Listen to This Article Enhance your reading experience by listening to this article.

It is now 18 months since a deadly civil war started in Sudan between army chief Fattah al-Burhan and the head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.

A power struggle degenerated into an all-out war that is still raging with no end in sight.

The devastation is unthinkable. Aid workers estimate the dead at 12,000. Both sides have been accused of war crimes, including killings, starvation, economic sabotage and displacements.

The World Health Organisation states that 12 million people have been displaced, and starvation is “everywhere”. It is being called the worst humanitarian crisis in decades by the United Nations. Sudan is a catastrophe in full cry!

The two generals are in no hurry to end their war. After all, the war has paid big dividends. They are proxies for powerful countries around the globe, and are being very heavily funded. They can now play the war games they have always craved.

They have accumulated huge financial war chests, and are on the speed dial of world leaders. They have finally achieved the global ‘recognition” they have always craved. Indeed, Dagalo was even recently flown to meet several African heads of state in an Emirati private jet.

As the generals enjoy their newfound international “status” (read notoriety), the war continues to devastate the Sudanese people.

The biggest problem is the international players behind this war, all of whom have zero morality, and whom the international community refuses to confront. They are operating in complete impunity.

The RSF is being financed and supplied by the United Arab Emirates. There are a reported 200,000 foreign mercenaries fighting alongside the paramilitary force, and it is being trained and supplied by Russia using its Wagner mercenaries. Chad is being used as a staging post to supply RSF.

Sudan’s army is being supplied by Iran, Yemen’s Houthi rebels, and Qatar. Ukranian mercenaries are fighting alongside it, and it has the support of Egypt. Sudan is a total mess.

There seems to be little appetite for peace talks. The few attempts made have been stuttering, and going in fits and starts. The warring parties decide whether or not to ignore them. Previous agreements have not been adhered to.

The two generals need to face some harsh realities. The war will not be won on the battlefield. None of them has the capacity to win this war of attrition.

They will just bomb Sudan back to the stone age. Contrary to the belief by the Sudanese army, there will be no end to the war until a peace deal and political settlement is reached and signed by both warring parties, as equals.

The sooner General al-Burhan accepts this harsh reality, the quicker the necessary psychological frame of mind will be created to facilitate the beginning of serious talks.

There are four perspectives to this war. First, the two parties are very well supplied. This war can go on ‘forever’. Secondly, the international community seems happy enough to keep playing this make-believe game that they are pursuing peace talks. It is stalemated.

Thirdly, Sudan’s diminished geopolitical significance has pushed it off the grid and into the back burner. Without the press coverage that is attending the Israel-Gaza and Ukraine-Russia wars, the Sudan conflict has become a forgotten war. The international community has become completely indifferent to the plight of millions in Sudan.

Four, only the African Union has the requisite urgency and gravitas to save Sudan. But where is the AU as rogue international states make the territory of its member state a playground for war games and stupid geopolitical gerrymandering?

Sudan has become an international war with Africans as hapless bystanders. This speaks volumes about how ineffectual the AU is as a force for pushing the continent’s agenda on the global stage.

African leaders need to do deep soul-searching. Given the fragility of the regimes they run, all African leaders must stay alive to the fact that they may be the ones facing the fire next time!

— Gathu Kaara can be reached at
[email protected]