War as a driver of generational rupture: Emerging youth identities in South Kordofan State

It’s nothing new that parents and their children don’t see eye to eye. But in the war-torn South Kordofan State, the generational gap is getting so big that it is changing the societal fabric. And ironically, it is the war that is wreaking havoc on the country that partially explains the youth’s newfound freedom

Youth have been a driving force for change in Sudan for decades. Their resistance culminated in the 2019 uprising that led to the fall of Omar al-Bashir’s regime. But the aftermath of the revolution did not bring the change they were hoping for. The older generations in power failed to deliver on the transformation they youth had envisioned. Now the April 2023 war has changed the relationship between Sudanese youth and their parent’s generation profoundly, perhaps nowhere more so than in South Kordofan State.

This blog post explores the war as a new chapter in the evolving generational divide in Sudan, with a particular focus on South Kordofan State where several factors have merged and not only deepened societal ruptures but also opened new possibilities for youth in search of freedom to define their own lives.

South Kordofan State may be regarded an exception to the general rule for studying the generation gap compared to other parts of the country, for two reasons: Unlike other regions of Sudan, it has endured nearly four decades of civil conflict, dating back to 1984. Today, the stakes are heightened as three competing forces—the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A)—fight for control of the area. The accumulated impact of successive wars has left a deeper imprint here than elsewhere, making South Kordofan a particularly significant case for understanding how youth are navigating and reshaping their roles amid conflict.

The region and the war
In April 2022, I spent two weeks in SKS as a peace-building trainer doing focus group discussion with five sample communities of youth identifying aspirations, priorities, needs and challenges with the aim of incorporating them in the process of peace-making stipulated by Juba Peace Agreement 2020. Throughout these weeks they shared their thoughts on the future. A recurring theme in our conversations was a feeling of disconnection, not only from their parents but from the ways of the older generation.

“The relation has become tinged with tension, disharmony, uncertainty and full of anxiety. Misunderstanding is increasing; disconnection is manifesting in less advice and weak interaction" a 25-year-old young man stated in Kadugli

Traditionally, generational gaps have been explained by factors such as differences in preferences and opinions and conflicting visions of lifestyles. But in SKS, the widening rift between different generations is even more multi-faceted. Traditionally, both youth and women in SKS have lived under restricting disciplinary patriarchal norms and have therefore not been in a position to determine their own fate. In the private sphere, they have been institutionally excluded from the processes and mechanisms of decision-making, even when such decisions directly affect their own lives (such as arranged marriage), preferences and expectations. In the public sphere, they have been represented by other entities, like community agents, male gradience and government offices.

Ironically, the strong societal and parental control has been a contributing factor for some to join one of the warring parties (which in SKS, in addition to the Sudan Armed Forces and the rapid Support Forces, also includes the Sudanese People Liberation Army). Several of the youth I talked to during my stay there told me that they felt trapped at home.  Joining the war was a golden opportunity for them to break free from their parents’ control. Despite the risks, they enjoyed their time away from home, exchanging news and discussing personal experiences about everything from war to football matches and films. Leaving their childhood homes while staying close to the city meant they spent more time with other young people, leading to consolidated group-thinking and mutual trust in the youth community. Young women have been part of this transformation as well, though their experiences reflect other shifts and in areas that have previously been out of reach. They are now increasingly engaged in civic life, gender advocacy, and political activism. Notably, in our sample community, 35 out of 54 young women were actively involved in politics.

Loss and opportunity
Spending so much time with young men and women in our group discussions gave me a deep understanding of how and what they think about their own world and visions. It became increasingly clear to me how the generational gap could grow this big.  Three factors in particular crystalized:

• Less sense of belonging

Parents usually envision a certain life and future for their children. They expect their children to follow in their footsteps and to act in accordance with their values, norms and traditions. But there is a lack of reciprocity in these expectations, and with limited time for family interaction, made even more scarce by the consequences of the war, the youth increasingly feel alienated from the community in which they were born and adversarial socialization.  

• Self-organization

Parental control has been so strong that the youth have not been able to challenge it as individuals. But with the protests leading up to the revolution, a new mindset revolving around collective action and networking started to emerge. Youth groups have become more independent and less tied to the traditional framework of socialization. Excluding youth from decision-making processes is no longer an effective way of silencing them and keeping them under control.  Instead, they’re finding new spaces of interaction; online platforms, civic community, music bands, schools, universities and football clubs. These spaces do not only offer them more freedom but also help them learn how to organize and how to use collective action as a strategy to counteract parental control. Some have also become financially independent by joining armed groups, boosting a sense of self-reliance. As a result, parental influence is fading. Instead, their peers’ influence and embrace of collective action and networking is growing.

• Getting a ‘job’ in the war

Since regular jobs were hard to come by, youth in SK, were easily mobilized in the war. Updated numbers from the youth focus groups show that out of 46 males, 40 of them have been recruited by on the of warring parties. In Kadugli, Al-Dalanj and Al-Goaz, the 36 young men I talked to have all joined the SAF, RSF or SPLA. Four men from Alabassiya have chosen the same path. Militarization/militiazation plays a double role for the youth:  Firstly, it is a quick opportunity to make money from the war economy. Secondly, it provides a sense of relative safety.

Breaking the chains: The lesson learnt

With the collapse of the rural economy due to the long-war and climate change in the region, parents in SKS have lost a very important form of social control. As agriculture and animal husbandry as traditional modes of livelihoods in the area fail to provide a sufficient income, youth are forced to seek financial support elsewhere. They have seized the opportunity to push back the traditional boundaries of the past, making independent choices and carving out space for new identities. Militarization has opened -up new horizons and allowed youth to liberate themselves from relying on parents’ financial support. But the liberation that has come with the war is a double-edged sword: As the youth have escaped parental control, they have been trapped in violence, committing war crimes like killing and looting. What my time among the youth of South Kordofan State proved more than anything else is that those who hinder constructive, egalitarian and democratic engagement make war and violence inevitable. And this goes for the most intimate family-spaces to the national and maybe even global ones: Quelling democracy feeds war and violence.

This blog post is written by Ahmed Elhassab Omer, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Economics and Social Studies, University of Dalanj, and fellow at CEDEJ-Khartoum. It is part of a series focusing on different aspects of youth’s responses to the war, and on the crucial role they can play in pushing for and building sustainable peace in Sudan. The series is the outcome of a SNAC workshop that brought together a large group of SNAC fellows and young Sudanese researchers and activists.

The views expressed in this post are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the SNAC project or CMI.