From Struggle to Strategy: Lessons from Micro and Small-Scale Manufacturers in Wartime Sudan
The Sudan War series is a joint collaboration between the
Center for Economic, Legal, and Social Studies and Documentation – Khartoum (CEDEJ-K), Sudan-Norway Academic Cooperation (SNAC)and
African Arguments – Debating Ideas. Through a number of themes that explore the intersections of war, displacement, identities and capital, Sudanese researchers, many of whom are themselves displaced, highlight their own experiences, the unique dynamisms within the larger communities affected by war, and readings of their possible futures.
Article 01 by Muzan AlNeel
Soap and detergent manufacturing became a lifeline for Mona,
[1] sustaining her through a trifold displacement – from Khartoum to Wad Madani, to its peripheries, and finally to Atbara. Mona, along with millions of others, became displaced after the war broke out between the Rapid Support forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in April 2023. For Khidhir, another Sudanese displaced due to the war, the same sector, detergents manufacturing, provided a crucial source of income as he navigated life in RSF-controlled areas of the capital, Khartoum. Income from work in these small-scale enterprises provided much-needed funds to his displaced family in the north. Not far away, Abdelrahman, a metal sheet worker, adapted to the crisis by producing traditional stoves, meeting the soaring demand after cooking gas became scarce. Despite operating in an RSF-controlled area, Abdelrahman’s security concerns mirrored those of Omer, a small-scale shoe factory owner in SAF-controlled territory as they are both mostly concerned about aggression and looting from armed actors, soldiers or gangs. Though their strategies for navigating risk and uncertainty differed, their stories, as well as those of hundreds of micro- and small-scale manufacturers around the country, reveal a shared sense of resilience against Sudan’s everyday volatile reality.
Read the full article
here by Muzan AlNeel.
OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
cedejsudan (2 juin 2025). Sudan War Series – Article 01. CEDEJ Khartoum. Consulté le 18 juin 2026 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/141j0