UAE, would-be peace broker whose backing is prolonging a brutal civil war
Sudan’s civil war, rooted in a failed democratic transition after the old regime collapsed, has intensified into a zero-sum power struggle between rival warlords, with civilians paying the heaviest price.
Grisly task: the Sudanese Red Crescent and forensic experts exhume bodies from makeshift graves in southern Khartoum, 2 August 2025. Many of the dead were buried in a rush when the area was controlled by RSF paramilitaries
Ebrahim Hamid · AFP · Getty
Since 15 April 2023 Sudan has descended into full-on civil war, with the destruction of infrastructure and property, use of heavy weaponry and atrocities against civilians, and the civilian population have been paying the heaviest price. The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) under the country’s de facto leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan are fighting the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), headed by Mohamed Hamdan Daglo (‘Hemedti’).
The two men were not always enemies. In October 2021 they worked together to overthrow the civilian government that followed the fall of the authoritarian Omar al-Bashir, in power since the coup of June 1989. The presidency of the Transitional Sovereignty Council went to Burhan, while Hemedti became vice-president.
But the alliance between the two rebel camps only lasted 18 months, during which both sides prepared for an eventual clash. As we go to press, the ‘transitional government’ controls the north, centre and east of the country, while the RSF, who are launching repeated attacks on SAF positions, have the west and some of the south.
The UN estimates the war has killed more than 150,000 since April 2023 and displaced nearly 13 million, of whom four million are refugees in neighbouring countries. The fighting has also caused severe famine, which now threatens 25 million out of a population of 36 million. Although there have been mediation attempts, neither camp has agreed to a lasting truce. In November, after an 18-month siege, the RSF took the city of El Fasher, capital of North Darfur. Horrific images of the massacre, torture and execution of civilians spread across the world on social media.
Massive population displacements
‘El Fasher is a crime scene’
UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs Tom Fletcher called Darfur the new ‘epicentre of human suffering in the world’ after visiting the region. ‘El Fasher, based on the testimonies I heard from many survivors, is basically a (…)
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