Sudan impact: the war the world forgot

This episode delves into the overlooked and escalating conflict in Sudan, focusing on the humanitarian crisis and regional implications of the ongoing war.

1. The conflict in Sudan has led to massive civilian casualties and a humanitarian crisis.
2. International inaction and regional politics significantly complicate the conflict’s resolution.
3. The RSF's control over significant parts of Sudan threatens to destabilize the region further.
4. Despite the severity of the crisis, global attention to Sudan remains minimal.
5. Prospects for peace are bleak with failed ceasefires and limited international intervention.

1: Introduction to the Crisis

Rosie Blore introduces the severe conditions in Sudan, discussing the impact of the conflict on civilians and the historical context. Rosie Blore: "Petrified civilians, children starving, the death toll is mounting."

2: On the Ground in Darfur

Tom Gardner provides an on-the-ground perspective from El Fasha, describing the dire situation and the role of international actors. Tom Gardner: "Civilians are being killed every day...no functional hospitals left."

3: The Political Landscape

Discussion on the power struggle between the Sudanese army and the RSF, and its implications for Sudan’s future. Tom Gardner: "The RSF's aim is essentially to take control of the Sudanese state."

4: Regional and Global Implications

Exploration of how the conflict could affect neighboring countries and global stability. Tom Gardner: "The regional implications... are often underpriced."

• Educate yourself and others about the Sudan conflict to raise awareness.
• Support NGOs providing aid in conflict zones by donations or volunteering.
• Advocate for political action in your community or country to address global conflicts.
• Stay informed about international affairs to understand their interconnectedness.
• Participate in or organize awareness events to keep global attention on Sudan.

Much of Sudan has already collapsed into chaos. Now a crucial city may fall, the United Nations is belatedly scrambling to avert a bloodbath. Gary Lineker is a former footballer, broadcaster and podcast mogul. He also embodies Britain’s social aspirations (10:52). And the women in Japan who pay men to praise them (18:49).

People

Tom Gardner, Rosie Blore

Companies

None

Books

None

Guest Name(s):

None

Content Warnings:

Graphic discussions of war impact, including civilian casualties and starvation

Matt
Hi, this is Matt and Sean from two black guys with good credit. If you own or operate a business, whether it's a local operation or a global corporation, partnering with bank of America could be your smartest move. By teaming with bank of America, you'll enjoy exclusive digital tools, award winning insights, and business solutions so powerful you'll make every move matter. Position your business to capitalize on opportunity in a moment's notice. Visit bankofamerica.com bankingforbusiness to learn more.

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Jason Palmer
The Economist hello, and welcome to the intelligence from the Economist. I'm Jason Palmer. And I'm Rosie Blore. Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

In Britain last night, the chief commentator for Englands first match of the European Championship could only have been one man, Gary Lineker. Our correspondent meets the former footballer turned national sweetheart and now podcast mogul. And in Japan, paying for intimacy isnt new. But a boom in host clubs where male waiters pamper and flatter female customers reflects a worrying trend in society. Many adults there never go on a real date.

Rosie Blore
First up, though, a city under siege petrified civilians, children starving. The death toll is mounting. That scene today is not in Gaza or Ukraine, but in Sudan, where a bloody conflict is raging. Ignored by most of the world, the country has been plagued by coups and civil wars for decades. The latest bout erupted last April when fighting broke out between government troops and a paramilitary group, the rapid support forces, or RSF.

Clashes spread through the country, drawing in other militias and rebel groups. Tens of thousands of people are thought to have been killed in combat through hunger and even some suggest, ethnic cleansing. Sudanese resistance committees has called the attack on Tuesday a massacre. It says the RSF fighters looted the village and that many now. The attack has reportedly killed 150, including dozens of children and women.

El Fasha is the last city in the western Darfur region still controlled by the sudanese army, and last week the UN Security Council voted to demand an immediate ceasefire there. This council has sent a strong signal to the parties to this conflict today. This brutal and unjust conflict needs to end. But that strong signal is unlikely to restrain the rebels on the brink of taking the city or help the people now trapped inside. It's hard to overstate just how critical the situation currently is in Sudan.

