Sudan's Local Peace Initiatives Reduce Violence Amid Ongoing War

Community-led peace groups in Sudan’s Darfur and Kordofan regions have helped lower armed clashes despite the national civil war that began in April 2023. Trained elders, religious leaders and youth ambassadors have protected markets and hospitals, brokered temporary cease‑fires and facilitated civilian travel. In Ad‑duain a seven‑month truce was achieved and in El Fasher large‑scale fighting was prevented for about a year. The UNDP‑funded “Bridging Divides” report notes that these efforts also promoted dialogue and gender‑inclusive projects, such as a women‑run petty‑trade cooperative in Kassala, where participant Gisma said, “I used to worry about the future, about division. But this project gave me hope.”

At the same time, the war has fueled cultural heritage theft. After the Rapid Support Forces seized Khartoum’s National Museum in 2023, they looted jewelry, gold and artifacts, destroying cases and mummies’ coffins. When the forces withdrew in 2025, curators found roughly 60 % of the collection missing, including a fifth‑century BCE gold collar from a Nubian king. Similar plunder has occurred in provincial museums and parallels looting in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Ukraine and Ethiopia, raising concerns about a black market that launders stolen art.