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Sudan’s Conflict Continues – but the West no longer watches

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More than two hundred days into the war in Sudan, the Sudanese people remain trapped in a conflict, not of their own making. More than 8,000 civilians have been killed and over five million persons forced to flee their homes, while the capital, Khartoum, continues to be ravaged by savage internecine warfare. Meanwhile, the world’s attention is elsewhere.

On April 15, a full-scale armed conflict broke out between General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, the de-facto ruler of Sudan, and General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, leader of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Initially focused in the streets of Khartoum, the country’s capital, the insecurity, and armed violence soon spread to other cities, displacing thousands and exacerbating Sudan’s existing humanitarian challenges, as well as compounding the challenges of an eventual transition to civilian, democratic rule.

Mired in War

Sudan has been mired in conflict and violence for decades, having experienced more coups than any other African nation: since gaining independence from the UK in 1956, there have been coups in 1958, 1969, 1985, 1989, 2019, and 2021. Omar Al-Bashir seized power in a military coup in Sudan in 1989, while the country was in the midst of a 21-year civil war between north and south, with another civil war breaking out in the Darfur region in 2005.
The war that erupted without warning turned previously peaceful Sudanese homes into cemeteries. Now, fighting is growing in scope and brutality, affecting the people of Sudan, and the world is scandalously silent, though violations of international humanitarian law persist with impunity.
The surge in the number of displaced people has overwhelmed essential services in the camps. Like in the rest of Sudan, schools have been shut for the last seven months as displaced people find temporary shelter inside the classrooms. The education and the prospects of millions of children in Sudan are at risk.
Over 362,000 people have crossed into South Sudan since the start of the conflict in Sudan. Away from the eyes of the world and the news headlines, the conflict in Sudan continues to rage. Across the country, an unimaginable humanitarian crisis is unfolding, as more and more people are displaced by the relentless fighting.
Health conditions in the country remain dire with reports of high malnutrition, disease outbreaks, and shortages of medicines, electricity, and water. The healthcare situation is also extremely worrying in the neighbouring countries of Chad, Ethiopia and South Sudan as new arrivals continue across the respective borders to extremely remote areas with limited, or often non-existent medical structures in place. Aid agencies and national health staff are doing all that they can with limited resources but continue to struggle to keep up with the health needs as the crisis continues.

Prospects for Peace

Recently, the African Union Peace and Security Council (PSC) reaffirmed futile calls for the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to immediately and unconditionally reach a ceasefire to end the conflict in Sudan. The PSC expressed particular concern at the humanitarian situation in Darfur, Kordofan, and Khartoum, as well as in the Abyei, Administrative Area, and the spread of the conflict to parts of the country hitherto spared from the worst of the conflict.

There has been an effort to mediate by an African regional body, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). It said it had secured a commitment from warring parties to implement a ceasefire and to hold a political dialogue aimed at resolving the conflict. At talks in Djibouti, the current chair of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), claimed that Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, agreed to a one-on-one meeting with the head of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti. There was no immediate comment the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) but the SAF  Generals theoretically answerable to Burhan disavowed the claim and said peace talks of this kind would not be allowed to happen.

Meanwhile Sudan ordered the expulsion of 15 UAE diplomats, and declared them persona non grata. No reason was provided for the expulsion, but it came amid rising tensions between Khartoum and Abu Dhabi over Emirati support for the Rapid Support Forces.

Unless urgent humanitarian assistance is provided to the civilian population inside Sudan, they will continue to move to neighbouring countries like South Sudan and Chad, which are struggling to respond to the deepening humanitarian crisis.

War and Peace and Misery and Intransigence

William Morris LL.D.Our Secretary-General, William Morris LL.D., continues to discuss new political developments in his ongoing podcast series, “This Week in the Middle East”. In this week’s episode, William examines the ongoing civil war in Sudan and prospects for peace between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF). The two warlords at loggerheads seem unwilling or unable to achieve their ends through war or peace. But there may yet be hope. Listen to the full episode through Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Podcast Addict and Buzzsprout.

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