Sudanese government orders Khartoum universities to reopen

The Sudanese government has ordered the reopening of universities in the capital city of Khartoum, according to Africanews on June 17^th.

Sudan’s Prime Minister, Dr. Kamil El-Tayib Idris, mandated the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research to perform a proper assessment and repair of all damages following the attacks on university buildings and research centres.

The civil war that has afflicted Sudan since April 2023 has severely inhibited the nation’s education sector as a plethora of institutions in Khartoum state have been rendered unusable due to destruction or violence.

In a memo sent out by Dr. Idris, the National Centre for Curricula and Educational Research was directed to integrate lessons fostering peace, national unity, and the rejection of hate speech as the first steps to national recovery and reconciliation.

The Sudanese authorities have not yet specified when these measures will be implemented.

Sudan’s civil war has killed at least 24,000 people, although it is estimated that the number is likely much higher. Roughly 13 million people have been displaced by the war, including 4 million who have crossed national boundaries into neighbouring countries. The conflict has caused the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, and many parts of the country are on the brink of starvation. The United Nations’ decision to scale back its global humanitarian aid plans following vast funding cuts risks exacerbating the crisis as the life-saving resources distributed by the organisation may be of an inadequate quantity to alleviate the situation’s severity.

The commission of atrocities has been a common feature of the fighting, including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, according to the United nations and numerous international human rights groups. The majority of these atrocities have been committed in Sudan’s western region of Darfur.

Africanews, Maghrebi.org