The war in Sudan has been raging since April 2023 between two rival militaries: the regular army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Three years after the civil war started, the conflict shows no signs of stopping. According to NRK Urix, Mathilde Vu, an advisor for the Norwegian Refugee Council for Sudan, described that what is important to know about the conflict in Sudan now is that we are still in the middle of the crisis and in the middle of the suffering. She also estimated that there have been two major massacres in the past year, with hundreds of thousands killed.
The conflict's origins trace back to the regime of former dictator Omar al-Bashir, who was overthrown in a popular protest wave in 2019. A little over two years after al-Bashir's overthrow, the two armies he left behind—the regular military and the RSF—seized power in a joint military coup. The regular army is led by General Abd al-Fattah al-Burhan and has its power base around the capital Khartoum and the Nile in the east. The RSF forces are led by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, called Hemedti, and originated from the so-called Janjaweed militias that al-Bashir hired to brutally suppress a rebellion in the devastating and ethnically charged Darfur conflict in the early 2000s. Rivalry grew within their joint junta rule and eventually full-scale war broke out between them.
We have now reached the bottom when it comes to lack of respect for humanitarian and international rules.
Regional powers have taken sides in the conflict. The military is assessed to receive support from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, while the RSF is assessed to receive support from the United Arab Emirates.
The humanitarian situation has become desperate as the economic situation worsens, forcing millions of people to survive on less and less food. Thousands of families now eat only one meal a day, and often families go several days without eating. According to NRK Urix, an unnamed woman in Darfur described that her family only ate one meal every third day. The problem is not a lack of food, but sky-high prices that make people unable to afford food. In many places, soldiers block the transport of food and emergency aid. According to NRK Urix, Mathilde Vu described that several cities are besieged by the warring parties, with soldiers using food as a pressure tool against the population.
Attacks against the population have not decreased. People are exhausted.
Atrocities and war crimes have escalated. According to NRK Urix, Mathilde Vu described that the warfare has escalated recently and the same has happened with abuses against the population. One of the massacres occurred in the major city of Al-Fashir in western Sudan in October last year. As many as 60,000 people may have been killed by the rebel group Rapid Support Forces in Al-Fashir, according to British authorities. NRK verified a series of images and videos from RSF during the group's attack on Al-Fashir, showing clearly that soldiers from the group executed unarmed people. The UN made it clear that the attack on Al-Fashir had clear signs of genocide.
The long-term consequences are staggering. According to a UNDP report, it could take many decades to reverse the negative development in Sudan if the civil war is not stopped soon. Luca Renda, the UNDP representative in Sudan, stated that the window to get Sudan back on the right track is about to close. He warned that the consequences of the civil war could take 'several generations' to repair. If the war is not stopped soon, over 60% of Sudan's population risks being forced into extreme poverty, with over 34 million people potentially forced into extreme poverty over the next 17 years, according to the UNDP report. Renda added that after three years of war, we see the entire country's future crumbling, and that the consequences are catastrophic, with almost the entire population experiencing acute shortages. Sudan has now lost three decades of development, according to the UNDP report.
We ate only at night, so no one would see us.
The current situation remains dire. According to NRK Urix, Mathilde Vu described that we have now reached the bottom when it comes to lack of respect for humanitarian and international rules. She noted that attacks against the population have not decreased and that people are exhausted.
Several cities are besieged by the warring parties. Soldiers use food as a pressure tool against the population.
What is important to know about the conflict in Sudan now is that we are still in the middle of the crisis and in the middle of the suffering.
The warfare has escalated recently. The same has happened with abuses against the population.
There have been two major massacres in the past year. We estimate that hundreds of thousands have been killed.