Sudanese groups signal continuation of conflict by mobilizing civilian fighters

This week, SAF leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan announced that they are mobilizing and opening their arms to civilians who agree to fight for the army.

The SAF is supported by some armed militia leaders as well as senior leaders of the ousted Omar al-Bashir regime. These leaders are now helping mobilize fighters in Al Jazeera Province, raising concerns about a repeat of the violence seen in eastern Al Jazeera.

Last week, RSF attacked villages in this province south of Khartoum, killing at least 120 people, according to rights monitors.

On October 30, the US State Department condemned the killings, but also suggested it would do little to stop foreign entities from arming the groups.

“The United States condemns the heinous attacks carried out by Sudanese Rapid Support Forces in Al Jazeera province last week,” State Department spokesman Mathew Miller said. “We call on RSF to immediately stop violence against civilians and stand with the people of Sudan to bring the conflict to a sustainable end.”

The RSF was supported by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) throughout the war. While Washington generally demands that all foreign entities halt arms supplies, it says foreign policy decisions are the prerogative of individual governments.

The UAE officially denies supplying weapons, but a United Nations expert team said there was credible evidence to the contrary.

RSF used access to humanitarian aid as a weapon to persuade civilians to join their ranks. Aid was denied to those who refused, as aid workers were prevented from reaching their areas, tortured or even killed, according to Amnesty International’s latest findings.

The watchdog also unequivocally accused the RSF, led by Mohamed Hamdan Daglo ‘Hemedti’, of war crimes, sounding the alarm about increasing sexual violence against women, particularly from ethnic groups perceived to be opposed to the RSF.

But human rights observers have reported violations of the law by both sides since the war began. And it points to the international community’s struggle to bring peace to warring factions that see war as the ultimate path to victory.

This week, US Special Representative for Sudan Tom Perriello traveled to Nairobi as part of a four-country tour that will also take him to Uganda, Saudi Arabia and Egypt; Countries in the region are considered to have the ear of one or both sides in the war.

Perriello is expected to “meet with Sudanese civil society leaders and government officials in host countries,” a statement said, adding that Perriello will also meet with “multilateral leaders.”

This would be his fifth visit to the region and he was expected to “emphasize the urgent need for humanitarian access to all parts of Sudan, the importance of civilian protection, the urgency of all efforts to end the war…”

This trip means the US sees a solution in establishing a third mediation track focused on more political groups beyond the SAF and RSF. But this failed several times.

Perriello has not visited Sudan since taking office in February; This may point to the difficulties of connecting audiences with real groups at war.

Egypt has had influence on the SAF, Kenya has had influence on the RSF and is a close ally of the UAE. However, Nairobi’s mediation in Sudan was rejected after the SAF claimed it was biased.

Both al-Burhan and Hemedti recently traveled to Nairobi for separate meetings. President William Ruto has also met several times with civic groups in Nairobi to push for a third way.

However, calling civilians to arms could be a dangerous move for Sudan. The announcement comes as humanitarian workers report disease outbreaks in 14 of Sudan’s 18 states, citing shortages of basic services and lack of security.

The uncontrolled arming of civilians and the escalation of hate speech also forced civilians to flee towards relatively safer states such as Gadarif, Kassala and Nile River states.

According to UN estimates, at least 18,000 people have died and nearly 12 million have been displaced; Three million of them took refuge in neighboring countries.