Sudan’s civil war has marked 1000 days of fighting since the conflict erupted in April 2023.
More than 12 million people have been displaced as a result of the power struggle between Sudan’s armed forces and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group. Widespread violence, including allegations of a genocide in the western Darfur region, has led to at least 150,000 people being killed, alongside famine and a collapse of health systems in what the UN has called the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.
Peace talks in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain have failed, with attention increasingly focused on the international actors fueling the war: The UAE is accused of being the biggest weapons provider to the RSF, allegations it has denied. “At this point, the likely outcome of any peace process is that Sudan — whether united or divided — will end up as a vassal of the Gulf states,” Alex de Waal, executive director of the World Peace Foundation, wrote in Foreign Affairs. He noted that Africa was notably absent from “this game for control,” as Sudan has become “a prototype of a new kind of international war.”