A plea for Canada to help end Sudan’s nightmare

By Rita Morbia, Program Manager at Inter Pares

Rita works on issues related to women’s rights, feminist movement-building and health, including sexual and reproductive rights, in Sudan, the Philippines and Canada. 

I was on a work trip in Khartoum, Sudan when the shooting and bombing began in 2023. Barricaded in a hotel, I tried to keep to my room and away from the windows as men with guns took over the streets, and then the lobby below me. 

Like so many others, I found myself trapped in a nightmare not of my choosing. But unlike most in Khartoum, I had a way out. In 14 days, I would be safe at home in Ottawa: an escape orchestrated, in part, by the United Nations. But for millions of Sudanese people there has been no escape from the horror and another genocide in their country.

No escape for the two years since the war between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and Sudan’s military began. Seven hundred and thirty days of unimaginable loss. Days filled with hunger, slaughter, rampant sexual violence and destruction. Seven hundred and thirty days of suffocating desperation. 

That number will grow, as will the list of the dead. It will grow until Canada and the rest of the international community holds the powerful external actors fueling this war—the United Arab Emirates, as well as Russia, Egypt and Iran—accountable.

April 15 marks the grim anniversary of the start of the cataclysmic conflict in Sudan, which has forced 11.5 million people to flee their homes and take refuge elsewhere in the country. The displaced account for more than the populations of Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and P.E.I. combined. Nearly 3.5 million people have fled the country altogether. 

Genocide has once again been declared in Sudan, including by the U.S. government, who accused the RSF and allied militias of genocide in January of this year. 

Varying degrees of famine have been declared in several areas. 

Women’s bodies have always been used as weapons of war, and Sudan is no exception. More than 6.9 million women and girls, and a growing number of men and boys, are now at risk of sexual and gender-based violence in the country. The firsthand testimonies are chilling: abductions, sexual slavery and horrific abuse. Children and members of the LGBTQI+ community are particularly vulnerable to exploitation and violence. Widespread underreporting means we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg. 

Faced with this abject horror, the world’s response remains appallingly inadequate. Humanitarian aid is critically underfunded, with a paltry six per cent of the UN’s 2025 funding target met, barely covering the basics people need to stay alive. Diplomatic efforts and peace negotiations have failed to silence the guns.  

Regional powers continue to arm one side or the other, making Sudan’s conflict a proxy war with little international pressure on Sudan’s neighbours to de-escalate.

Canada has the power and duty to respond. Our government must pressure the external actors arming the warring parties to halt their support. This and nine other recommendations were outlined in an open letter to the Prime Minister of Canada from 64 organizations, including Inter Pares, the international cooperation organization on whose behalf I was in Sudan. 

We are still waiting for action. 

I have supported women-led organizations in Sudan for more than a decade through my work at Inter Pares. I was visiting dear colleagues from these organizations when the war broke out. Amid the horror, my Sudanese counterparts are resilient. They continue to work tirelessly in Sudan and neighbouring countries like Egypt and Uganda to provide emergency aid, counseling for survivors of sexual violence, livelihood training, human rights documentation and support for displaced populations.  

If their bravery and clear-eyed commitment to peace was matched by leaders across the global community, the killing would end.

Canadians will go to the polls on April 28 to decide on our new leader. That same day will mark two years since I made it home from Sudan. Whoever Canadians choose, I hope that government will have the courage to do what it takes to help end the nightmare for the people of Sudan, and a world that so desperately needs more peace.