Though it struggles to capture the international media’s attention, Sudan’s war has precipitated the world’s largest humanitarian, hunger, displacement and protection crises. More than 19 months of fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and their allied militias and backers, have left more than half the population in urgent need of aid and significant swaths of the country in famine or on the brink of it.
As the cycle of violence continues, Sudan’s volunteer-led ‘mutual aid groups’ – including the Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs), which were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize – are providing a lifeline to many. Through local networks of community kitchens, free clinics and the organization of safe evacuations and protection zones, these groups are meeting needs that the international community has failed to provide for and are modelling a new approach to humanitarian responses.
Local aid groups are keeping Sudan alive
As international assistance in the civil war falters, Emergency Response Rooms and other mutual aid groups are offering millions of Sudanese a humanitarian lifeline – and the glimpse of a non-violent future, writes Kholood Khair.
