Why is the world ignoring the Sudan civil war?

The list of war-time atrocities in Sudan is long and getting longer. A maternity hospital bombed, causing the roof to fall onto babies inside. Refugee camps shelled, mass executions, streets filled with corpses, aid blocked, systematic sexual abuse and other war crimes: Since the civil war started a year ago in the northeast Afrcan country, an estimated 16,000 people have been killed.

Sudan's war has also created the world's worst displacement crisis, with just under 10 million people forced to move to find safety. Last week, the United Nation's International Organization for Migration reported that of the millions of Sudanese displaced, 70% were "now trying to survive in places that are at risk of famine."

Despite this week's call for a limited cease-fire from the UN Security Council, the situation is not improving, all the aid and advocacy organizations involved say.

Since mid-April last year, two military groups inside Sudan have been fighting: The Sudanese Armed Forces, or SAF, and the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF.

They began fighting in 2023 after disagreeing about how to share power following a military coup in late 2021.

The SAF has about 200,000 personnel, is headed by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and works more like a regular army. The RSF is estimated to have 70,000 to 100,000 personnel and is headed by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti, and is more like a guerrilla force.

Most recently, the RSF has been gaining some ground in the western region of Darfur. In April, it took control of the strategically important city of Mellit and is now laying siege........

© Deutsche Welle