Sudan-The Scourge Of Violence
No end in sight

There seems to be no end in sight to the unrelenting chaos being inflicted on the ordinary people of Sudan. And all because of the ambitions and egos of two men –General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Sudan's Head of State and Chief of the Sudanese army and his one- time ally and now rival, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti who heads the Rapid Support Forces.
Following major public protests, both men had participated in the coup in 2019, to oust strongman Omar Al Bashir. Initially, after Al Bashir’s ouster, the civilian Forces for Freedom and Change chose Abdalla Hamdok as the Prime Minister. But in 2021 he was pushed out by the two generals and Al-Burhan took over as the acting Head of State. Dagalo, from Darfur’s camel-herding Arab Rizeigat people, assumed responsibility as his number two.
Their subsequent falling out occurred because of the Framework Agreement based on a reconciliation agreement and security sector reform plan formulated by the United States and the U.N. mission in Sudan. It elevated Dagalo to equal status with Al Burhan rather than leaving him as Al Burhan’s deputy.
The security sector reform in the Framework Agreement envisioned a merger of the RSF with the regular army, something which was not acceptable to Dagalo. And the internal war pitting the army against the RSF started on 15 April 2023. Burhan removed Hemedti from his post in May 2023, and the RSF was officially disbanded by the Sudanese Armed Forces commander in September 2023. These moves took away the legitimacy that the RSF had enjoyed while Omar al Bashir ruled.
Till date the war had cost the lives of tens of thousands with continuous reports coming of famine, rape, compounded by severe flooding in the country. Observers had accused both sides of being responsible for massive human rights abuses. Sudan was a country of 50 million people.
By July 2024 the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) estimated that nearly 10 million people had been forcibly displaced. While about 7.7 million people were displaced internally, more than two million had fled to neighbouring countries – including Egypt, Chad, the Central African Republic and Ethiopia with Chad receiving the largest number.
Unfortunately the recent changes made by the Trump Administration to the USAID’s mandate—one of the largest providers of lifesaving food relief in Sudan— had resulted in the reported closure of over 60% of Sudanese-run emergency food kitchens
Sudan is now already split in two with the Sudanese army holding the centre, east and north, including the capital Khartoum, while the RSF and its allies control nearly all of Darfur and parts of the south. Shortly after the war started Hemedti forces had managed to take control of Khartoum and its surroundings. That had forced the Sudanese government to vacate the capital and set up base at Port Sudan.
In late May 2025, the Sudanese Government had held the United Arab Emirates responsible for an attack on Port Sudan and of military intervention in support of the RSF in the war. While the Emirates denied any involvement Sudan had severed diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates and declared it an “aggressor state”. The Sudanese Government had filed a case against the UAE at the International Court Of Justice.
It was only by March 2025 that the Army was able to take back control and drive the RSF out of central Sudan and retake Khartoum. Ousted from Khartoum Hemedti had changed tactics shifting from ground assaults to drone attacks on power stations, dams and other infrastructure in army-held territory. This long distance campaign had cut power across Khartoum and the surrounding state.
The intensity and duration of the fighting had been made possible only because the protagonists both had their own internal and external supporters. The countries meddling in the Sudan conflict included Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Qatar, Algeria, Libya, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Russia, China, Chad.
By late 2023 the RSF had ,not in a single decisive battle, but a gradual creeping process, weakened the Sudanese Armed Forces and taken control of Darfur, the source of much of Sudan’s gold with revenues estimated at $422 million a year. The Dagalo family’s holding company Al Junaid Holding Group had become a leading player in gold exports and reportedly gold smuggling. Hemedti had sourced modern weapons from Libya and funds and weapons from the United Arab Emirates though the United Arab Emirates continued to deny the allegation. According to Sudan researcher Eric Reeves, much of the RSF’s modern weaponry had been sourced from Libya from the caches left after the fall of Gaddafi..
