GIỚI THIỆU VỀ TẬP NÀY
In this episode, Professor Sahar Aziz is in conversation with award winning journalist Isma’il Kuskush about the complex origins, multiple domestic and foreign actors, and human rights crisis of Sudan’s war. The ongoing power struggle between rival military elites is rooted in decades of militarization, failed democratic transition, and unresolved ethnic conflict. Its humanitarian consequences—mass displacement, famine risk, and widespread atrocities—have elevated it into one of the most severe human rights crises globally.
The current war in Sudan began in April 2023, when fighting erupted between two factions of the country’s security forces: the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The immediate trigger was a dispute over integrating the RSF into the national army as part of a planned transition to civilian rule after years of military dominance. A critical turning point occurred in 2019, when longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir was overthrown. A fragile civilian–military transition followed, but in October 2021, the SAF and RSF jointly staged a coup that derailed democratic reforms. Tensions between the two leaders then escalated into open conflict as both sought control over the state, economic resources (especially gold), and the future political system.
The devastating war in Sudan has produced what many international organizations describe as the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. Millions of civilians have been displaced, and basic infrastructure—healthcare, food distribution, and education—has collapsed in many regions.
Biography
Isma’il Kushkush is a Sudanese-American journalist who was based in Khartoum, Sudan, for eight years, where he contributed to The New York Times, CNN, Voice of America and Al Jazeera English. For two three-month periods in 2014 and again in 2015, he was acting bureau chief for The New York Times in East Africa based in Nairobi. He has covered political, economic, social and cultural stories from Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Burundi, Sweden and the United States. He has also worked as a fixer, translator and interpreter. Kushkush grew up in the United States, Sudan, Syria and Kuwait. He received a master of arts degree in journalism from Columbia Journalism School in New York with a focus on politics and global affairs. He is a fluent Arabic-speaker.
Recommended Readings
Isma’il Kushkush,Leaving Khartoum(The New York Review 2025)
Isma’il Kuskkush,Sudan’s Journalists Risk Everything to Cover a War the World Ignores(Neiman Reports 2026)
Isma’il Kushkush,Sudan’s Uprising, Bashir’s Fall, and My Father’s Passing(The New Yorker 2019)
#Sudan #HumanRights #Khartoum #CivilWar #UAE #Egypt
Support the Center for Security, Race and Rights by following us and making a donation:
Donate: https://give.rutgersfoundation.org/csrr-support/20046.html
Subscribe to our Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEbUfYcWGZapBNYvCObiCpp3qtxgH_jFy
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rucsrr
Follow us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/rutgerscsrr
Follow us on Threads: https://threads.com/rutgerscsrr
Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/rucsrr
Follow us on TikTok: https://tiktok.com/rucsrr
