Sudan: The Raging Civil War No One is Talking About
By Ali Ghazaly
Contributor
Since 2023, the relatively unknown African country of Sudan erupted into civil war, or more accurately, tensions between different factions of the military exploded: on one side, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by general Hemedti, a paramilitary wing of the military enlisted to fight against western Sudanese rebels in the 2010s. In the other side, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the Sudanese Head of State. This war has caused a humanitarian crisis of terrible proportions, with 6.1 million people fleeing their homes and 1.5 million leaving the country altogether.
Brief History of Modern Sudan
Following decolonization, Sudan has had a rough history in its 69 years of existence: coups, military dictatorship, civil war… the people haven’t had a moment to breathe. The years from 1989 to 2019 were especially brutal, with a military dictatorship that heavily suppressed the population. When other segments of the military ended the dictatorship, people thought that the reign of terror ended, and optimism was high in the air especially as elections were promised. Unfortunately, said elections got delayed, and delayed, and delayed, before being permanently delayed by the civil war. Even before then, since 2003, the government had been facing guerrillas in one of their westernmost provinces (Darfur). This conflict had developed into a low intensity conflict and unrest by the time of the civil war.
A Failed Promise of Democracy
Following the replacement of the military regime with another military regime, one the most pressing issues was the question of army influence in the civilian government. Naturally, the civilian transitional government wanted a subservient army, as is in most stable countries today. After having gotten a whiff of power, the army wasn’t so keen on giving up their newly acquired crown. After a failed coup in September 2021, the army struck again in October to guarantee their influence. The population protested, and after 6 months of doing nothing, the military finally decided to no longer pretend that they were going to uphold democracy, and instated full military rule. The transitional council was disbanded, and Chief of Army Abdel Fattah al-Burhan became the undisputed leader of the country.
Tensions in the Military
Now that the military had returned to ruling their fiefdom, different military factions, no longer united by a common enemy (democracy) now vied for power. The two most important were the SAF and RSF. As the official army, the SAF wanted the RSF to finally be fully integrated into the general military apparatus. The latter disagreed, as they wanted either to retain general operational autonomy or have a new, massive stake in the military. After failed negotiations and building tensions, the RSF struck first: on April 15th 2023, the Sudanese civil war began.
Outbreak of the Civil War
Originally controlling a small chunk of territory in the south, the RSF moved quickly, securing the countryside, and putting the cities of El-Obeid, El-Fashir, and Geneina under siege. They had also seized Khartoum airport, putting the capital city under siege, leading the SAF to relocate the government to Port Sudan, and causing a disastrous humanitarian crisis. Geneina was captured on the 25th of July. The RSF pillaged, looted, burned down, and raped whatever they could find from the city before moving on further north. A counterattack on September 1st saw the SAF relieved El-Obeid, assuaging fears that a repeat of Geneina could happen there. Despite the war being ongoing for a couple months, al-Burhan only issued a decree to disband the RSF on the 6th of September. As of February 2025, the RSF controls the southwest, while the SAF still retains control of most of the government.
No Good Guys: War Crimes on Both Sides
As the war devolved into a protracted movement of mini-offensives to regain lost territory, several allegations and confirmations of war crimes were published, condemning both the RSF and SAF, though it is important to mention that the RSF, as a rowdy, brutal militia, are far less organized, and are more prone to committing war crimes, which has been proven. Mass rape, looting of private property shelling of civilians, summary executions, pillaging of the countryside, starvation of civilians, etc. have all been committed by both sides. An estimated 150 000 civilians have been killed in this brutal onslaught, and with no end in sight, the number will only go up from here…
Foreign Support: SAF
As is custom in any modern war, especially in Africa, foreign interference is something that is guaranteed. Countries who support the SAF include Egypt, providing military support and bombing enemy troop formations and cities, Russia, who originally was selling weapons to both sides, settled on supporting the SAF, Iran, providing their cutting edge drones, and Ukraine? You know the war is crazy when both Ukraine and Russia are fighting on the same side of a conflict when they themselves are at war.
Foreign Support: RSF
The RSF’s biggest patrons in this political disagreement turned humanitarian crisis include the UAE, their suppliers of weapons, ammunition, and drones, the Wagner Group (that’s right, they’re still relevant) providing unused stocks from their campaigns in central Africa, Chad, providing mercenaries and equipment, the eastern Libyan government (Libyan National Army), who are collaborating with the Wagner Group, and the U.K., which try their best to cover up Emirati involvement in the war. Yet another reason to hate the former British empire.
Conclusion
Overall, this foreign disaster in times of lives and material is completely unnecessary: greedy men with unchecked egos have caused the suffering of millions, and that is unlikely to change any time soon. As long as both sides have guns and can promise wealth to their soldiers, this slog will continue to go on, with civilians stuck in the middle of it. Unfortunately, this humanitarian crisis is seldom talked about, because Sudan is an irrelevant country on the global stage: whether 20 million Sudanese die or live is inconsequential to the global world at large; what a sad state the world is in today…