- The Sudanese Army claims the RSF, backed by the UAE, has not respected the earlier agreements and accused it of attacks on civilians and public facilities.
- A charge the RSF denies. The civil war in Sudan is a continuation of the racial and regional tensions that have been ongoing since its independence.
- It has experienced almost 11 military coups and 3 civil wars since independence making it one of the most politically unstable places in Africa.
Sudan is reeling under a civil war, that started on April 15, 2023, and has lasted for almost 16 months. The US-led peace talks in Geneva to end the civil war began with the participation of delegations from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, The UAE, The UN, and the African Union. However, the key missing parties were the armed forces and the paramilitary rapid support forces of the RSF.
The civil war in Sudan is a continuation of the racial and regional tensions that have been ongoing since its independence. It has experienced almost 11 military coups and 3 civil wars since independence making it one of the most politically unstable places in Africa. What had initially started as a power struggle between the SAF and the RSF then turned into a civil war that has drawn several militia and rebel groups, along with their foreign backers, into the conflict.
The civil war has resulted in one of the world’s largest humanitarian disasters. Sudan’s army had already rejected the peace talks days before, but the RSF had agreed and had sent a delegation to the talks but a last-minute change made them ditch the peace talks. They haven’t said the reason for the last-minute change yet. The previous discussions in Saudi Arabia last year had some agreements between the RSF and the army, and the Sudanese Army claims the RSF has not respected those agreements. It has accused the RSF of continuing its attacks on civilian, and public facilities. The RSF denies the accusations, and the delegation sent to Geneva is proof of its resolve to find common ground. They said they had called the army before they agreed to the peace talks. The army had accused the UAE of backing the RSF and objected to its presence at the peace talks.
What had initially started as a power struggle between the SAF and the RSF then turned into a civil war that has drawn several militia and rebel groups, along with their foreign backers, into the conflict.
Diaa Eldeen Awad a university professor in Sudan had said on behalf of the people that they will openly welcome any international entity that resolves to end the civil war, whether it be the US, Russia, or China.
The people aren’t very keen on UAE’s presence as they claim its support towards the RSF, which has attacked multiple civilians and public facilities like hospitals. The battle is very intense up north Darfur and it hosts the last operating hospital in the north Darfur region, supported by Doctors without Borders. The hospital had been causing a lot of damage by RSF attacks risking the closure of the hospital. The UN has said this is one of the deadliest humanitarian disasters that has happened in recent times, displacing almost 8 million people and thousands dead since its beginning last year.
The peace talks are bound to fail with “the negotiators talking to themselves without the gladiators in the room”, said Dr Oluwole Ojewale, regional coordinator at the Institute of Security Studies in Central Africa. Between May 2023 and August 2023, there have been 7 initiatives for peace talks, headed by external forces which the people of Sudan are keen on, which shows how geopolitics overshadow the actual necessities and atrocities caused by the war.
Prajwal K M 
Parag Gilada