MEMBERS of the Derry public stood in solidarity with the city’s Sudanese community on Monday evening (November 10) to highlight the atrocities taking place in the east African country.
The gathering, co-ordinated by the North West Migrants Forum and supported by the local branch of United Against Racism, was called as Sudan’s civilian population continues to face murder, rape, kidnap and starvation on a daily basis.
It is over two years since Sudan was plunged into war after a vicious struggle for power broke out between its army and the paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
But the horrors being visited upon the country’s civilian population reached a new level of brutality last month when the RSF seized a key military base in El Fasher, a city in Sudan’s Darfur region.
After the capture, the RSF was accused of killing more than 2,000 unarmed civilians, with Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab calling the level of violence comparable to the first 24 hours of the Rwandan genocide.
Reports suggest that up to 150,000 people have lost their lives in Sudan in the past two years, with the Sudanese Government describing what is happening as a genocide.
According to the UN Security Council, the country is in the grip of “the world’s worst hunger and displacement crisis” with hundreds of thousands of inhabitants facing starvation. Famine conditions have already been confirmed in El Fasher and Kadugli.
On Monday evening, Farida Hassan, who fled her native Sudan in March, stressed that the war is not a civilian war but a military conflict.
She told Guildhall Square, “We stand here today for our wounded Sudan — a nation torn apart by war since April 2023, a war that has shattered countless homes and hearts.
“In just two years, thousands of civilians have been killed. According to the United Nations, more than 10 million people have been displaced – the largest displacement crisis in the world today. UNICEF reports that thousands of children have been killed or injured.
“Save the Children documented at least 480 children killed in 2023. The UN verified 752 cases of children killed or severely injured in 2024 and in February 2025, UNICEF confirmed 40 children killed within only three days.
“The suffering of women is no less horrific. A European data report recorded over 18,700 cases of rape and sexual violence as of September 2024. Human Rights Watch and the United Nations have confirmed that sexual violence is being used as a weapon of war, to terrorize women and destroy communities.
“Today, we raise our voices to say – Enough war. Enough blood. Enough rape. Enough killing of our children.
“We call on all warring parties to immediately stop the fighting. We demand protection for civilians and accountability for all perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“And we urge the international community – the United Nations, the African Union, and the Arab League – to wake up from their silence, to see Sudan not as a headline, but as millions of human lives in agony.
Peace is not a privilege – it is a human right. And we will not stop calling for it until Sudan is free, safe and whole again,” Ms Hassan added.
Further contributions were made by Davy McAuley of United Against Racism and People Before Profit Councillor Shaun Harkin.
The North West Migrants Forum would like to thank them for their support and express its gratitude to everyone who attended the vigil.
