These siblings don’t want Canadians to forget about the war in Sudan

Moatinoon follow up
Source: cbc.ca
Over the last three years of war in Sudan, Omnia and Satti Khalil have followed the events closely from home. They even welcomed some displaced family members to Canada.

Omnia, 12, and Satti, 14, are siblings who live in Edmonton, Alberta, and are first-generation Sudanese Canadians. Their parents were both born in Sudan.

They are worried about their loved ones still in Sudan and don’t want the world to forget about the people suffering there.

“They’re in great danger. So they could just die at any moment. It’s very hard,” Omnia told CBC Kids News.

According to UNICEF, the war in Sudan has caused the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, where children are suffering the most.

At least 59,000 people have been killed since the start of the war in April 2023, according to Armed Conflict Location & Event Data, although the independent conflict monitor says this number is likely low due to severe difficulties in reporting.

On April 15, Canada announced it would send 120 million in aid to Sudan at the International Sudan Conference in Berlin, Germany.

3 years of civil war
The war began on April 15, 2023, between two military groups: the SAF (Sudanese Armed Forces) and the RSF (Rapid Support Forces), a Sudanese paramilitary force.

President Omar al-Bashir, who was a dictator, was forced out of power by Sudan’s army in 2019 following a military coup. A second military coup took place in 2021 that led to the end of the transitional government.

A coup is when a group of people tries to take control of a country’s government through force, undemocratically and illegally.

Since these events, the SAF and RSF have launched attacks against each other and in civilian areas.

Hospitals, homes and cities have been destroyed and people have been displaced.

They are seeking aid and safety due to the violence.

Some have been lucky enough to flee to Canada, like Omnia and Satti’s grandmother and some cousins.

“Now, they have to rebuild their futures, learn a new language and adapt to everything here,” Satti said.

“We also get to learn our language from them, which is very great. And we teach them lots of things about Canada.”

How is the war affecting kids?
The suffering and loss Sudanese people are facing will have lasting effects, experts say.

Amal Madibbo, a Sudanese Canadian professor of social justice at the University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario, said that without an end to the war and a functioning health-care system, pain and violence are not treated properly.

“There is trauma, but there is no health care,” she told CBC Kids News.

“So there is no health care to treat the trauma, which means that the trauma is being reproduced.”

According to the World Health Organization, 37 per cent of health facilities in Sudan do not function properly.

In 2026, 12.7 million women and girls in Sudan have required support for sexual and gender-based violence, according to United Nations Women.

More than 19 million people also face acute hunger, according to the UNs World Food Program.

Since the war began, kids in Sudan have missed over 500 days of school, Save the Children reported.

Missing that much school can have devastating effects, not just on their education but on social skills, said Christopher Tounsel, a professor of history at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington.

“We know that school is fundamental, in terms of learning skills like math, reading and also just learning how to get along with other people,” he told CBC Kids News.

Around 4.5 million people have fled the country to live in surrounding places like Egypt, South Sudan, Libya and Chad.

What are other countries doing?
While the people in Sudan are suffering, countries around the world are meeting annually at the International Sudan Conference in Berlin, Germany.

“The people of Sudan deserve more than survival: they deserve safety, dignity and a path to lasting peace,” Canadas Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said in a news release on April 15.

Madibbo, of the University of Toronto, said while the aid from Canada is positive, its important and crucial that it last and be sustainable.

“What is needed now is efforts on sustainable development that put an end to the war,” said Madibbo, who was volunteering in Sudan in December 2018 during the protests and revolution that led to the civil war in 2023.

Omnia and Satti also have hopes with regards to the conflict in Sudan.

“I want to keep talking about Sudan and I want the people to be safe, and even though I’m young, I still want to contribute,” said Omnia.

Khalil said he’s afraid that the world will stop thinking about Sudan.

“I dont think anybody’s going to care,” he said.

“Its just a one-time donation, this humanitarian aid, but no actual developments.”

Neither the RSF nor the SAF have reached a decision to stop the war in Sudan, and both sides are still fighting.