Across the African continent, in Niger, another crisis continues unabated. Since a military coup in late July ousted the democratically elected president, the military has been digging in and consolidating power. The Economic Community of West African States, a political and economic bloc. the United States? and the European Union have imposed severe sanctions on the poverty-stricken and aid-dependent country. The generals remain undaunted, but ordinary citizens are running out of food and medicine, and electricity is in short supply.
Also, since Niger’s military junta called for the removal of French troops helping with counterterrorism operations — and the United States suspended military cooperation with that African ally — militants linked to the Islamic State and al-Qaeda have escalated their violent attacks. Attacks targeting civilians have quadrupled in the month since the coup and dozens of Nigerian soldiers have been killed. The militants killed about 29 Nigerian soldiers in a single attack in early October.
It was encouraging to see the Biden administration brief Congress on Monday that cast off Niger, along with Gabon, Uganda and the Central African Republic from a preferential trade program called the African Growth and Opportunity Act. Niger and Gabon were kicked out because their entrenched military leaders made zero moves to restore pluralism and political rule. Uganda and the Central African Republic were expelled from the program due to “gross violations of internationally recognized human rights”. Uganda earlier this year passed one of the world’s harshest and most horrific anti-LGBTQ+ laws, which includes the death penalty for certain same-sex acts.
It is also heartening to see the United States and Saudi Arabia host a new round of long-term suspension peace talks to achieve a ceasefire in Sudan. Foreign Secretary Antony Blinken and his Saudi counterpart finalized the details of the ongoing talks on October 14 in Riyadh on a trip dominated by Hamas attacks on Israel and the war in Gaza. It is good to see Sudan not slipping off the diplomatic agenda.
The goal of peace talks in Sudan is, by necessity, modest: a temporary truce. Previous agreements to stop the slaughter did not last more than a few days. The two power-hungry warring generals behind the carnage — Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who commands the Sudanese armed forces, and Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as “Hemedti,” who heads the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces — they agreed to send representatives to Jeddah, which is a positive sign. But the challenges before us are as profound as the imperative to try.
Sudan’s civil war, which broke out in April, has now claimed the lives of more than 9,000 civilians. More than 5.6 million people have been displaced. The capital Khartoum is reduced to rubble by artillery bombardment and airstrikes. The 18-story Greater Nile Petroleum Oil Co. tower. and landmark high-rise buildings housing government ministries have been targeted and torched, with each side blaming the other.
Civilians leave the city. Hospitals have run out of supplies. Doctors Without Borders was forced to withdraw from a teaching hospital in the southern part of the city, halting vital surgeries, after the army blocked supplies.
The situation outside the capital can be even worse. The Rapid Support Forces reportedly have just took control of Nyala, the capital of South Darfur and a key transport link to the Central African Republic. Reports from Nyala indicate that the city’s hospitals have been destroyed in the fighting, corpses lay unaccounted for in the streets and the RSF winners were looting houses. At least 670,000 inhabitants fled the fighting in South Darfur.
RSF already has associated with atrocities including ethnic cleansing, which some have characterized as an unfolding genocide, in Darfur.
With so many other global crises demanding the attention of the Biden administration and the world, it can be tempting to write off Sudan and Niger as hopeless cases, defying easy resolution. That would be wrong. Even a small change, the product of consistent attention and diplomacy, could save lives.