Documenting the April War

Mohamed Abdelrahim Jawish
The war, now approaching the completion of its third year, has been an exceptional event in Sudan’s history—indeed, in world history as a whole. It witnessed the occupation of the nation’s capital and the siege of the army’s General Headquarters, with the Head of State, the Commander-in-Chief, and the Chief of Staff inside it. It also saw the largest wave of displacement and asylum in the world, according to reports by the International Organisation for Migration.
All indicators suggest that the war is nearing its end, and, certainly, Sudan after the war will not be the same as Sudan before it. The war has revealed several positive aspects, as well as serious gaps that must be addressed during reconstruction. Among the positives is the fact that the education and health sectors did not collapse, despite the widening scope of the conflict and the rebel forces’ control, at various stages, over the capital, Al-Jazira State, Darfur, and large parts of Kordofan, White Nile, Blue Nile, and Gedaref. Through drones, the war even reached Nile River State, the Northern State, the Red Sea State, and Kassala.
When the war broke out in the capital—home to most institutions and services, and sheltering nearly a quarter of Sudan’s population—many citizens initially feared that they might have lost their data, bank accounts, and property records. How were these data restored? How did civil registry services, banks, universities, and schools resume operations? How did the Ministry of Education manage to run the central examinations system and bring back the Sudanese School Certificate examinations, the very icon of education in Sudan? And how did the armed forces—whose leadership was said by the rebel leader to be besieged “in a basement”—manage to regain the initiative and relentlessly pursue the rebels inch by inch?
The stories of displacement and migration to neighbouring countries, and of many media institutions operating from those countries while continuing their mission, are stories of their own.
The documentation of this experience must begin now—documentation that records what was positive, analyses the causes of failures and negative outcomes, and lays the correct foundations for the launch of a healthy, resurgent Sudan. It must avoid all the political, military, security, and planning errors that led to the catastrophe of the past three years.
If we do not write our own history, others will write it for us. If we do not document now, falsification will follow. The lessons learned from our war constitute a human experience that will benefit humanity worldwide. Our war is not the last on this earth; fighting has never ceased since the day one son of Adam killed his brother. The arms industry remains among the world’s leading economic sectors—and humanity remains divided.

Shortlink: https://sudanhorizon.com/?p=10975