Economic pressure of war threatens social cohesion
By: Muawad Mustafa Rashid
According to news articles, approximately 35,000 divorce cases have been registered since the start of the war, representing an unprecedented social upheaval.
Researchers in family sociology attribute this shocking increase to the radical shift in economic and social roles imposed by the conflict, coupled with the loss of savings and jobs for many husbands, and the suspension of most salaries for over three years due to the ongoing war.
According to reliable sources, Khartoum State topped the list of divorce, followed by Gezira State, and then the five Darfur states.
A high percentage of divorce were filed by wives in the courts of River Nile, Northern, Red Sea, Gedaref, and Kassala states—the relatively safe states to which most families displaced from Khartoum, Gezira, and Darfur have fled.
The challenges resulting from the April 15th war have placed men under immense pressure due to their inability to meet the basic needs of their families in displacement camps or in expensive rented houses and apartments in stable states and neighboring countries.
Recent UN statistics indicate that women and girls constitute more than 53% of the millions of internally and externally displaced persons since the outbreak of the war, making them the group most affected by displacement and refuge.
Reports from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) also show that more than 4.2 million women and girls in Sudan are in dire need of protection and urgent care services due to the increase in gender-based violence and the economic pressures resulting from family breakdown in displacement camps.
International data records that nearly one million displaced women have suddenly and immediately become “single heads of households” after the loss, separation, or dispersal of their husbands to other states, placing them under the double burden of providing food and financial security for their children in unprepared environments.
The ongoing war in Sudan has not only destroyed infrastructure and displaced millions, but its flames have also spread to erode the most sacred social bonds. The country has recently witnessed a frightening and unprecedented surge in divorce rates. Recent indicators reveal a silent crisis creeping into Sudanese homes, threatening what remains of social cohesion amidst extremely complex living and psychological conditions. This makes personal status issues yet another facet of human suffering in the country.
In this context, legal and social circles have sounded the alarm after the revelation that nearly 35,000 official divorce cases have been registered during the recent years of war. This shocking figure reflects the extent of the cracks that have appeared in the Sudanese family structure in a short period and confirms that homes are no longer safe from the shrapnel of the armed conflict, whose effects have extended beyond material destruction to the destruction of the social and psychological fabric of the citizens.
However, legal and social experts emphasize that this alarming figure—as large as it is—does not represent the whole truth, but merely the tip of the iceberg. Thousands more cases of divorce and de facto separation have occurred in displacement camps but have not made it into official court records. Due to the disruption of judicial facilities in many areas and the difficulty of accessing documentation offices, many separation cases remain unrecorded and pending, foreshadowing a future legal and social catastrophe.
Looking at the geographical distribution of this phenomenon, Khartoum State tops the list, recording the highest percentage among all states. As the primary epicenter of the conflict and the population center that witnessed the largest displacement and forced migration, Khartoum’s families faced the most intense pressures, making marital bonds the first line of defense, which quickly crumbled under the weight of successive shocks.
Gezira State fared no better, ranking second only to Khartoum in terms of the number of registered cases. At the beginning of the conflict, Gezira received hundreds of thousands of displaced people before the flames of military confrontations spread to it. This temporary stability, followed by repeated displacement, created an environment fraught with anxiety and tension, hastening the tragic end of thousands of marriages that could not withstand the waves of displacement and the resulting poverty.
A deep analysis of these facts clearly shows that these increasing cases are nothing but a direct consequence of the war and its harsh repercussions. The conflict not only robbed Sudanese people of their homes and savings, but also their psychological stability, subjecting human relationships to crushing economic pressures, the loss of breadwinners, and sudden unemployment—factors capable of transforming homes and affection into arenas of constant daily conflict.
Furthermore, the exceptional circumstances imposed by the war created new forms of social pressure, such as the dispersal of families across different states or countries of refuge, the forced exchange of economic roles, and the psychological trauma resulting from experiencing violence and losing loved ones. All these heavy psychological burdens generated a state of emotional explosion and unbearable strain within the family unit, making divorce, the most detested of permissible things, the quickest option to escape a complex and unforgiving reality. This tragic reality necessitates urgent action that goes beyond security or political solutions, extending to national efforts to provide relief to Sudanese families and protect what remains of the family unit. This requires the combined efforts of civil society organizations, social researchers, and religious leaders to provide psychological support and family counseling to those affected by the war. Perhaps this will contribute to repairing the fractures before Sudan awakens to a completely distorted society after the war ends.
Every divorce, whether documented or not, looms like a nightmare of family collapse, lost children, torn social fabric, and the death of many values.