By Ike Willie-Nwobu
SIR: As with war everywhere and every time, the conflict in Sudan has yielded multiple victims, many of them cross-border victims.
It was in February 2022 that the world was shaken by a new conflict coming from the heart of Europe. Russia’s decision to invade Ukraine immediately sent shockwaves across the world, sending refugees pouring over the border into neighbouring countries.
The world’s response to what was essentially an act of defiance from Russian President Vladimir Putin was characteristically harsh, with sanctions springing up from every corner of the world, targeting Russia’s most powerful men and threatening to suffocate Russia’s interest.
The war continues even today as the world continues to hold its breath over the bread basket of Europe.
The war in Ukraine immediately sent food prices soaring across the world and plunging millions far removed from the epicentre of the world into hunger.
The conflict in Sudan is having a similar, even if not dramatically identical, impact in Africa. As two military men have metamorphosed into monsters, the peril pelting innocent civilians in Sudan has not just been reserved for the Sudanese. Nationals of other countries who until the conflicts had lived in panic in a troubled country have also been roundly affected.
Many countries have had to evacuate their citizens from Sudan. Nigeria has not been left out. Nigerian students, businessmen have had to be evacuated amidst much tension.
It appears that every Nigerian who wanted to return from Sudan has since returned. But what exactly have they returned to? What manner of life have they returned to?
One of the evacuees stated that in Sudan they were always assured of eighteen hours of power supply. Can the same be said of Nigeria?
What is it that works in Nigeria apart from chaos and corruption? It was striking that as some Nigerians were forced to evacuate from Ukraine in the thick of the war, some preferred to remain in detention centres in Poland than return to the country.
Others who returned only grudgingly have since predictably struggled to put their lives back together in a bid to go again. It is as if they had an inkling of what awaited them here.
There are not a few Nigerians who believe that one of the main reasons Nigerians are found all over the world, including in some of the most remote countries imaginable, is that things are not working as they should in their country.
For those who have been forced to flee their relatively stable lives in Sudan, it is no doubt back to basics.
The conflict In Sudan in another searing lesson for Nigeria on the dangers of conflict, especially the displacement, destabilization, devastation, and despair it brings.