The Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario stands with the Sudanese people against the imperialist war and genocide in Sudan, particularly in the latest siege against the Darfur city of El-Fasher. Over the last 18 months, 14 million people in Sudan have been displaced from their homes and continue to experience widespread violence, famine, and bombardment.
In 2018, Sudanese peoples’ movements overthrew Omar al-Bashir, the former President of Sudan to decide their own future outside the grips of imperial domination. Attempts to crush the Sudanese peoples’ revolution led to the outbreak of war between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in 2023.
Despite intentional attempts to position the genocide as an internal “conflict” – the violence in Sudan is backed by imperial regimes with the goals of extracting gold, copper, uranium, land and other resources; imperial regimes who have longed for control over Sudan for their own geopolitical interests. The Sudanese people continue to resist the imperialist power grab between the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kenya, United States, Canada, and Israel as these states continue to use war, famine and debt by supplying arms and weaponry to exert its control over Sudan. The Canadian government in particular, has been complicit by exporting weapons to the UAE who in turn, have diverted these weapons to fuel the war and genocide in Sudan. Canadian firms have played a role in striking multi-million dollar deals with the RSF for favourable media coverage from the West – following typical colonial and imperial tactics of manufacturing consent for genocide and destabilization. From Sudan, to Yemen, to Palestine, to the recent Western aggression in Latin America, we see these struggles as connected to a wider fight against imperialism.
The people and communities in Darfur continue to be caught between global and regional powers as convoys and trucks carrying humanitarian aid have been delayed and blocked by the RSF. With the latest siege, the blockade of help and the mass killings have only furthered the suffering of the Sudanese people with ten of thousands still trapped without access to food, clean water, shelter or healthcare.
Long before the war started, the Sudanese people were already experiencing a crisis and seeking humanitarian aid due to political and economic instability. Rather than providing international solidarity to protect civilians on the ground, we have witnessed the complicity of the aforementioned states who have chosen to normalize the ongoing struggles and instead monopolize on the suffering, thereby being directly responsible for the forced displacement, ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Sudanese people.
The Federation condemns the occupation and genocide of the Sudanese people, and affirms the calls for an immediate ceasefire and full arms embargo, the allowance of trucks and convoys carrying aid and supplies to enter, and the end to the ongoing violence in Sudan. It is imperative that the people of Sudan have the right to self-determination free of imperialism, suffering and systemic colonial violence.