MSA executive member Fadila Latif speaks at the Sudan roundtable event. (Hannah Dorval | Contributing Photographer) 

November 13, members of the WashU Muslim Students Association (MSA) met in Lopata House for a roundtable discussion on media representation of the crisis in Sudan as well as the recent escalation of violence. 

The event was hosted by the MSA to discuss the Rapid Support Forces’ (RSF) violent siege of el-Fasher, the last major city in Darfur not under RSF control. The RSF is a paramilitary group that formed as a result of ethnic tensions with governmental support during the 2003 Sudanese Genocide in the Darfur. The group has been in civil war with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), the official Sudanese army, since April of 2023. 

“WashU says ‘by name and story,’[but] I want people to spread that in the sense of being intellectually curious and having conversations and dialogues with people. Ask more questions,” said Mahid Abdulkarim, junior and president of the MSA.  

First-year Muhaned Munsor echoed this call for greater awareness. As a resident in Sudan during the 2019 civilian-led revolution against leader Omar al-Bashir, Munsor lamented the resurgence of violence in the past months and years. 

“It’s really heartbreaking to see how a moment of victory in 2019 transformed into this tragic war,” Munsor said. “I feel like there’s not enough awareness about it.”

These remarks come as there has been an uptick in mainstream news coverage of the Sudanese conflict; however, a large portion of the night was spent on dissecting why the conflict does not get greater attention. 

David Warren, lecturer of Middle East Studies and Arabic, spoke about the connection between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the conflict as well as the cultural tensions behind the civil war. 

“In the early 2000s, [there were] uprisings against the central government by marginalized western communities that got suppressed by militias created by the central government,” Warren said.

One of these militia groups, the Janjaweed, who primarily claimed Arab heritage, took advantage of this governmental support to inflict enormous violence onto non-Arab communities in the region.

Warren then noted the complex historical drivers of these ethnic tensions. 

“The conflicts take on a racial tone in terms of construction which [combines with unequal access to] resources as well. It also has older conflicts in terms of identity, postcolonialism, and conflicts around domestic Sudanese politics.”

Students also noted how recent focus on the violence in Gaza as well as Western societies’ ignorance of African issues may have contributed to reduced coverage of Sudan.

Abdulkarim said the event aligned with the mission statement of MSA which is to strengthen the Muslim community through education, service, and activism. 

“One of the most important things [about MSA] is that we dedicate everything toward education,” Abdulkarim said. “We do have people sitting together having fun, but the main focus of it is that people walk out of it knowing a lot more about something that they didn’t know about before.”