The civil war taking place in Sudan has been raging for over a year – we set out to look into it and its causes.
Last April, the country of Sudan descended into civil war during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan as the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Force (RSF), a coalition bolstered by the Arab nomadic Janjaweed militia. The resulting conflict has led to heavy fighting in and around the capital Khartoum and the western Darfur region, where international observers have noted shocking cases of ethnic cleansing and other crimes not seen since the previous conflict in 2003. This is actually the third civil conflict in the nation – the last occurred from 1983 to 2005 resulting in the creation of South Sudan as an independent nation in 2011.
The internal conflict between the SAF and the RAF began when Sudanese strongman Omar al-Bashir (who created the RSF in 2013) was ousted in 2019 by the military, with the help of the RSF. Both factions would rule in a junta despite African Union mediation and international pressure, but as the SAF under Ahmed Fattah Al Burhan sought to transfer power to a democratic government, the RSF led by Mohamed “Hemedti” Hamdan Dagalo refused to perceive a Khartoum-centered administration. The RSF would attack government structures in Khartoum and carry out attacks in Darfur Human Rights Watch he said he was against the Massalit people and the non-Arab communities in particular. The United Nations estimates that 20,000 have been killed and 33,000 injured, including foreign nationals, since the start of the war, with 7.7 million people displaced and 2.1 million fleeing the country as refugees.
There has also been an uptick in sexual violence in the Darfur region to rival what happened there 21 years ago. “Men in RSF uniform and armed men linked to the RSF were reported to be responsible for 81% of documented incidents,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk. in March. But attention from world powers – apart from allegations of military involvement from Russia and the United Arab Emirates – was greatly missed. “Why aren't people paying attention to what's going on?” UN envoy Alice Deritu said in an interview. “If we do not break the cycle of impunity, then we will not be able to address the root causes of violence and restore strong foundations for the future.”