Chad was said to have served as a conduit for United Arab Emirates weapons to the RSF. Russia had heavily invested in Sudan’s gold mining sector and Wagner’s collaboration with the RSF had helped it to exploit gold resources while financing the RSF’s military operations. Saudi Arabia had hosted several inconclusive peace talks between the two warring sides in the city of Jeddah but had basically aligned itself with the Sudanese government.
Egypt had steadily supported the Sudanese Government and General Burhan. According to statements from Hemedti the Egyptian air force had been active in Sudan on the side of the Sudanese army. Turkey had reportedly offered its Bayraktar drones to the army, and Qatar too had remained on General Burhan’s side. Algeria, opposed to the United Arab Emirates because it supported Morocco, had offered fighter jets to the Sudanese army. But Ethiopia and Eritrea were now supporting the RSF.
In June 2025 the RSF claimed to have seized an area bordering Egypt and Libya and the Sudanese Armed Forces had withdrawn from the area. In early June 2025 SAF had accused forces loyal to eastern Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar of launching a cross-border attack along with the RSF. Haftar denied involvement in the attack and accused a force affiliated with the Sudanese armed forces of attacking a military patrol deployed to secure the Libyan side of the border.
The conflicting agendas of the multitude of players in Sudan continued to jeopardise any chance of a peace deal. At the United Nations, Russia had vetoed a resolution on Sudan calling for an immediate cease-fire between the warring parties and facilitating the delivery of humanitarian aid. Russia took the position that Sudan’s government should be “solely” responsible for developments in Sudan.
On the political front in May 2025 Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah Burhan appointed Kamil Idris, a former UN official and ex-presidential candidate, as Prime Minister of Sudan's military-led government. The move came after Burhan’s initial choice of diplomat Dafallah al-Haj Ali as acting prime minister did not fructify.
For its part the RSF underGeneral Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, (Hemedti) designed a charter to form a "Government of Peace and Unity" in areas under their control. A cautionary note was struck by the United Nations Security Council warning that such a move would worsen the ongoing conflict, break up the country, and worsening the fragile humanitarian situation.
There had been little effort on the international level to work towards a resolution of the conflict and restoration of the economy. In late May 2025 it was reported that the US Administration was likely to impose sanctions on Sudan after determining its government had used chemical weapons in 2024. The U.S. had also determined that the RSF and its allies had committed genocide. The Trump administration was going to impose sanctions on some of the group's leaders including Hemedti. The actions being considered included limits on U.S. exports and U.S. government lines of credit.
The continuing conflict seriously damaged the Sudanese economy.
Urban households had been severely impacted with the war having created a significant deterioration of economic activity. Infrastructure, including roads and supply chains had been badly damaged hampering foreign trade. Including with neighbours Chad and Libya.
According to the IMF Sudan was likely to have a negative 20.3 % rate of Gross Domestic Product (GDP.) Inflation was over 200 percent while according to Sudanese official assessments state revenue had fallen over 80 %. The currency had depreciated drastically to over 300 %.
According to Statista the unemployment rate in Sudan was set to touch 61.98% in 2025. The African Development Bank Group had forecast a youth unemployment rate of 40% in 2025.
There appears to be little likelihood of an end to the fighting and a beginning towards restoring Sudan to the pre-conflict state. Some observers believe that Hemediti is relatively more flexible then Burhan as he has been seen to accept every initiative by any country wanting to stop the war in Sudan through peaceful and diplomatic means. But he has been vocal in accusing Egypt of supporting the Sudanese Armed Forces and demanded a curtailment of trade with that neighbour.
There is a sense that It is General Burhan who has been more rigid, including at talks sponsored by other countries, possibly because of a greater influence of Islamists in the army. Observers of the Sudanese situation believe that peace will come only when the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia agree on how to end the conflict.
Negotiations however may not succeed because of the divergent interests of external powers and the Sudanese people are likely to be doomed to a harsher future.