The Worst Humanitarian Crisis in the World Is Going Mostly Ignored

"The videos out of Sudan are horrifying. There are videos of people being shot out in the open. There are videos of fighters going through hospitals, room by room, and hunting people down. And then there is the evidence of the sheer magnitude of the violence-pictures captured from thousands of miles away. "It's now become a world-leading humanitarian crisis, not just for the present, with 30 million people in humanitarian need, but actually record-breaking," says David Miliband, the president of the International Rescue Committee."

"He says these massacres of civilians have been meticulously planned over the course of months. A group called the Rapid Support Forces began by physically isolating the last city in Western Sudan that was controlled by the country's army, al-Fashir.Factions on the ground are still fighting, mainly the RSF and the army of Sudan's internationally recognized government. Both have been accused of war crimes."

"Many of the people lucky enough to have escaped al-Fashir have landed in a place known as Tawila, which is where the International Rescue Committee is set up to offer help. Now, these refugees and aid workers are worried the fighting will come to them next. Miliband sees it as a test of whether the world cares in deeds, not just in words."

Sudan's civil war has produced catastrophic human tolls: an estimated 150,000 killed, 14 million displaced, and roughly 30 million people in humanitarian need. Videos show people shot in the open, fighters searching hospitals, and images documenting mass violence from afar. The Rapid Support Forces reportedly planned massacres over months, isolating al-Fashir before assault; fighting continues between the RSF and the army of Sudan's internationally recognized government, with both sides accused of war crimes. Many survivors from al-Fashir have fled to Tawila, where aid agencies including the International Rescue Committee are operating. Refugees and aid workers fear the conflict will spread to new areas.

Read at Slate Magazine