The release of “Tears of Guitars” by the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) on November 26, 2025, has confirmed one of the most alarming patterns of cultural targeting since Sudan’s civil war began in April 2023.
The report identifies at least 55 artists killed across Sudan, documenting a disturbing escalation from incidental wartime loss to what human rights analysts describe as a campaign of cultural cleansing. Victims include prominent figures such as singer Shaden Gardood and actress Asia Abdelmajid, both emblematic of Sudan’s vibrant artistic tradition and national identity.
The ACJPS findings consolidate field-verification data from Radio Dabanga and the Sudanese Music Research Center, establishing a verified mortality baseline for cultural workers caught in the conflict. This verification serves as a critical reference point for ongoing monitoring during the week of December 1 2025 and beyond. The report details not only individual targeted killings, often via sniper fire or shelling in populated districts, but also systematic attacks on the infrastructures of culture, including the destruction of the Sudan National Museum and multiple community art centers.
These events must be understood within the broader dynamics of Sudan’s fragmentation following the confrontation between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Cultural practitioners have found themselves on the front lines, not only as civilians but as custodians of memory and identity. The deliberate targeting of artists and heritage institutions suggests an effort to suppress alternative narratives and communal symbols in contested regions such as Khartoum, Omdurman, and Darfur.
The pattern emerging from this dataset represents a transition from collateral damage to intentional erasure, a strategic assault on Sudanese identity itself. The killings and cultural site destructions have instilled widespread fear among musicians, visual artists, and writers, forcing many into exile or silence. As humanitarian corridors and monitoring mechanisms continue to deteriorate, the ACJPS report underscores an urgent need to elevate Sudan’s cultural protection alert and integrate cultural rights violations into the broader human rights response to the war.
The ongoing war in Sudan is claiming more than lives, it’s erasing culture.
A recent report by the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies, Tears of Guitars, confirms that over 55 artists have been killed since 2023, from musicians to actors and poets. Figures like folk singer Shaden Gardood and actress Asia Abdelmajid are now part of a growing list of cultural casualties.
This deliberate targeting of Sudan’s creative voices isn’t just a loss for the arts, it’s an attack on national identity, memory, and social cohesion. Cultural sites, archives, and institutions are being destroyed alongside human lives, reflecting a strategy of “cultural erasure.”
The report calls for urgent protection measures for cultural workers and recognition of cultural destruction as a war crime. Preserving these voices is crucial, not only for Sudan but for humanity’s collective memory.
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