Subject: World Issues
The Displaced People of Sudan
On the outskirts of city of Khartoum, just north of the city center, signs of desperation came into full view: heaps of plastic wrappers and cans scattered all over the place, endless rows of ramshackle mud huts crammed with broken families, haggard girls with their younger siblings on their backs, old men riding atop starving donkeys pulling people.
It was a boiling hot day in the capital city of Sudan, and it was my first visit to the slums that encircle the city. The shanty towns of Khartoumare the only source of shelter for over 2 million people that have found refuge in the city. The bulk of the displaced people found in these ghettos have arrived in the last 15 years as the result of 3 separate armed conflicts that have ravaged this country: the civil war in the south, the rebel conflict in the northeast, and the infamous genocide that is taking place in Darfur in the far West. I was aware that innocent people were forced to pay a heavy price at the expense of other people’s anger and greed, but I was not prepared for the harsh reality that stood before me. As we drove into the bowels of the slum, a young boy appeared into view. Alone and sullied he stood motionless surrounded by rubbish meeting my gaze. This was not an isolated instance of one child’s reality. Rather, this image spoke to a larger issue facing the plight of an entire generation of Sudanese children. Unable to return to their homelands because their villages have been destroyed and their pockets penniless, the children of the displaced are imprisoned in the ghettos - their futures thrown away like the litter that surrounds them.
The situation facing the large number of people who reside in the shanty towns on the outskirts of Khartoum mirrors the plight of all whose who are currently seeking refuge from the armed conflict that is facing present-day life in the region of Darfur. Since 2003, two rebel groups - the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudanese Liberation Movement have waged a war against the Janjaweed, a militia group backed by the Sudanese government. For multiple reasons, the rebels are fighting to stop what has been described as genocide against mainly Black inhabitants of Darfur. At least 400,000 people have died in the region, and sadly these numbers continue to rise. The question that needs to be asked is what does the future hold for the displaced people of Sudan?