On the International Day of Peace: Why Dont We Say: Stop the War, Today, Before Tomorrow, You People?
First Orbit:
(Peace to a land created for peace... that has never seen peace...) - Mahmoud Darwish
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Yesterday, the world celebrated the International Day of Peace - September 21st. This day, established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1981, is observed annually on the 21st of September. It is a day dedicated to global ceasefire, non-violence, and the promotion of a culture of peace through education, awareness, and public engagement. It serves as a day for global cooperation to achieve a worldwide cessation of hostilities in all corners of the world. This historic day aims to safeguard international peace and security, raise awareness of peace-related issues, and globally commemorate the UNs role and the role of various agencies, as well as our role in the human rights and journalistic community, in preserving global peace and security for the benefit of all of humanity.
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Let us imagine a world without peace, a world submerged in the blood and debris of gruesome wars and conflicts between nations, peoples, and various groups. A world plagued by armed and even non-armed conflicts, where everyone lives in fear, terror, and the constant threat of violence, destruction, material and moral harm that haunts the victims of wars and armed conflicts, wherever they occur and wherever they are imposed on people!
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Yes, we must and ought to imagine a world where people face the danger of wars and their cursed calamities, a world where everyone lives without security and peace of mind regarding the most valuable possession a human can have: their right to life. It is a world where individuals are at risk of severe injuries, physical and psychological disabilities resulting from combat, warfare, violence, counter-violence, and exposure to airstrikes from planes, cannons, and drones. Its a world where individuals face the risk of assassination, forced displacement, enforced disappearance, or where people are exposed to the dangers of forced displacement from their homelands, uprooted from their roots, and expelled from the cradle of childhood, youth, family, and loved ones.
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Unfortunately, the International Day of Peace has come and gone this year on September 21, 2023, while our country, Sudan, is still suffering under the devastating and endless flames of war between the Rapid Support Forces and the army. This war, which has been destroying our nation since it erupted between the Rapid Support Forces and the army on the morning of Saturday, April 15, 2023, continues without mercy or compassion for the lives of innocent people. It is a war that destroys all the wealth of the nation, including its material, moral, economic, social, and cultural assets, and with it, all its people!
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Some might wonder what the reason is for the recent escalation in battles between the Rapid Support Forces and the army in Greater Khartoum (Khartoum, Omdurman, Khartoum North), both in the center and the outskirts. All neighborhoods of the capital have become battlefronts between the two sides. This includes Khartoum, Omdurman, Khartoum North, turning all districts of the countrys capital into active combat zones, in addition to Darfur and Kordofan. These conflicts have erupted, leading to continuous confrontations between the two factions.
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The objective and fair answer to this question unequivocally confirms that the leaders of the army and the Rapid Support Forces have no regard whatsoever for the fate of civilian populations or their lives. We have witnessed, along with the entire world, the most horrifying scenes of the complete destruction of buildings and civilian infrastructure. Innocent people have not been spared. Many civilian buildings and assets have been set ablaze due to artillery shelling or aerial bombardments, including the recent deployment of drones in all the absurd battlefields between the warring factions. There is no consideration for the most basic principles of international humanitarian law, which emphasize the prohibition of military targeting of civilians and civilian objects. This necessarily means that they disregard international humanitarian law, which prohibits and criminalizes the targeting of civilian objects. They dont care about the present, let alone the future of the nation, which will turn into rubble and ruins due to their catastrophic war and their strange obstinacy to continue fighting, assuming they can achieve a fleeting victory. In reality, they are both big losers, among the leaders and soldiers of both sides!
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I write this on September 22, 2023, just one day after the International Day of Peace, with a heavy heart for the fate of the homeland. My concern and fear for the fates of all people, those whose lives have been destroyed by this cursed war, both materially and spiritually, persist. Unfortunately, the fate of the entire nation is still in the hands of the war genie of the militia war, and the challenges of maintaining a unified, safe, and secure Sudan, where all its people live in true peaceful coexistence, enjoying its abundant resources, remain significant. The risks of keeping a country where its people live in genuine peaceful coexistence, enjoying its abundant resources, are indeed one of the biggest challenges. The Sudan must either remain united and secure, or it wont.
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All of this necessitates raising our voices loudly against the war and making an immediate call for its cessation. Let us continue our efforts to form the largest front against the war and protect human rights. Let us continue our collective efforts to achieve peace while upholding the principles of justice, accountability, and reparations for the victims of war, wherever they are. This necessarily means ensuring that those who have committed war crimes, crimes against humanity, and acts of ethnic cleansing and genocide in all regions affected by the militia war in Sudan do not escape punishment.
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The duty placed upon all peace advocates is to mobilize all our capabilities, energies, knowledge, and talents to stop the war. We must continue to work tirelessly to achieve peace, all while adhering to the principles of justice, accountability, and reparations for the victims of war, wherever they are. This necessarily means confirming and ensuring that those who have committed war crimes, crimes against humanity, acts of ethnic cleansing, and genocide on the stages of the militia war in Sudan face justice.
Final Note:
(I am the wind... directions take me elsewhere... so I can bear the possibility of exiles... to places... I am the wind... I do not know where to seek refuge... in the corner of a house... you may see me there... just as you see me here.) - Mohamed M. Medani.
Pic:
The Peace Bell was donated by the United Nations Association of Japan in 1954. It has become tradition to ring the bell twice a year: on the first day of spring, at the Vernal Equinox, and on 21 September to celebrate the International Day for Peace.
PHOTO:UN Photo/Manuel Elías
