On June 2, five aid workers were killed in Sudan in an attack on a humanitarian aid convoy, according to the United Nations. This attack occurred near El Koma in North Darfur province, a region controlled by Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Several trucks were set ablaze and humanitarian aid was damaged in this attack, according to the UNICEF and World Food Programme. This incident is the latest addition to the unending cycle of violence that has gripped Sudan since 2023.
Multiple conflicts have ravaged the world in the past three years. The Russia-Ukraine war has completed three years and has entered its fourth year. The Israel-Hamas war is set to complete two years in four months with no end in sight. India and Pakistan had a brief spell of hostility for four days in May. All these conflicts have dominated the world map and continue to make headlines and rightly so.
However, another conflict has completed two years recently but it has almost been wiped out from the list of contemporary wars. The civil war in Sudan began on April 15, 2023, and is still going on but it has been relegated to a relatively low-profile and negligible skirmish.
It is pertinent to consider the status of the civil war in Sudan continuing for more than two years. The civil war has its roots in 2019 when the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary group Rapid Security Forces (RSF) led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (known as Hemedti) overthrew long-ruling president Omar al-Bashir. Al-Burhan and Hemedti shared power following al-Bashir’s ouster. The two military officers appointed civilian Abdalla Hamdok as the prime minister. However, the SAF and the RSF removed Hamdok in a coup in 2021. In April 2023, as a result of the power struggle between the SAF and the RSF, fighting broke out between the two branches of the military, which threw Sudan into a civil war.
The civil war in Sudan has its roots in 2019 when the Sudanese Armed Forces led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary group Rapid Security Forces led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo overthrew long-ruling president Omar al-Bashir
The Sudan conflict needs to be understood from three perspectives: humanitarian crisis, intervention by external powers, and the spillover effect of the Sudanese civil war on neighbouring countries.
Hum[td_smart_list_end]anitarian Crisis
Since the start of the civil war, the humanitarian crisis in Sudan has become very grave. Sudan has seen one of the highest displacement rates in the world since 2023. In the last two years, more than four million people have fled Sudan. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has termed this displacement a ‘devastating milestone’. Of these four million, nearly 800,000 are internally displaced within Sudan. Further, the situation in Sudan is becoming more complicated due to the outbreak of diseases. Cholera outbreak is rapidly sweeping through Sudan with more than 1000 cases reported daily. As the sanitation system is destroyed and access to clean water is limited, Sudanese people are forced to rely on contaminated sources, which cause the spread of water-borne diseases. The spread is also accelerated due to thousands of Sudanese returning after initially fleeing the country two years back. There is a possibility of cholera spreading further, particularly among the heavily crowded displacement centres where isolation is difficult. Also, with around 80% of hospitals out of service, treatment of patients and controlling the outbreak has become difficult.
Chad hosts about 850,000 Sudanese refugees and has seen a strain on its resources. The selling of smuggled goods is also on the rise in Chad. In South Sudan, the pouring in of refugees has aggravated the famine problem. South Sudan has also witnessed violence in the refugee camps
Role of External Powers
While in general, the North and Central African countries have provided a lucrative ground for external powers to push forward their strategic footprint, Sudan is no exception. Amid the crisis, countries such as the UAE, Egypt and Türkiye have been taking steps to forward their own interests in Sudan. Sudan has provided a fertile ground for the rivalry among the UAE, Egypt and Türkiye. Support to rival factions has facilitated the Middle Eastern powers to push forward their rivalry with other nations. The UAE and Egypt stand opposite each other in Sudan. The UAE supports the RSF and Egypt supports SAF. Similarly, the civil war in Sudan has widened the rift between the UAE and Türkiye as the two countries support rival factions. Türkiye, like Egypt, supports the SAF, which is causing friction with the UAE. The UAE’s support to the RSF has led to deteriorating ties with Sudan. Only recently, when the SAF gained an advantage over the RSF in some parts of Sudan, Abu Dhabi is considering normalizing ties with the SAF-led Khartoum.
Major powers of the world as well as multilateral institutions must make concerted efforts towards ending the civil war in Sudan, which would not only stabilise the North African region but also address the humanitarian crisis that the citizens of Sudan have been facing for the past more than two years
Spillover Effect
The prolonged crisis in Sudan is causing a spillover in the neighbouring countries. In particular, Chad, Egypt and South Sudan have borne the brunt of the civil war in Sudan, which is affecting the economies of these countries. Chad, which hosts about 850,000 Sudanese refugees has seen a strain on its resources such as firewood and water. The selling of smuggled goods is also on the rise in Chad. In South Sudan, the pouring in of refugees from Sudan has aggravated the famine problem. South Sudan has also witnessed violence in the refugee camps. Egypt, for its part, has faced challenges in making available adequate medical facilities to the refugees. Already Africa is grappling with several conflicts, notably in Ethiopia and South Sudan. The continuing civil war in Sudan is only adding to the regional instability and security concerns.
Despite its continuing deteriorating security situation, which affects regional stability in North Africa and its neighbourhood, Sudan has failed to attract the world’s attention. Major powers of the world as well as multilateral institutions must make concerted efforts towards ending the civil war in Sudan, which would not only stabilise the North African region but also address the humanitarian crisis that the citizens of Sudan have been facing for the past more than two years.
–The writer is an Independent Political Analyst and Researcher based in Vadodara. Follow him on Twitter: @NiranjanMarjani. The views expressed are of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Raksha Anirveda
