This blog is based on analysis published by the author for the Refugee-Led Research Hub Working Papers series, as part of the Kenya Evidence Platform.
A critical dynamic of the ongoing war in Sudan is the use of digital platforms by warring parties to manipulate narratives through hate speech, disinformation, and fake news. This blog will discuss the role of hate speech in escalating the conflict in Sudan. For the purposes of this discussion, hate speech is defined as “incitement to violence” according to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. This definition expands beyond the traditional notions of understanding that hate speech targets individuals solely based on their protected characteristics, as it also considers the broader context in which hate speech emerges, including socio-political factors such as resource competition, power dynamics, and historical grievances. Furthermore, fake news and disinformation are closely linked, with hate speech playing a key role in polarising communities.
Nature of Hate Speech in Sudan:
The nature of hate speech in Sudan has evolved over the decades from primarily targeting ethnic groups, to recently also including target political, and gender groups. State actors have historically exploited ethnic stereotypes, deepening divisions and obstructing peacebuilding efforts. For instance, during the civil war from 1983 to 2005, state media employed a daily 30-minute broadcast to promote the war against the “Southerners”. Despite the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005, divisive discourse was promoted to target the CPA signatories.
More recently, hate speech has become more political; various actors started to target pro-democracy groups that overthrew Sudan’s longest authoritarian regime with disinformation campaigns, coupled with tactics of shadow banning their online pages, which has significantly reduced their online visibility, weakening their ability to organise effectively. The Global Voices analysis indicated that these groups were likely targeted by Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior (CIB) attacks aimed at manipulating Facebook’s algorithms to hide their content from the timeline. Meta defines CIB as using a connected network of inauthentic Meta assets to increase the distribution of content, to mislead Meta or its users about the popularity of the content in question.
While the State enacted a Cybercrime law in 2018 to combat hate speech and fake news, it was only used as a weapon to suppress dissent, particularly targeting activists and journalists who challenge the state’s narratives. Digital platforms played a role in disseminating political disinformation to shape public opinion during the transitional government, ultimately contributing to the military coup that ended it.
Amid this ongoing war, both warring parties are employing digital platforms to manipulate the war narratives, as well as to incite violence and discredit peace advocates, including women-led groups. Among their efforts to manipulate public information, they both attacked journalists and the crippled telecommunication infrastructure, which resulted in a severe information vacuum and widespread communication blackouts, hindering news verification and documentation of human rights violations, leaving some areas completely isolated. Internet shutdowns during armed conflict severely jeopardise civilian safety, access to emergency services, while simultaneously suppressing freedom of expression and enabling the concealment of human rights abuses.
Due to accusations of being traitors or spies, women working in the informal sector, often from western region ethnic groups, are left highly vulnerable to Gender-Based Violence (GBV) crimes by warring parties. Online GBV, particularly of a sexualised nature, has also increasingly been weaponised in the context of war, exploiting existing social inequalities to target women. This violence, deeply rooted in cultural norms that marginalise women, extends to online spaces, where it is used to discredit and isolate women involved in peace efforts.
Humanitarian organisations and aid workers have also been the target of Misinformation, Disinformation, and Hate-speech (MDH) both online and on the ground with deliberate attacks against health workers. According to the Insecurity Insight report, hostile accusations of collusion and fueling the conflict with one warring party are directed at international aid organisations on both Facebook and X platforms, with calls of expulsion undermining their neutrality and safety, as well as endangering both aid workers and the delivery of critical assistance.
Hate Speech as a Driver of Conflict and Displacement:
In the Eastern region, hate speech with dehumanising and divisive language has previously exacerbated ethnic tensions between two ethnic groups who have a longstanding fight over land, power, and access to basic services. Ethnic tensions were evident during the transitional government in clashes between local communities, as well as in one ethnic group’s rejection of the Jube Peace Agreement (JPA) delegation and denial of their Sudanese identity. Influential leaders from these ethnic groups employed hate speech to mobilise communities, resulting in violent clashes in the region. Amid this war, sources from this region confirmed that these same actors utilise the state media to mobilise fighters, using the same divisive discourse in the region. The escalation of military recruitment within these communities threatens to bring significant devastation to the region.
Similarly, in the Western regions, previous civil wars, such as the war in Darfur between 2003-2020, have weakened social cohesion, allowing current warring parties to exploit ethnic polarisation for recruitment. The recent animosity between some ethnic groups in Darfur and Kordofan showcases how historical grievances shape contemporary conflict dynamics, contributing to grave violations against non-Arab tribes in West Darfur amid the current war.
Sudan currently represents a major global displacement crisis, with over 10 million internally displaced. The breakdown of social cohesion has forced Sudanese civilians to make migration decisions based on ethnic identity. Their routes and destinations are determined by how their group is perceived in warring parties’ territories, and the ethnic hatred that fuels violence dictates the dangers they face at checkpoints of warring parties. The fragmentation of social cohesion has also denied communties’ access to services from the Darfurian, South Sudanese, Nuba, and Fur ethnic groups by hosting communities in Algazira State.
Recommendations:
Sudan’s civil wars persist largely due to the lack of accountability for those involved in fuelling the conflict. The evasion of justice has played a significant role in continuous fighting among armed groups. Therefore, it is crucial that any future peace process includes mechanisms to hold warring parties accountable for the many documented human rights violations. Only then can we hope to pave the way for lasting peace and reconciliation in the country.
Peace actors should prioritise a broad consultative approach that incorporates civilian input in peace-making processes. Amid the ongoing war, hate speech and grave violations have affected women in distinct ways, making their participation in peace talks critical to designing and implementing effective peacebuilding efforts. Peace actors must also closely monitor online and offline hate speech campaigns throughout this process, along with civil society groups.
To mitigate the dangers posed by MDH, humanitarian actors in Sudan in collaboration with civil society, should implement continuous online and offline monitoring, aligning with the UN’s hate speech strategy to analyse trends, identify perpetrators, and integrate this analysis into reporting, thereby informing context-aware interventions.
Various donors should also support the work of Sudanese fact-checking organisations, while supporting programmes that are necessary for empowering online users through media and digital literacy training to enhance their information verification skills.