sudan

"The train pulls in and the refugees are herded out. Then they are sold… into slavery. Slavery, not forced labor or some such euphemism… The number in Sudan [of slaves] can only be estimated–tens of thousands. Only owners take precise slave counts."

"[O]n the African continent, a resurgence of human slavery has occurred in Sudan. In this zealously Islamic nation, black Christians have been enslaved by the thousands, largely by Baggara Arab Muslims. … [W]hat would it take to abolish slavery in Sudan? There is no principle of individual rights in the nation’s history–and Islam, the dominant religion, permits slavery of non-Muslims."

"Allow me to break down the facts of hunger as they stand right now. 811 million people are chronically hungry. 283 million are in hunger crises — they are marching toward starvation. And within that, 45 million in 43 countries across the globe are in hunger emergencies — in other words, famine is knocking on their door. Places like Afghanistan. Madagascar. Myanmar. Guatemala. Ethiopia. Sudan. South Sudan. Mozambique. Niger. Syria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Somalia, Haiti and on and on and on. The world has often experienced famine. But when has it ever been so widespread, in so many places, at the same time? Why? Three reasons. First, man-made conflict. Dozens of civil wars and regional conflicts are raging, and hunger has been weaponized to achieve military and political objectives. Second, climate shocks /climate change. Floods, droughts, locusts and rapidly changing weather patterns have created severe crop failures around the world. Third, COVID-19. The viral pandemic has created a secondary hunger pandemic, which is far worse than the first. Shutdowns destroyed livelihoods. Shutdowns stopped the movement of food. Shutdowns inflated prices. The net result is the poor of the world are priced out of survival. The ripple effect of COVID has been devastating on the global economy. During the pandemic, $3.7 trillion in incomes — mostly among the poor — have been wiped out, while food prices are spiking. The cost of shipping food, for example, has increased 3 – 400%. But in places of conflict and low-income countries, it is even worse. For example, in Aleppo, Syria — a war zone, where I just returned from — food is now seven times more expensive than it was 2 years ago. The combined effect of these three — conflict, climate and COVID — has created an unprecedented perfect storm."

"In 2018, when protestors brought down the brutal and genocidal regime, two thirds were women. They dreamed of a Sudan that was free of oppression, harassment, and sexual violence. A Sudan that would transition to democracy after nearly 30 years of authoritarian rule. But today, Sudanese women face the brute force of a vicious war between two armed factions—The SAF—the Sudanese Armed Forces. And the RSF—the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. Both committed abuses during the civil war in Darfur. In the last year, their actions have been absolutely brutal. They have killed detainees and indiscriminately bombed civilians. They have conscripted children as soldiers. They have looted supplies and attacked aid workers. One woman told NPR, “If they couldn’t steal it, they burned it.” They are targeting non-Arab ethnic groups in Darfur just as they did twenty years ago. And last month, videos emerged of troops chanting ethnic slurs as they paraded the streets holding decapitated heads. According to the United Nations, 15,000 people were killed in just one attack. More than 8 million have fled their homes. 25 million—including 14 million children—need humanitarian assistance. In addition, Sudanese women face the widespread use of rape as a weapon of war. A 21-year-old survivor said, “I can’t even count how many times I have been raped.” Diplomatic efforts to end the conflict, have failed. Ceasefire after ceasefire, has been violated. In fact, the violence has intensified."

"The era of darkness is over, and we are entering a new era achieved by the efforts of youth and sacrifices, and will continue and will be led by young people, through this ministry to make the next history, to be the first democratic government elected after the transition period, majority of young people."

"We are not zealous for this land because of the rivers that flow in it. We are zealous for it because it is the land of Islam.... This people has a glorious history. Gordon Pasha, who humiliated the Chinese—the Sudanese here cut off his head."

"Many Sudanese young people are well educated. But the economy is unstable, so everyone is affected, educated and not educated. You find the drivers of tuk-tuk [taxis] are engineers, accountants, very educated people - but they cannot find jobs and they need to boost their income any way they can."

"Third, if the Americans' aims behind these wars are religious and economic, the aim is also to serve the Jews' petty state and divert attention from its occupation of Jerusalem and murder of Muslims there. The best proof of this is their eagerness to destroy Iraq, the strongest neighboring Arab state, and their endeavor to fragment all the states of the region such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Sudan into paper statelets and through their disunion and weakness to guarantee Israel's survival and the continuation of the brutal crusade occupation of the Peninsula."

"I am optimistic because, unlike in the 1985 revolution, all of Sudan is participating. The new president will have to be fair with men and women."

"Sudanese blood is precious, let us stop the bloodshed and direct the youth's energy into building and development."

"One of the things (that I regretted the most was) that has an impact on these two decades and more is what happened after we (Sudan) signed the comprehensive peace agreement (with South Sudan). We signed this agreement. We genuinely implemented it, and we gave our brothers in South Sudan more than is entitled to them according to the peace agreement. I fought for years in South Sudan for the unity of Sudan. I was a commander in the fields, fighting for the unity of Sudan. As a politician, I worked very, very hard in order to maintain the unity of our country. That was my aim. Of course, the result came negative to what I was looking forward to happen after all these efforts, after all these years of hard work and labor. It's one of the things that I forget because Sudan was divided in two."