As in many countries divided and controlled by European colonial powers, seeds of conflict were sown from the beginning – typically fueled by greed. Among the most tragic examples is the Democratic Republic of the Congo, (DRC) where tens of millions of people were killed during the one-man rule of Belgian King Leopold, and many more in continuing plunder for resources. Analysts say as many as seven million people have died since the beginning of 2025 in eastern DRC.
From 1899, Sudan was ruled by the British, in an Anglo-Egyptian pact with divided spheres of influence under London’s authority. The largest country in Africa by land area, bordering nine other nations, Sudan was dominated after independence in 1956 by Cold War competition between Russia and the United States. By the 1980s, Sudan was the largest recipient of U.S. military aid in sub-Saharan Africa.
Omar al-Bashir, Sudan’s authoritarian ruler from 1989 to 2019, was twice indicted for war crimes committed in the late 1990s but avoided arrest. He was ousted after creative, non-violent popular resistance was met by lethal force in 2018 and 2019, and a transitional government began paving the way for democracy. Instead, rival militaries, abetted by outside forces, waged endless war. Successive U.S. administrations side-lined civilians from ongoing, failed peace talks.
Largely ignored by news media until recent months, Sudan is gaining more coverage and recognition. An activist campaign promoted the country’s grassroots Emergency Response Rooms for the Nobel Prize for Peace. That effort did not succeed, but this month a UK group working to address international challenges awarded its 2025 Chatham House Prize to the grassroots network, saying the groups “step in where state structures have broken down.” [allafrica link]
They step in where state structures have broken down, providing essentials like food, water and medical supplies and maintaining or repairing power and water systems.
Always, the superpower competition for Sudan’s resources and control of its strategic location were abetted by Sudanese power elites, who fought to seize the spoils. The only hopes for progress towards a better life for Sudanese people have come – particularly in recent years – through organizing by civil society organizations, including teachers, doctors, scholars and farmers, whose voices have seldom been heard outside the country.
In two AllAfrica interviews, representatives of the Sudanese democratic resistance speak for themselves: Sudanese anthropologist and African studies researcher Dr. Nisrin Elamin and Ismail Adam, a senior executive executive officer of the Darfur Association of Canada..