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This is not my text but I got the approval to share it. The situation in Sudan from the perspective of a union organizer:

To all those concerned about the situation in Sudan—especially the conditions of workers—this is a brief overview of what is happening in my country

The current war in Sudan erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), following many years of power struggles within the state and its security and economic structures. It is important to note that the RSF is not a regular force that originated within the army. Rather, it is a militia created by the ousted President Omar al-Bashir and his ruling party, the National Congress Party, affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, in 2003, with the aim of protecting his regime from any attempted overthrow and carrying out security and military operations outside the army’s chain of command.

In 2017, after widespread criticism and the horrific atrocities committed by the RSF in Darfur under the Islamist regime, al-Bashir passed a special law for the force through his parliament, making it nominally part of the Sudanese Armed Forces. However, RSF leadership continued to report directly to the President, maintaining its independent structure and extensive authorities.

After the glorious December Revolution of 2019, democratic civilian forces—including independent trade unions—demanded that the RSF and all other armed movements be dissolved and their members integrated institutionally into the army to form a single professional national military, ensuring that weapons remained solely under the authority of the state. But the military establishment, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, rejected this demand, repeatedly insisting that the RSF was “from the womb of the army.” In October 2021, the army and the RSF jointly carried out a coup against the transitional government, paving the way for the outbreak of war between them after the collapse of the political process and each side’s attempt to consolidate power.

As the conflict expanded, destruction spread far beyond political and military institutions, hitting the heart of the Sudanese economy and leaving the working class among the hardest-hit, most vulnerable, and most economically devastated segments of society.

Throughout the war, Sudanese workers have paid the heaviest price. Thousands of families have been torn apart by killing, displacement, and injury, and thousands of workers have been dismissed arbitrarily under political pretexts and accusations of collaborating with the RSF. In states under SAF control, salaries for workers in state-level ministries have been suspended for more than eighteen months since the war began. In RSF-controlled areas, salaries were halted completely under racist narratives labeling these regions as “RSF strongholds.” The crisis extended far beyond unpaid wages: residents of these areas were denied access to identity documents and passports, students were prevented from sitting for examinations, and the government issued decisions replacing the national currency and restricting its circulation only to SAF-controlled areas—deepening the isolation of RSF-held regions and subjecting their populations to unprecedented economic and social suffocation.

With the total economic collapse and the absence of social protection mechanisms, Sudanese workers found themselves facing a “triangle of death”: hunger, disease, and loss of income. Instead of receiving the protection they desperately needed, state institutions themselves became instruments of further pressure and exploitation.

The ruling authorities dismantled what remained of trade union independence by using the Registrar of Trade Unions to resurrect the historically government-aligned Sudan Workers’ Trade Union Federation (SWTUF), appointing unelected “preparatory committees” to run public-sector unions and professional associations. This campaign was accompanied by attacks on independent unions, which the Registrar labeled as “illegal factional bodies,” misusing Sudan’s ratification of ILO Convention 87 as justification. The objective was not to regulate trade union activity, but to seize workers’ funds and redirect them toward war financing—or embezzle them outright.

These appointed committees were granted sweeping powers to withdraw union funds from banks without authorization from union members or even consultation with the Registrar, in blatant violation of national law and international labor standards. At the same time, coercive salary deductions of up to 30% were imposed on workers under the banner of “supporting the war effort,” while workers themselves received no salaries, no services, and no protection. The Federal Ministry of Finance reinforced this approach by allocating the national budget to the war, a policy followed by states under military control. Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Sudan permitted these unelected committees to manage and spend union funds without regulations or oversight, creating a system that devours workers’ rights and resources with complete impunity.

Amid this bleak reality, the Sudanese Professionals and Syndicates Coordination has emerged as the only independent labor coalition still resisting this destruction. The Coordination brings together more than eighteen independent unions. It monitors and documents violations against workers and submits regular reports to the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission, the UN Human Rights Council, and the International Labour Organization (ILO), demanding an end to the assault on workers’ rights to free and independent association. Despite extremely limited resources and severe security risks, the Coordination continues to defend the Sudanese trade union movement and resist attempts to erase it entirely.

Today—more than ever—Sudanese workers, among the most marginalized and suffering populations in the war, urgently need genuine global solidarity from labor unions and federations everywhere. Amid the noise of artillery and aircraft, the voice of the Sudanese worker has fallen silent—or has been silenced deliberately. With your support, that voice can return.

We appeal to you to be the voice of those who have lost theirs amid the flames, to stand with us in defending freedom of association, protecting workers’ funds, stopping coercive salary deductions, and confronting the violations that threaten the very existence of the Sudanese trade union movement.