Tom Gardner is Africa correspondent for the Economist. The rebel forces, the rapid support forces, the RSF are on the march and imposing a brutal siege on a city of nearly 3 million people. There had been some hope in the last few weeks that pressure from America and also from the United Arab Emirates, which is close to the RSF and has been supplying it, might force at least a temporary truce. I don't think that is likely to happen in the coming days. Tom, you've mentioned this siege on the city of El Fasha.

What's the situation like on the ground there? Well, the city is surrounded almost from all sides by the RSF, which is currently shelling camps for internally displaced people, civilian areas. Same time, you have a smorgasbord of local rebel movements in the city who are fighting back, defending the city. You also have the army, which is the RSF's principal antagonist, holed up in barracks in the city center. I've been in touch almost every day with people on the ground there and they hear bombs every day, every night.

Tom Gardner
Civilians are being killed every day. There were three functional hospitals. There are now no functional hospitals. The medicine sans frontieres MSF has in recent days to pull out. So there are no medical facilities, barely any food and water running out rapidly.

Rosie Blore
Sounds absolutely horrific. Can you just fill in some of the context for me how al fascia fits into the broader conflict in Sudan? Sure. So it's the last remaining stronghold of the army and in effect, the national government in Darfur. That's the vast western region, that's the size of France.

Tom Gardner
Effectively all other major cities in the region have fallen to the RSF since the war began. And if al fascia falls and it's where the army has its last significant contingent, that is a game changer for the RSF. The RSF's aim is essentially to take control of the sudanese state. It will, by that point, control about a third of the country and will be pushing eastwards. It already controls most of the capital, Khartoum.

The army and de facto government basically had to relocate to Port Sudan on the Red Sea. So their country is rapidly fragmenting ever since the fall of Omar al Bashir, Sudan's dictator for three decades. The army and the RSF, which was essentially part of the army, were running the country essentially together for about four years. And it was a power struggle between the head of the army, the de facto president, General Buran, and the RSF, led by Mohammed Hamdam Dagolo, universally known as Hamiti, who fancies himself as Sudan's president. The two came to blows a year ago, essentially, the RSF rebelled against the army, and ever since then, the two have been battling out for control of the country.

Rosie Blore
The last time you were on the show in April, you were saying that you thought that there might be a famine by June. We're now at Dune. Has that come to pass? Well, the UN has not declared famine, but that's basically because the army won't allow the collection of the data needed to officially declare a famine. But I think there is no question that large parts of the country are already facing famine, including Darfur, where al Fashar is now.

Tom Gardner
There will be soon two failed harvests, access for aid agencies as incredibly limited trade basically ceased, harvest has failed. So the latest projections are for potentially 2 million people to die from starvation or hunger related diseases. To hear you talk about the lack of aid, the lack of trade, the failed harvests, it's obviously a complete disaster for Sudan. Does that disaster end at Sudan's borders, or how does this fit into the region? Yeah, the regional implications, regional and beyond, are, I think, really significant and are often underpriced.

If the RSF takes all of Darfur, it essentially controls all of Sudan's western frontier, the border with Libya, Chad, the Central African Republic and South Sudan. That means it will be far easier for it to import fuel, arms and mercenaries. There's also potential for the war to spread over those borders and to Chad, for example. And then there are the economic implications. South Sudan currently is in the midst of an enormous economic crisis, triggered to a very large degree by the collapse in oil exports when the RSF took control of the pipeline that they need to export oil via port Sudan across the Red Sea.

And then, of course, there is the displacement crisis. 10 million people on the move, which, of course, means refugees not only in the region, but towards Europe and the Middle east as well. I feel like I recognize the phrase that you used, Darfur, a region the size of France, because it's a region that's seen such tragedy. We've been talking about it for decades. And obviously, with regard to genocide, back in the two thousands, has that been repeated?

Rosie Blore
Is there a prospect of that being repeated? Dolpho has been in the headlines for decades. I remember when I went to fashion myself in 2019, there was a little bit of hope then that a page might have been turned after the genocide of the two thousands, that there might be a possibility for lasting peace. Clearly, those hopes have been dashed. In fact, last year, the fighting in West Darfur involved ethnic cleansing by the RSF, which has been described as possible genocide.

Tom Gardner
And there are major fears that what will happen should the RSF seize control of al fascia would be a repeat of what we saw in West Darfur. Which is itself a repeat of what happened in the two thousands. And is there a possibility of stopping it? Well, the security council voted finally to call for a ceasefire and an end to the siege. That is a step forward.

There are also possibly going to be talks in Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia, organized by the Americans. Those are supposed to have taken place now for months, so I wouldn't hold my breath. Previous truces, ceasefires over the course of the last year have lasted for a week or so and been roundly violated across the board. So I wouldn't put too much hope in the prospect of a ceasefire. Ideally, what you would have is what you had in the two thousands, which was an international peacekeeping mission of some kind, or at least a monitoring mission.

Rosie Blore
But is that likely, given how little attention Sudan is getting internationally? It's often described as a forgotten conflict, and I think that doesn't quite do justice to it. It is a choice made by policymakers to deprioritize the conflict. Yes, there are conflicts around the world which are taking up bandwidth, but there has been this choice to treat Sudan as a regional or a localized conflict that can be safely ignored or downplayed. And I think that's what needs to change.

Tom Gardner
There needs to be a level of awareness among policymakers in Europe, in America and elsewhere that this is a conflict with regional implications, maybe even global implications. As the US special envoy for Sudan has recently said, the potential is for Sudan to be Somalia on steroids, and if anything, that might be underplaying it. Tom, thank you so much for coming in and for talking to us about something so important. Thank you, Rosie.

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Matt
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Andrew Miller
And Gary Lineker in the 1980s and early 1990s, Gary Lineker was the number one striker in the England football team.

He was the top scorer at the World cup of 1986, a feat that earned him a move from rainy english football to glitzy Barcelona.

Now most footballers, when they retire, go in for a bit of punditry or a spot of coaching. Not Gary Lineker. He's had not just one successful post football career as an A list tv presenter, but two. He's now a kind of podcast mogul with his own company. Andrew Miller is a special correspondent for the Economist.

And his career, which is a startling hat trick of successes punctuated by the odd controversy, encapsulates, I think, some deep trends and fault lines in England's personality.

Jason Palmer
And Andy, I know that you spoke with Mister Lineker recently. What do you reckon is the secret to his, his hat trick of successes then? Well, according to him, Jason, he owes it all to football. If I'd scored all those goals for England, I wouldn't have given the opportunity to work with the BBC, first as a pundit and secondly as a presenter. And then if I hadn't have had the career in presenting in the tv side of things, I wouldn't probably have gone into a production company.

Andrew Miller
But none of this would have happened without maybe being pretty good at football. But there's also quite a lot of foresight involved because he started plotting his career in broadcasting while he was still playing football. His England teammates called him Junior des because of his fascination with Des Lynam, who at the time was the BBC's football anchorman. I used to go and sit with the journalists. I used to go and sit with the guys that did the radio and I watched them how they did it and I watched how they wrote their intros.

I used to spend a lot of time with the people that were doing the television. Even at that stage in my career I knew where I wanted to go and I didn't just want to be a pundit, I wanted to be presenter because I thought having played at the level I played at the very top, I thought it would give me an edge over the others and perhaps give me some kind of longevity. And I think both sort of came true. Certainly the longevity side of things. And 25 years ago Lineker started presenting Match of the Day, which is the BBC's flagship football program.

And he fronts lots of other live sporting events for other broadcasters too. And at the BBC he's one of the highest paid presenters. Okay, that's the success side of the thing. But you said the odd controversy has spotted the record a bit. Yes.

Jason, there have been some unorthodox moments, some of them kind of humorous. He once promised that if Leicester City, his hometown club, won the Premier League, he'd present match lid in his underwear. Leicester did win the league and Lineker duly stripped in 2016. But hes been involved in other controversies too, some caused by the posts he writes on Twitter, now called X. And last summer he was taken off air by the BBC after being accused of violating the bbcs impartiality rules.

Since he never got a yellow card on the pitch whilst playing football, this technically counted as his first professional caution. Lineker had said that the language of government asylum policy was not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the thirties. Well, this was a good example of why it's a bad idea for politicians to take on celebrities, because his colleagues downed their microphones and he was quickly reinstated and he's carried on sharing his opinion since. I think sometimes when I talk about the BBC, I think sometimes we forget how wonderful the institution is and I think sometimes we should just not worry about the criticism side because they've got agendas and the BBC doesnt have agendas and we should just carry on and do our stuff. Well, carry on.

Lineker certainly has. Well, as you say, hes now a podcast star as well. Whats that about? Yeah. So, along with two former BBC producers, Lineker founded Goalhanger, which makes a series of extremely popular podcasts.

The basic schtick of this firm is that people want to listen to amicable dialogue in a shouty world and they seek presenters with good chemistry, just like you and I have Jason, for example, Lineker and two other former footballers, his fellow England striker Alan Shearer and Micah Richards, another former player present. The rest is football. Now, listeners to this podcast would be forgiven for thinking that Lineke was never much of a player, given his self deprecating tone, which is also, I think, part of his appeal. We're all goal scorers, but I think different ones. You loved scoring from inside ten yards.

And I couldn't kick it any further. Of goal hangers hits. The rest is politics is presented by Alastair Campbell, who's Tony Blair's former spin doctor, and Rory Stewart, formerly a conservative mp. And there's an american version of the rest is Politics, which features Anthony Scaramucci, aka the Mooch, who is briefly Donald Trump's communications director. Then there's the rest is history, which is already a smash hit in America, in Australia and elsewhere.

Jason Palmer
So clearly he's got the hang of the media game here. But you mentioned at the start that he is a reflection in a way of some deep things about the English. What did you mean by that? Well, first of all, there's football, and the national mood in England is often determined by the team's performance in major tournaments and Lineker starred in several of those. And you get the sense of the status that that gave him from a play called An Evening with Gary Lineker, which was later made into a film.

Andrew Miller
In it, an unhappy wife tells her husband that she's running off with someone else. Do you understand me? I said, I am going to live with Gary Lineker of Spurs and England. Yes. Well, aren't you going to say anything?

Tom Gardner
Gary Lineker, eh? Well done. He's also a fixture at the national broadcaster, the BBC, which is one of Britain's best loved brands and institutions. But there's something else, something even deeper than the BBC in football, I think, which is the subject of class. Now, Lineker had a working class upbringing.

Andrew Miller
His father ran a market stall on which he helped out. I'd work on his summer holidays, I would work on it at Christmas when it was his busiest period. I'd go into the wholesale market with him at four or five in the morning, but not often. But I think what it did, it gave. It made my ambitions to be a footballer greater because they were incredibly long days.

It's really hard work and as he tells it, he's experienced some snobbery. But now he's also cosmopolitan and suave and hard to place, class wise, I think, which is an asset in a country like England, which, as George Orwell said, is the most class ridden place under the sun. And he also, I think Jason has become a kind of mascot for englishness, which is an identity that's often thought to be kind of exclusive and lingoistic and maybe a bit ugly. And Lineker is an avowed english patriot who was captain of his national football team. But while he may be outspoken occasionally, he's not boastful or insular.

And I think he's a nice, benign mascot for this somewhat misunderstood identity. And this summer, of course, as the BBC's presenter at the european football championships, Gary Lineker will once again embody the hopes of a nation. Andy, thanks very much for your time. Thanks for having me, Jason.

Moriki Iida
Recently, I went to visit a host club in Kabukicho, a big red light district in Tokyo. When I walked in, I noticed it was very dark and a man in a suit came up to me and he escorted me to a table and then I was surrounded by four young men. Moriki Iida writes about Japan for the Economist. Three of them were sitting across the table, but right next to me on the couch, there was a young man called Hiragi sarin. He's 25 years old.

He has bleached hair. He's wearing a black tank top and a necklace. I also noticed he was wearing makeup.

Saren explained to me that the three guys are his assistants. They offered me xochu, and whenever I take a sip, they would wipe my glass with a cloth or offer to pour in some more. Basically, their job was to keep me company, and they're making small talks. They asked me things like what I like to drink, how often I come to kabukijo. And they also give me a lot of compliments.

They say things like, oh, you're so pretty, or, you remind me of this actress. And of course, I know they're not being honest. I know they're just trying to flatter me. But I have to admit, it was kind of nice to get that attention until I was handed the bill. Go on, then, Moeka, how much did they charge you?

Rosie Blore
What was the damage? Well, I sat there for just an hour, and I didn't even drink that much. But the bill was ¥30,000, which is around $200. So it felt expensive to me. In Japan, these host clubs are very popular.

Moriki Iida
It is said that there are around 900 host clubs across Japan and that there are 21,000 hosts working at these bars. Muka, I'm wondering where sex might come into all of this. The point is to offer psychological intimacy, so there's a lot of communication outside of the bars as well. Sex is not officially part of the deal, but depending on the relationship between the host and the client, it could happen somewhere else. So tell me, what is the appeal of these clubs for japanese women?

Rosie Blore
Why do you think they're so popular, particularly now? I think to understand the popularity of hosts, we need to understand that women in Japan are increasingly having a life outside of the home and the family. So today, more than 60% of japanese women in their late twenties are unmarried, and that's double the rate in the mid 1980s. And singlehood is also on the rise. A recent survey found that more than a third of unmarried adults aged 20 to 49 had never dated in their lives.

Moriki Iida
So a lot of people come to these clubs because they're lonely, obviously. Japan has a long history of geisha clubs. Are these host clubs for women a new thing? The history of host clubs is actually quite long. So the first host club opened in mid 1960s, and at the time it was mostly serving as a dance hall for rich married women and widows.

I went to speak to Hojo Yuichi, who runs the oldest active host club. It's called eye haunting.

It was interesting how he described how the early hosts called themselves male geishas. And when the business just started, it was seen as a very fringe, sleazy business. But over time, that stigma has faded. These days, a successful host is a celebrity. Sudan, for instance, is from a rural area in Japan, a small town called Aomori.

But he moved to Tokyo with the dream of becoming a famous host.

And he was saying he wanted to be a part of a glamorous world. It's a glamorous world, but it's also a very expensive one for these women relying on host clubs for their social life, isn't it? Yes. A lot of feminist groups and the media are accusing host clubs of exploitation, for instance, overcharging for drinks or manipulating women into racking up huge tabs. So I mentioned I paid around ¥30,000 or $200, but some clients actually pay way more than that.

Some women pay millions of yen in just one visit, and some of them end up in debt. Some women go to extraordinary lengths to feed their host habitually. A survey last year showed that among women who were arrested for selling sex around Okubo park, over 40% of them were doing so to earn enough money to go to host clubs. And now even politicians are discussing ways to regulate the industry, and host club owners are trying to preempt that by coming up with better self regulation. But actually, in Japan, it's not just women who spend money to access intimacy.

There are so many businesses that are similar to host clubs here, and that includes hostess bars. So female entertainers serving male clients. And there's also things like maid cafes or cuddle cafes. If more and more people are paying for intimacy, men and women, what does that do for the prospects for people finding real intimacy, getting real relationships? On one hand, we should respect these people's agency.

They have the right to spend their money however they want. But on the other hand, theres something worrying about how so many people in Japan have to spend money to access intimacy. One client I spoke to, Yamala Kurumi, is one of those women who is in sex work to earn enough money to visit the host clubs, and she goes once a week. Kurumi had boyfriends in the past, but she finds the hosts more exciting.

She also said some girls visit different host clubs to see different people, but she's very loyal to the same guy, and only sees him. It made me wonder, is that because she's in love with him? So I asked her and she said she didn't know. She can't call him a boyfriend because shes just a client. But what they have feels more than just a business relationship.

And Kurumi is about to graduate college, but now shes wondering whether to look for an office job and pursue the normal career track or continue with sex work, which pays better. Kurumi worries that if she gets a normal job, she wont be able to earn enough money and she wont be able to see her host anymore. And that scares her. Morica, it's really interesting to talk to you. Thank you so much.

Thank you so much, Rosie. And if you want to hear more from Moreca, tune in this Saturday to the weekend intelligence when she reports on the backlash against feminism in Korea.

Rosie Blore
That's all for this episode of the intelligence. Let us know what you think of the show. You can get in touch@podcasteconomist.com we'll see you back here tomorrow.

H
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