Khalid Mustafa Medani is Chair of African Studies, Director of the Institute of Islamic Studies, and Associate Professor of Political Science at McGill University.
More than a year ago, the war in Sudan triggered what Médecins Sans Frontières calls a “catastrophic failure of humanity.” 9 million people have been evacuated, more than 10,000 have been killed, and more than 1 million people have been displaced. Human Rights Watch has reported war crimes and ethnic cleansing in the capital Khartoum and western Darfur, including extrajudicial killings, sexual violence as a means of war, and the targeting of thousands of civilians and villages. etc. are included. Almost half of the population faces emergency levels of food insecurity, 70 percent of hospitals and medical facilities in the war-torn region are out of commission, and infectious diseases are rampant.
Don't get me wrong. This is not a civil war. It is a war against civilians, with paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) generals and Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) leaders fighting over resources and territory, and a series of devastation that has been going on for years. This is part of the 20 years.
Indeed, while the entire country is in crisis, Darfur is once again experiencing the most devastating consequences of war. In the early 2000s, the Janjaweed militia of the Islamic regime of former Sudanese head of state Omar al-Bashir carried out a scorched-earth policy of ethnic cleansing in Darfur, resulting in the deaths of more than 200,000 civilians and an international attracted criticism. . Now, the RSF, an offshoot of the Janjaweed, is accused of further ethnic cleansing, including the killing of thousands of non-Arab civilians in West Darfur state's capital El Geneina last year. El Fasher, North Darfur's capital and home to a displaced persons camp, came under siege last week as the RSF and SAF prepared to fight for control. Satellite images suggest the region is on the brink of what one expert calls a “Hiroshima- or Nagasaki-level casualty.” Given the pattern of violence to date, El Fasher's 800,000 civilians are at risk of brutal war crimes.
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The international community must intervene immediately to save Sudanese civilians and work to build a sustainable peace using a range of international mechanisms that have proven effective in similar humanitarian crises. This includes the emergency reinstatement of the United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force, which was established in 2007 but abandoned in 2020 due to pressure from two parties to the conflict. Although it is difficult to implement, the international community must support such forces. This is the best way to ensure humanitarian corridors for the safe delivery of humanitarian aid and is a potential model for other war-torn regions.
Importantly, the international community must also learn from the failures of past interventions. The world needs to understand that the violence in Darfur stems from two individuals who led an all-out war against the Sudanese people and is not primarily the result of enduring animosity between ethnic communities. And regional and international actors must establish a united front to force peace negotiations under the credible threat of sanctions. Instead, multiple competing peace initiatives currently exist, including those led by the United States, Saudi Arabia, the African Union, and Egypt. These serve multiple purposes, giving warring parties various loopholes to continue fighting. In fact, a major reason why ceasefire negotiations fail is that international mediators are operating on the false hope that both generals will transform into political reformers.
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Finally, efforts to restore peace must be undertaken with the full participation of Sudan's civil society, the main stakeholders and victims of the war. In contrast to other civil wars, the parties to the conflict do not have significant constituency or legitimacy in Sudanese society. The war came after Sudan's 2018 democratic revolution in which it rejected military dictatorship. SAF and RSF targeted youth, academics, educators, women's rights groups, health workers, and community leaders in punishment. Humanitarian aid is sometimes captured by extremists or even diverted to punish civilians who oppose the war.
But only Sudanese civilians can advocate for human rights by bridging the gap between political officials and local communities, setting an agenda for a viable ceasefire, and fostering local dialogue and inter-ethnic cooperation. We can provide a platform for El Fasher's Elders and Mediation Committee offers one model on which to build. EMC leaders have strategically framed the war as a “conflict between the SAF and the RSF” rather than a conflict between Darfurians. They outlined a blueprint to protect all civilians. It established a subcommittee to monitor the ceasefire agreement and protect civilians from violations. With appropriate support from international organizations, such organizations can serve as effective oversight bodies.
After the Sudanese war in the 2000s, the international community virtually abandoned Sudan. Now, governments must stop the bloodshed and give their people a chance to build lasting peace by supporting courageous grassroots efforts.
