As the fighting in Khartoum and across Sudan stretches into its third week, aid groups have described a catastrophic humanitarian situation developing in Sudan’s Darfur, a region already battered by years of violence. Despite a number of proposed cease-fires, the ongoing fighting in several cities has caused widespread devastation and revived fears of a new civil war.
Witnesses and civil rights groups have reported mass looting, arson and pillaging since April 24 in major cities across the western Sudanese region, areas where critical healthcare infrastructures have been targeted and shut down. The Committee of the Sudanese Doctors Syndicate warned earlier this week of an “imminent catastrophe” due to lack of access to clean drinking water and food.
Several attacks have also taken place against camps for displaced people, which are simple and informal shelters where people forced to escape from previous deadly attacks in 2019 and 2021 had found refuge. Adam Rojal, spokesperson of the General Coordination of Darfur Displaced People and Refugees, said conditions in camps across Darfur were “disturbing”.
“The suffering of the displaced people is increasing from bad to worse due to the lack of drinking water, food and medicine. The areas most affected by looting and destruction remain inaccessible to humanitarian actors.”
Side Items
Sweet Sweet Union Victory: Yesterday’s vote passed with almost 86% of employees at the Lincoln Park store voting in favor of unionizing their store. This makes Lincoln Park just the fourth location to do so. The employees will be represented by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), after initially filing for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) at the end of March. With this vote, the Chicago store joins three other REI stores, one in Berkeley, Calif., one in New York City’s Soho neighborhood and one in Cleveland, Ohio who have unionized their stores since 2022. The movement is spreading
The Future of Policing is Steaming Garbage: I try not to make a habit of sharing articles written by The Atlantic, mostly because I have some sense to spare, but this particular piece stooped lower than I thought, even for that rag of a publication. The author discusses the future of policing, using a woman named Terry Cherry as his guiding point. Cherry is a lady cop in Charleston, SC “where police are still respected”, and presumably where “boys will be boys” still exists as the rule of law. The article goes into painstaking detail on why officers like Cherry provide a blueprint for success in an industry that prioritizes pain and punishment over reform and assistance. Personally, I’m skeptical
Neopolitan Victory: Napoli, the Italian professional football team representing the coastal city, celebrated their first league title in over 30 years yesterday, with a draw away at Udinese. The team has had a joyous season to remember with stars like striker Victor Osimhen and Georgian (the country, not the state) sensation Khvicha Kvaratskhelia truly dazzling at every opportunity. The celebrations in Naples were the clearest indication of the impact that the long-awaited victory has on the oft-overlooked community
Another One: At least eight people were killed and 14 more wounded after a 21-year-old suspect in a moving car opened fire on passers-by in a town south of Belgrade yesterday. It’s the second mass shooting this week in Serbia, a country known for high gun ownership, but not known for frequent mass shootings. Waking up to the news of the drive-by attack, Serbia entered an official nationwide three-day mourning period to pay tribute to the child victims from earlier this week. Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic said, “There will be justice. These monsters will never see the light of the day, neither the little monster nor the little older monster,”, as he called yesterday’s shooting a “terrorist attack” and proposed tough new gun controls. Vucic also said the gunman had been wearing a T-shirt with neo-Nazi symbols
New Jersey Pasta Debacle: It all started when hundreds of pounds of pasta were found by a local city council candidate along the banks of the Iresick Brook in a wooded part of Old Bridge, NJ. Observers said there was likely at least 200 pounds of alphabet noodles and spaghetti just sitting out in the open, with no explanation given. Some sleuthing later determined that it was an area man moving his mother out of her home and dumping her apocalypse rations in the woods, where the rain then moistened the pasta and woodland creatures began making a delicious cacio e pepe