detention of victims in conditions which amount to sexual slavery.

Amid ongoing conflict, survivors of rape and other sexual violence struggle to access medical care, essential medicines and psychological support services.

Many are injured, traumatized and homeless.

With war crimes and other atrocities committed daily with impunity against men, women and even children, the conflict in Sudan has come to represent the worst of humanity.

As the people of Sudan prepare to begin a new year hungry, injured and afraid, the international community, and particularly African organizations purportedly committed to ensuring peace and stability in the region, have a responsibility to take meaningful action – including direct intervention.

So far, efforts to end the suffering of the Sudanese by mediating between the warring parties have all been in vain.

Peace initiatives led by the African Union (AU), the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the United States, Egypt and Switzerland have failed to secure a lasting ceasefire , a comprehensive peace agreement or meaningful protections for the civilian population.

In May 2023, barely a month after the conflict began, the two warring sides appeared to have reached a crucial agreement in Saudi Arabia. They signed the Jeddah Declaration of Commitment to Protect Sudan’s Civilians, agreeing to “distinguish at all times between civilians and combatants and between civilian objects and military targets.” As part of the agreement, they also pledged to “refrain from any attack that could cause accidental harm to civilians” and to “protect all public and private facilities, such as hospitals and health facilities.” water and electricity.

The agreement was supposed to result in a ceasefire of at least a week, but ultimately failed to end the atrocities against civilians, not to mention the incessant fighting between the SAF and the RSF, even during 48 hours.

Since the failure of this US-Saudi Arabia-led initiative about 19 months ago, no peace initiative has succeeded in ending the carnage in Sudan. In August, U.S.-hosted talks in Switzerland to end the war made some progress on access to aid, but once again failed to secure a ceasefire.

Efforts to bring warring parties to the negotiating table and appeals to their humanity to demand an end to attacks on civilians are clearly not working.

More must be done.

In its poignant report, based on testimonies on the ground, the UN fact-finding mission made clear what the country needed: an international peacekeeping force that would be deployed to protect civilians.

“Given the failure of the warring parties to spare civilians, it is imperative that an independent and impartial force with a mandate to protect civilians be deployed without delay,” the head of the UN mission said in September , Chande Othman.

Unfortunately, the Sudanese government rejected this call, just as it rejected IGAD’s similar call for the deployment of a regional peacekeeping force in July 2023. The military government in Khartoum – in place since that he took power from a civilian-led transitional authority. during the October 2021 coup – considers any potential external intervention, including peacekeeping missions focused solely on the protection of the civilian population, to be a violation of the country’s sovereignty.

If the Sudanese government were capable of ensuring the protection of civilians, its rejection of any external intervention would be understandable. But it is clear – after 20 months of devastating war waged in defiance of international humanitarian law – that no party to this war is capable, or sufficiently concerned, to ensure the safety, security and dignity of the besieged civilian population of Sudan.

Without the deployment of an internationally supported regional peacekeeping mission – a determined mission with a clear mandate to put an immediate end to the continued attacks on civilians – the suffering of Sudanese civilians will not end in the near future. .

Today, the global community, and particularly the AU, faces a simple choice: remain passive as the death toll in Sudan continues to rise, or take meaningful and decisive action – even if it upsets the Sudanese government – to address the crisis.

The regional body would lose all legitimacy if it chose to sit idly by as innocent lives are lost to senseless violence in a never-ending war.

It is therefore time for the AU to intervene in the war in Sudan to protect civilians.

This would not undermine the sovereignty of the Sudanese state – nor would it constitute an excess on the part of the Union.

According to Act 4(h) of the Constitutive Act of the African Union, to which Sudan subscribed in July 2000, the AU has the right “to intervene in a Member State in accordance with a decision of the Assembly in serious circumstances, namely: war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.

Given the overwhelming number of violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law documented in detail by the UN mission and others, the situation in Sudan is undoubtedly “serious.” There is no doubt that Sudanese citizens would benefit greatly from the physical protection provided by international peacekeeping forces.

Although the extent of Sudan’s territory and the widespread nature of the war would present significant challenges to ensuring the safety of millions of civilians, this task is not out of reach. By implementing effective planning and mobilizing adequate numbers of troops, the AU has the potential to have a substantial impact.

Sudan constitutes a clear test of the AU’s ability to implement and uphold its broad mandate.

If he wants to realize his vision of an “integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, led by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force on the world stage,” he cannot afford to continue failing the Sudanese people.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera.