The Guardian view on Sudan’s third year of conflict: a war against civilians | Editorial

The ambitions of two generals and the interests of other states have led to the massacre of adults and children already forced to flee their homes

Sudan has begun its third year of civil war in the bleakest manner imaginable: mourning the massacre of hundreds of civilians and relief workers in displacement camps in Darfur. What began as a power struggle between generals has led to the killing of tens of thousands of people and widespread sexual and ethnic violence. The International Rescue Committee says the result is the biggest humanitarian crisis ever recorded: 640,000 people face catastrophic hunger. Basic services and infrastructure, already woefully inadequate, have been destroyed.

One thing that has been consistent since day one," the Sudanese activist and commentator Dallia Mohamed Abdelmoniem observed this week, [is that] it's a war on civilians. Now, I think we've become so desensitised to it, that doesn't make much of a difference any more. There's no impact."