The UCLA Center for Middle East Development hosted the event, "Sudan: The Lesser Known War," on May 16, 2024.

On April 15, 2023, the war broke out in Sudan between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Response Forces (RSF) — led by the generals who, together, staged a coup against the civilian-led transitional government and effectively cut Sudan's journey towards democracy. Join us to learn the latest on the state of the war in Sudan, the country's humanitarian situation, and the international community's efforts to stop the war.

MEET THE PANELISTS

Ms. Reem Abbas is a non-resident fellow at TIMEP focusing on land, conflict, and resources in Sudan. She is also the Institute’s first Mohamed Aboelgheit Fellow. She has contributed to dozens of outlets including the Washington Post, the Nation, Al-Monitor, the Guardian, Open Democracy, and African Arguments. She has been working in the field of communications and advocacy for Sudanese civil society groups and international organizations for more than 10 years. She is active in the women’s movement in Sudan and was a former member in the coordination committee in Sudanese Women in Civic and Political Groups (MANSAM). She also spent years working with Sudanese refugees in Egypt and published a profile on a young refugee musician in the book “Voices in Refuge” published by the American University in Cairo Press. Her latest essay titled, “Smuggling Books into Sudan: a Brief History from 2012 to 2016” was published in Art and Solidarity Reader: Radical Actions, Politics and Friendships (2022). In 2022, she published, “(Un)Doing Resistance: Authoritarianism and Attacks on the Arts in Sudan’s 30 Years of Islamist Rule” with her co-author Ruba El-Melik.

Mr. Hamid Khalafallah is a development practitioner, researcher and policy analyst. He is currently a PhD student researching political transitions and grassroots movements in Africa, at the Global Development Institute of the University of Manchester, UK. Before that, Mr. Khalafallah worked for various international organisations, working on governance and development issues in Sudan. He holds a Master's in international development from the University of Bradford, where he studies as a Chevening Scholar and was awarded the 2019 UK Development Studies Association dissertation prize. Moreover, Mr. Khalafallah was a 2022-2023 non-resident fellow with the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP) in the US, where he worked on inclusive governance and mobilization in Sudan. He, also, attended the School of Transnational Governance’s residential fellowship for young African leaders at the European University Institute (EUI) in Italy, in 2021. Mr. Khalafallah's research interests include participatory governance, democracy and democratization processes, citizen-state engagement and inclusive development.

Ms. Weam Shawgi Hassan is originally from Khartoum, Sudan. After the war, she moved south to the city of Wad Medani, and I am currently residing in East Africa. Ms. Shawgi Hassan identifies herself as a feminist and a defender of gender rights. Her work primarily involves research and data collection, focusing on documenting oral stories, struggles, and violations experienced by women in Sudan during the ongoing war, especially during key political events from 2019 to 2023. Through her research, she aims to shed light on the untold stories of resilience and resistance among women, offering a deeper understanding of the gender dynamics in Sudan's recent history of conflict.

MEET THE MODERATOR

Mr. Mohamed Abubakr is a Sudanese human rights activist and peacemaker with a decade and a half of civil society experience. Since high school, he has founded and led organizations and initiatives focused on humanitarian, human rights, youth empowerment, and peace programs across the Middle East and Africa including in South Sudan, Sudan, Egypt, Israel, the Palestinian Territories, and beyond. Dr. Abubakr has also documented, reported, and mobilized against human rights abuses across MEA, and since arriving in the United States has become a sought-after voice at the State Department and in Congress concerning policy and human rights issues in the region.