Academics, students back civil society campaign to end war

Sudanese universities, academics and unions representing professionals including doctors, engineers, journalists and lawyers are supporting a ‘Stop the War’ campaign as part of ongoing efforts from the country’s civil society to end the deadly conflict that erupted in mid-April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Launched by the Sudanese Teachers Committee on 27 July under the slogan, ‘Teachers are Builders of Civilisations and Advocates of Peace’, the Stop the War campaign aims to consolidate calls for peace with a sharp focus on the education sector, which has suffered greatly from the ongoing conflict.

The committee, with members from the school community, stated that the campaign will seek support from everyone who opposes the war and will entail various activities that will continue until its goals are achieved.

Speaking to Dabanga radio and television, Ammar Youssef, a member of the executive office of the Sudanese Teachers Committee, said the campaign will first focus on introducing its goals to political parties, trade unions and civil society organisations.

So far, the campaign has released several video messages from many teachers speaking out against the war and has launched hashtags under the heading #Stop_War_Now.

The campaign was launched just after the United States offered on 24 July to take on a leading role in mediating the conflict and invited the warring parties to resume ceasefire talks in mid-August in Switzerland.

The Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC), an overarching alliance of activists and opposition groups, including university staff, issued a statement on 25 July welcoming the American invitation which Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, RSF leader has accepted, but to which Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, SAF leader, has not yet responded.

The FFC emphasised “the importance of establishing permanent and sustainable solutions to stop the war and achieve a comprehensive and sustainable peace based on the legitimate hopes and aspirations of the Sudanese people for sustainable democratic civil rule”.

Impact of war on HE sector

The SAF-RSF armed conflict has internally displaced an estimated 7.9 million people and about 2.1 million have fled to neighbouring countries, according to a 27 July report published by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The higher education community, as a part of civil society, has continued to report the deaths of staff and students as a result of the conflict.

On 21 July, the committee of the Sudan Doctors’ Trade Union released a list of names of doctors, medical and health personnel, and medical students who died since the beginning of the war until 21 July 2024. It includes nine medical students out of the total 71 medical personnel.

The first report on “cultural heritage situations in Sudan” published on 23 June 2023 reported extensive damage, vandalism, fire, shelling and looting of universities and colleges in Khartoum.

Among the affected institutions are the universities of Al Neelain, the Nile, Al-Sudan, Bahari (Al-Kadro and Kharij Complex), Mashreq, Omdurman Ahlia, Omdurman Islamic University, as well as the International University of Africa, the Ahfad University for Women, Ibn Sina University, National University, Napata, and the College of Science, Al-Yarmouk College, and Al Nahda College, according to the report.

The report also noted that some of these universities are currently still occupied by soldiers. The university libraries, archives and research facilities at these institutions have either been lost or are at significant risk of loss.

In addition, other universities, libraries, and research centres have also been subjected to destruction and looting. Furthermore, the building of the ministry of higher education has also suffered damage from fire.

Solidarity with the campaign

In support of this initiative, Sudanese universities, academics, trade unions and political parties praised the efforts of the Teachers Committee, announcing their full support for all campaign activities and called on all Sudanese people to participate in the campaign that aims to stop the war and restore peace.

The Sudan University of Science and Technology Professors Association, Nyala University Professors’ Union and the University of Khartoum Engineers Association network, as well as the Sudan University of Science and Technology Engineers’ Association issued supporting statements.

Also, members of the Sudanese Professionals’ Association (SPA) issued a supporting statement, including the Sudanese Environmentalists Association, Association of Meteorologists, Sudanese Journalists Syndicate, Central Committee of Pharmacists of Sudan, Sudanese Lawyers Democratic Front, and the Preparatory Committee of the Veterinary Syndicate, as well as the Civil Forces Alliance to Stop the War.

The SPA is an umbrella group of independent professional unions, including doctors, engineers, teachers and lawyers as well as the academic staff association, which led to nationwide demonstrations against Omar al-Bashir’s rule from December 2018 until his removal from power in April 2019 but were sidelined by a counter military coup in 2021 that led to the current war.

Furthermore, the Sudanese Youth Network to End War and Establish Democratic Civil Transformation also issued a solidarity statement.

Establishing a broad anti-war coalition

Adil Mohamed Ali, the head of the institutional development programme at the Sudanese Environment Conservation Society and a coordinator with the United Nations Development Programme, or UNDP, told University World News: “This campaign expresses the wishes of the majority of the Sudanese people that this devastating 15-month-old war should be stopped.

“Even some of the proponents of the war have changed their minds and are now calling for peace,” Ali added.

“The campaign is gathering momentum and a number of higher education and professional unions have issued statements supporting this campaign. [However,] I do not expect that the current leaders of the Sudanese Armed Forces will respond positively to this campaign. They insist that they will not stop the war until the RSF are annihilated.

“The civil society organisations, the political parties and the university community have to establish a broad coalition against the war to put more pressure on the SAF and the RSF to stop the war,” he suggested.

According to him, the international community also has to put more pressure on the countries that are supporting the sides of this war to stop their support and to bring them back to peace negotiations.