Conflict Growing into a Full-scale War

Several attempts to broker peace between two warring sides in Sudan—Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces (RSF)—engaged in a fratricidal conflict in the heart of Africa’s Sahel region since April 15, have so far proved infructuous. The escalating conflict has led to death of close to 500 people while substantial portion of poor nation’s infrastructure has been flattened.

The conflict that began as rivalry between two generals on who should head the Armed Forces, has turned into a full-scale war between the Sudanese Army headed by Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (better known by his nickname Hemedti) who leads the paramilitary state militia RSF. The two generals had joined hands in 2019 to depose dictator Gen.

Omar Al-Bashir from power. They put a civilian transitional government in the saddle but deposed it too two years later. The current crisis is rooted in mutual wrangling between the two generals over who would control the Army which has over the years developed deep stakes in companies engaged in farming, banking, and mining and several other businesses.

Many of these companies are headed by Gen. Dagalo, reportedly the richest Sudanese citizen. Gen. Burhan, the commander of Sudan’s military has been the de facto head of state and the ruler of Sudan since the 2021 coup. He rose through the ranks of the armed forces under former dictator Omar Al-Bashir (ruled 1993 to 2019). Gen. Dagalo hailing from the tribe of former camel traders, had joined the paramilitary state militia Janjaweed created in 2013 for the purpose of crushing the rebellion brewing in the Darfur region. He gathered clout due to his proximity to Gen.

Bashir and led a brutal campaign against the tribes and gradually raised the militia’s might to a level where it had over 70,000 fighters. He has been lending mercenaries to the Saudi regime and the United Arab Emirates to fight against the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen. The current conflict began over the proposal to integrate the RSF into the State Army and the question as to who would/should be the commander.

The conflict is viewed with concern by the United States, Russia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the UAE due to Sudan’s strategic position on the Red Sea coast providing easy access to the central African states. One of the Russian business magnets close to Putin has vital stakes in gold mining in Sudan. Saudis and the Emirates have made large investments in the fertile land irrigated by the Nile river.

Egypt too has been behind RSF in curtailing Ethiopian designs over Tigray region where the former proposes a large dam threatening choking of water flow to the Nile. While the Arab League and the African Union have so far only called upon the warring sides to immediately stop hostilities and resume negotiations, the US and other European nations have been engaged in evacuation of their mission staff and businessmen.

The conflict has witnessed use of tanks and artillery and bombing of civilian areas leading to heavy casualties. Relief teams are hamstrung due to bombardment of civilian areas. Sudan being one of the poorest Arab nations cannot afford a protracted armed conflict of the present scale which will only promote more social fragmentation of its people and endanger the unity of the nation which suffered a bifurcation with secession of South Sudan only during the last decade.