In 2019, the most hopeful story on Earth was being written in Sudan. Millions of Sudanese — led, unforgettably, by their women — filled the streets and transformed Khartoum’s vast sit-in outside the military headquarters into a living symbol of freedom, where poetry, music, debate, and solidarity replaced fear.It was a peaceful revolution that captivated the world and proved that courage could defeat dictatorship without bullets. The world answered. Washington lifted the terrorism designation that had isolated Sudan for a generation. Creditors moved to cancel billions in debt. Sudan appointed its first female chief justice and its first female foreign minister, repealed repressive public-order laws that had long targeted women, signed onto the Abraham Accords, and began rejoining the world. A pariah was becoming a partner.
That story is now drowning in blood. Since April 2023, the war between General Abdel Fattah al Burhan’s army and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo’s Rapid Support Forces has killed an estimated 150,000 to 400,000 people. Fourteen million have been driven from their homes — the largest displacement crisis on the planet. More than 30 million, two-thirds of the population, need humanitarian aid, half of them children. Famine and cholera sweep through a health system in ruins. The warring parties have committed grave atrocities, extensively documented by international investigations led by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission established by the United Nations Human Rights Council. Their crimes demand unequivocal condemnation — not political reward.
