Multiple work visits, which I began in 2010 to cover the presidential elections before the secession of the South, repeated until they ended on the banks of the Nile in 2016. Between the first and last visit, a clear difference in growth and massive prosperity remained in memory; the country was fertile for investment and trade, and the presence of Russian and Chinese companies implementing major projects in the country and seeking to establish a foothold in Africa became clear, followed by Western competition for the great wealth enjoyed by this large Arab country, which is bustling with economic movement and activity.
The most dangerous thing Sudan is going through today is that it has begun to die in silence, far from the cameras and official and popular Arab attention. The figures issued regarding the scale of the tragedy from there are staggering and heart-breaking. A tragedy does not shrink when it drags on, but unfortunately, we have grown accustomed to that tragedy which has plunged a large Arab country into circles of hunger, displacement, and disease, while its presence on the scale of official Arab attention recedes.
When the World Health Organization issues an emergency appeal for Sudan revealing that there are about 33.7 million people in urgent need of assistance this year, including 7.4 million displaced within the country while 40 percent of health facilities are out of service.
Therefore, the figure of thirty-three million and seven hundred thousand Sudanese citizens is not just a number in an international report; rather, they are human beings drowning in the search for what will satisfy their hunger for food, medicine, and shelter, and searching for a day less miserable than the previous one, something that has become impossible to find now in light of escalating tragedies.
However, hunger is the cruelest and most painful image. In May of this year, the World Health Organization, the World Food Program, and UNICEF stated that about 19.5 million Sudanese citizens are facing the specter of famine. What is even crueler is that about 825,000 Sudanese children under the age of five are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition this year, posing a real threat of hundreds of thousands of children dying in silence, away from anyone's attention, and in front of the world.
As for displacement, needless to say, according to UNHCR statistics up to December 2025, the conflict has forced about 13 million Sudanese to flee their homes inside or outside the country.
Yet the most painful paradox was in a UN briefing on July 3, which stated: "The humanitarian response plan for Sudan was only funded at about 40 percent, after receiving more than $1.1 billion out of about $2.9 billion required to address the crisis."
What the Sudanese are experiencing today is not a test for them alone, but rather a test for the conscience of the Arab nation, which must not accept turning the crises of hunger, displacement, disease, and the death of children into a familiar sight simply because it has dragged on and cameras have vanished. The danger is not that the tragedy continues, but that we continue to get used to it and accept it as if it were a natural event!
