Sudan: RSF slaughter escalates

Since civil war returned to Sudan in April 2023, the Rapid Support Force (RSF), formerly the Janjaweed, responsible for much of the killing in the genocide in Darfur since 2003, has taken a murderous grip on much of the country.

UN figures state that seven million people have been displaced within Sudan, with 1.5 million fleeing the country. There are fears that the level of violence will escalate if the RSF seeks to take control of the northeast of the country, some of which is still controlled by the SAF.

The roots of the current conflict are in 2003 when armed resistance was growing among neglected non-Arab groups in the Darfur region in the west of Sudan. The response of the longtime dictator, Omar al-Bashir, was to foster an armed Arab militia, the Janjaweed. He used them not only to put down the armed rebellion but to launch a war against non-Arab civilians in the area. The Janjaweed not only killed but used mass rape as a weapon of genocide and ethnic cleansing.

Of Darfur’s population of six million (the targeted ethnic groups were only part of that population), between 2003 and 2005 an estimated 300,000 died, with a similar number fleeing as refugees to neighbouring Chad. A far greater number were displaced within Sudan. Although the intensity of attacks decreased after 2005, they never stopped.

In 2013 al-Bashir reorganised the Janjaweed to become a formalised state paramilitary force, the RSF. Under Mohamed Dagalo (Hemedti) the RSF seized resources in Darfur, notably gold mines. One mine is now reportedly run by the Russian mercenary Wagner Group, who have helped arm the RSF. The UAE has also armed the RSF.

Coup

Following months of popular protests and strikes in late 2018 and 2019, al-Bashir was toppled in a military coup in April 2019. Strikes and protests continued, leading to some of the leadership of the protest movement agreeing to form a transitional military-civilian government in August 2019. This was never stable, with the military pushing out its civilian partners. The working class struggled bravely but was never sufficiently organised as a force that could challenge for power.

In April 2023 the military block split with the regular army (SAF) and RSF turning on each other. (The SAF has its own record of war crimes.)

The main fighting was initially in the capital, Khartoum, which had been at the centre of the protests. Much of the population fled with the RSF controlling most of the city. The RSF controls part of the south and west, including large sections of Darfur, with reports of the resumption of genocide and ethnic cleansing, focused on the Masalit minority. Over a thousand civilians are said to have been massacred in Ardamata in November 2023.

In December 2023, the RSF took the southeastern city of Wad Madani, which had been considered an SAF stronghold, leaving the SAF’s grip on the country weakened. Many from Khartoum had fled to Wad Magani. There were reports of looting and rapes by the RSF.

At the same time as launching its International Court of Justice case against Israel, South Africa has hosted what amounted to a state visit for Dagalo (Hemedti). It previously allowed al-Bashir to visit despite the International Criminal Court warrant for his arrest.