MENA Solidarity and the Sudan Doctors Union (UK Branch) invite you to join us on Saturday, 21 February 2026, from 6:00 pm to 8:15 pm at St Mary’s Church (GL12 8RS), organised by St Mary’s Church, for a special Holocaust Memorial Day 2026 event:

“The Darfur Genocide of 2003–2005 and the Continuing Violence in Sudan”.

This event forms part of thousands taking place across the UK to mark Holocaust Memorial Day, whose 2026 theme, “Bridging Generations”, calls on us not only to remember those murdered in genocides past, but to carry forward their stories — and to confront injustice in our own time.

Why This Event Matters

Beginning in 2003, the Darfur region became the site of a brutal campaign of mass violence. The Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa communities were systematically targeted by Janjaweed militias, backed and armed by the Sudanese government and its military. Later, in 2017, these militias became the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) — a formal state force — and a key part of Sudan’s “migration management” strategy, receiving millions in funding from the EU and Britain through the so-called Khartoum Process. Villages were razed, civilians massacred, women raped, and entire communities destroyed. Estimates put the death toll at around 300,000, with millions forcibly displaced.

Two decades on, Sudan is once again engulfed in catastrophe. Since April 2023, war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF has left over 15 million people displaced, one of the largest crises in the world today. Reports of ethnic killings, siege warfare, famine conditions and attacks on medical facilities underscore that the cycle of impunity continues.

Both the SAF and RSF are criminal militias, committing genocide, war crimes, and atrocities that continue to terrorise the Sudanese population. Remembering Darfur is not just history — it is a call to confront ongoing injustice and demand accountability today.

Speakers

• Khalid Sidahmed, MENA Solidarity
• Sarah Richard, General Secretary, Sudan Doctors Union (UK Branch)

Together they will examine the history of the Darfur genocide, the roots of today’s war, and the urgent humanitarian and political crisis facing Sudan now.

As Bob Copeland of St Mary’s Church states:

Each year we mark Holocaust Memorial Day to show where hatred and racism can lead. In recent years we have heard from speakers about the genocides in Rwanda and Bosnia at the end of the twentieth century but this will be the first time we hear about a genocide of the twenty first century. The dreadful events in Sudan show why we all need to work relentlessly to stamp out racism and hatred in all its forms, and how ineffective the international community has been in preventing genocide.

Event Details

• 18:00 – Optional dinner (advance booking advised)
• 19:00 – Welcome and introduction
• 19:10 – Talk by Khalid Sidahmed and Sarah Richard
• 19:45 – Questions and discussion
• 20:15 – Close

The talk is free to attend. An optional meal (£5) is available before the event.

Book your place via Eventbrite: https://hmd-stmarys-kingswood-wue.eventbrite.com

Address:
St Mary’s Church
High Street, Kingswood
WOTTON UNDER EDGE
Gloucestershire
GL12 8RS
United Kingdom

Limited on-street parking is available, with additional parking at Kingswood Primary School.

Donations on the night — or online here — will support the Sudan Doctors Union and their vital medical work in Sudan under conditions of war.

Take action:

• Read the full Sudan Solidarity Conference 2026 report and share its Statement and Demands widely across your networks, workplaces, unions, and community organisations.
• Order materials for the Together Alliance protest on 28 March from here, and help mobilise your workplace, union branch, and community.
• Share this motion with your union branch and advocate for its adoption: Model Motion – Stand with Sudan: Stop the War, Support the People
• Access our Stop the War in Sudan toolkit and sign the postcard addressed to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, urging the British government to support the Sudanese people.
• Read our analysis, “The Illusion of Choice: Why People Should Reject Both Sides of the War in Sudan”, for essential background on the warring factions and the revolutionary alternative.
• Download / order our newly released “Sudan’s Revolutionary and Popular Movements: a research report”. 
• Book your ticket for the new film “Sudan, remember us” at a screening near you.

Download resources:

• Sudan Update July 2025 – download the leaflet >>here
• ‘Sudan’s Militia War on the People’ Sudan Update April 2025 – download the leaflet >>here
• ‘Reject both sides in Sudan’s war’ Sudan Update February 2025 – download the leaflet >>here
• ‘Famine is the new war’ Sudan Update September 2024 – download the leaflet >>here
• ‘Stopping Sudan’s hidden war’ Sudan Update March 2024 – download the leaflet >>here
• ‘Why is there a war in Sudan?’ Sudan Update May 2023 – download the leaflet >>here
• ‘Stop the war in Sudan’ Sudan Update April 2023 – download the leaflet >>here
• Stop the war in Sudan / Refugees welcome A4 poster – download >>here