Spotlight on Sudan

In 2019, a popular uprising ended 30 years of dictatorship. But protestors’ aspirations of democracy and a return to civilian rule were soon betrayed. The military hijacked the transitional government before disintegrating into violence, as former allies vied for power. From Khartoum, the violence spread, engulfing much of the country.
 
The impact on ordinary Sudanese is staggering. Violence and extreme shortages of food, water, medicine, and fuel have displaced 13 million people. In a country where hunger is frequently a weapon of war, half the population (26 million) suffer acute food insecurity, and 8.5 million people face famine. Fanned by the ambitions of internal actors and external economic and political interests, peace remains elusive.
 
Together with a distinguished panel of experts, we unpick the complexities of Sudan’s unfolding crisis. We will discuss the roots of the war; analyse its key players and discover the internal and external factors fuelling the conflict. We will consider the war’s impact on the wider region, as well as the effects of an international community distracted by conflict in Gaza and Lebanon. Finally, we will discussing potential futures and outline which role – if any – the Netherlands and its citizens can play in ending the crisis.

About the speakers

Anette Hoffmann works as a Senior Research Fellow at the Conflict Research Unit of Clingendael. Her work focuses on the interaction between economic and political drivers of conflict. She has spent over 10 years working in Sudan, South Sudan and Ethiopia for, among others, the UN and German development cooperation (GIZ) as an adviser in conflict-sensitive programming and private sector development in fragile settings.

Christian Henderson is a scholar of political economy and development in the Middle East based at Leiden University. His research focuses on the Arab region, with a particular focus on Gulf investment in the states of North Africa and the Levant, rural development and business politics. Aside from his academic career, he has 20 years experience of working in the Middle East.

Douglas Johnson first visited the Sudan in 1969 after meeting Sudanese students at Makerere University College, Uganda, where he was studying. He has done historical research in the Southern Sudan, served as Assistant Director for Archives in the former Southern Regional Government, and worked in various relief programmes during the recent civil war. He was appointed an international expert on the Abyei Boundaries Commission, and is the author, editor or co-editor of ten books on Sudanese topics.
 
Hamid Khalafallah is a PhD candidate at the Global Development Institute (GDI) in the University of Manchester and a former Nonresident Fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy. He is a development practitioner, researcher, and policy analyst who has also been active with various civil resistance groups in Sudan, promoting democracy and advocating for human rights.

Sharath Srinivasan is the David and Elaine Potter Professor in the Department of Politics and International Studies and a Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge. He has also played leading roles in Cambridge’s Centre of Governance and HUman Rights (CGHR), the British Institute in Eastern Africa, the Rift Valley Institute, and the Society for the Study of the Sudans.
 
Edward Thomas is a Fellow of the Rift Valley Institute. He has worked in Sudan and South Sudan as a teacher, human rights worker and researcher for two decades. He is the author of ‘South Sudan: A Slow Liberation’, as well as several RVI reports including ‘Moving Towards Markets: Cash, commodification and conflict in South Sudan’ and ‘The Kafia Kingi Enclave: People, Politics and History in the North-South Boundary Zone of Western Sudan.”

Solange Fontana (moderator) is an Africa-focussed researcher at the NIOD where she studies the role and outcomes of people’s personal networks in conflict.

Ali Hamdan (moderator) is Assistant Professor of Middle East Politics at the University of Amsterdam. His research investigates transnational and exile geopolitics, with a focus on Syria and Lebanon.