The globally largest displacement crisis is ongoing in Sudan, with over 9.5 million forced from their homes, and millions starving. The civil war, now in its third year, is between the traditional military, Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the UAE backed Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Mohamed ‘Hemedti’ Dagalo. They are fighting for control over Sudan’s vast oil, gold and fertile lands. To understand today’s crisis, we must look back to the era of Omar al-Bashir, who ruled Sudan from 1989 to 2019. His government was known for corruption, violence and economic collapse, where people could not even afford basic needs due to price hikes. This sparked nationwide protests in 2018, which led to the overthrow of al-Bashir. Instead of a civilian democracy, the military and RSF stepped in power as a ‘transitional government’, which was not very different from al-Bashir’s rule. At a sit-in protest on June 3rd, 2019, at least 120 people were killed and many wounded, raped, and made to disppear by the security forces. This came to be known as the Khartoum Massacre.
Power-sharing between the military and RSF was delayed, leading to growing tensions between them until they declared war on April 15, 2023 in Khartoum. The RSF looted and attacked civilian areas. Entire neighbourhoods were burned, shelled or destroyed. Families had to flee with almost no warning, abandoning houses that were later seized, looted, or shattered to rubble. 150,000 people have been killed since April 2023, with 12 million people at risk of sexual and gender-based violence. Sexual violence has been used as a weapon of war, with reports of gang-rapes and sexual slavery against people, including even children. Lack of sanitary hygiene and safe shelters makes it harder for survivors to recover from medical, psychological and social trauma.
The RSF’s predecessor, the Janjaweed militias, carried out the 2003 genocide in Darfur. It became the first genocide of the 21st century, where more than 600,000 people were killed. It began after years of inequality and conflict over land and resources. In April 2024, history repeated itself in El-Fashir, the capital of North Darfur. El-Fashir was the last major city that was receiving humanitarian aid, and became a refuge for civilians who were forced out of other parts of Darfur. In April 2024, the RSF surrounded and cut off the city, trapping thousands of people inside without food, medicine, fuel and aid. The control of El-Fashir would mean the control of Darfur’s heartland and access to gold-rich routes that fund their war. The RSF is carrying on mass killings of civilians and aid workers, with over 2,500 people killed, 1,77,000 trapped and 71,000 displaced in just 48 hours.
Sudan’s civil war is not merely a power struggle, but a resource war. It is also a proxy war. The RSF is heavily backed by the UAE. Much of central and southwestern Sudan’s goldfields are dominated by the RSF. Historically, Gulf countries like the UAE have heavily invested in Sudanese agriculture, viewing Sudan as a ‘breadbasket’ to help tackle their own food security challenges. Most of the oilfields in Sudan are under RSF control and remain a major source of export revenue. Gulf powers have poured money, weapons and political capital into backing the RSF to secure access to the gold, oil, land, and strategic influence in the Horn of Africa. The RSF’s control over gold mines, shored up by foreign backing, funds its operations and fuels mass violence. The suffering of Sudan’s common people is the inevitable outcome of a system in which profit defines power. As external powers are eager to secure cheap access to gold, land, and geopolitical leverage, the people of Sudan suffer at the hands of domestic reactionaries backed by foreign profiteers.
