---
title: "Sudan's Partition: Ethnic Cleansing and the Push for a Divided State"
description: "There is a genocide unfolding in Sudan, one that is taking place far from the headlines and seemingly ignored by the international community. This crisis is not hidden; the perpetrators frequently record themselves undertaking ethnic killings and upload the footage to social media, while researchers track the razing of homes and the proliferation of mass graves via satellite. Despite continuous reports of ethnic cleansing, mass expulsions, and the systematic persecution of the Masalit and Zaghawa communities, the conflict remains overshadowed by wars in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. The fighting in Sudan has seen whole cities emptied of their inhabitants and burned, forcing millions into exile and reducing thousands to consuming grass and leaves to survive. Described by the United Nations as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, the situation now threatens to deteriorate even further as the nation moves closer to a permanent fracture.\n\n## Key Takeaways\n- On July 26, the Sudan Founding Alliance declared a parallel government in Nyala, South Darfur, led by RSF commander Hemedti, directly challenging the internationally recognized government in Port Sudan.\n- The Rapid Support Forces are actively seeking to partition Sudan along ethnic lines, targeting settled Black communities like the Masalit and Zaghawa in what the United States has formally called a genocide.\n- A Human Rights Watch report detailed a June 2023 RSF massacre in El-Geneina that left an estimated minimum of 10,000 Masalit civilians dead—a toll exceeding the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.\n- The current paramilitary forces evolved directly from the Janjaweed militias responsible for the original Darfur genocide two decades ago, and famine has been officially declared in parts of North Darfur.\n- Despite being described by the United Nations as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, the conflict remains largely ignored by the international community.\n\n## The Nyala Declaration and the Pivot to a Parallel Government\n\nThe trigger for this bleak assessment came on Saturday, July 26, when the Sudan Founding Alliance assembled in the regional South Darfur capital of Nyala to declare the formation of a new government. This new authority is intended to be headed by the commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the warlord known as Hemedti. The declaration immediately complicated the national crisis, as Sudan already possesses an internationally recognized government based over 1,500 kilometers east in the coastal city of Port Sudan, run by the head of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. The Nyala declaration follows months of SAF offensives that pushed Hemedti’s RSF out of Sudan’s central regions. Driven from the ruined capital of Khartoum in March, the RSF responded to these military setbacks by entrenching itself in its home region of Darfur, where it currently holds all territory except the besieged city of El-Fasher. Prior to the loss of the capital, it appeared that Hemedti was intent on winning the war and having himself declared the sole ruler of Sudan. With the fall of Khartoum, however, the paramilitary strategy shifted toward establishing a parallel government in the nation’s west. Although headed by the RSF, the new government has actively attempted to broaden its appeal beyond the nomadic Arab tribes from which the paramilitaries originally sprang. The vice presidency was granted to the head of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, which dominates the Nuba Mountains and controls swaths of South Kordofan and Blue Nile states in southern Sudan. Other key posts have gone to rebel groups such as the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Forces Gathering, while civilian politician Mohamed Hassan Al-Ta’aishi has assumed the role of prime minister.\n\n## Partition Risks and the Ideology of Ethnic Cleansing\n\nDespite the inclusion of various political factions, the parallel government exists primarily to cement Hemedti's hold over Darfur and to pave the way for what may be the RSF's ultimate goal: partition. This strategy risks cleaving Sudan into two separate states drawn along ethnic lines, echoing the deeply destabilizing division previously seen in Libya. By institutionalizing its authority and appointing a rival presidential council, the RSF has reinforced its refusal to recognize the Port Sudan-based military leadership, entrenching the political divide. The SAF has consistently viewed discussions regarding a parallel government as illegitimate and destabilizing, making the already-remote prospects of a ceasefire increasingly distant. The push for partition is fundamentally rooted in the ethnic and social dynamics of the region. The nomadic Arab populations that make up the RSF's base of support have long felt marginalized by the political elite in the nation's center and actively seek to rule their own ethnic statelet in Darfur. However, Darfur is historically home to other established ethnicities, such as the Masalit and Zaghawa. Rather than viewing these settled Black communities as political rivals to be negotiated with, RSF factions actively seek their removal to establish an ethnically homogenous territory. The extreme actions taken to effect this cleansing form the basis for international charges of genocide. The rhetoric utilized by the paramilitaries frequently characterizes these settled populations as an unclean presence that must be systematically eradicated from the land. This ideological framing translates directly into the targeted mass violence observed across the region, fundamentally distinguishing the atrocities in Darfur from the broader, albeit devastating, combat operations occurring elsewhere in the country.\n\n## The Broader Apocalyptic War vs. Targeted Genocide\n\nBefore detailing the precise nature of the ethnic killings in Darfur, it is necessary to understand how they differ from the rest of the violence engulfing Sudan. The fighting nationwide is apocalyptic; although accurate data is difficult to verify, it is widely assumed that at least 150,000 people have been killed, with at least 15 million forced to flee their homes and 30 million struggling to feed themselves. The war has been defined by severe atrocities committed by both primary factions. The SAF is notorious for indiscriminately bombing civilian neighborhoods and summarily executing civilians it suspects of collaborating with the RSF, including recent airstrikes on markets and civilian shelters that resulted in the deaths of children. The government in Port Sudan has also fueled the nationwide hunger crisis by refusing to allow aid into areas controlled by the RSF. Conversely, the actions of the RSF outside of Darfur have been equally brutal. During the period the paramilitaries controlled Khartoum, they established torture centers where hundreds of residents disappeared. In other regions, RSF forces have burned crops, looted entire cities, and committed a staggering number of sexual assaults. The conflict has seen maternity hospitals bombed causing roofs to collapse onto infants, refugee camps shelled, and streets filled with corpses, providing war crimes prosecutors with ample evidence against both Hemedti and General al-Burhan. Consequently, the United States sanctioned the SAF earlier this year for crimes against humanity. Yet, it is only in Darfur that mass ethnic killings appear to be taking place on a systematic scale. The United States remains largely alone in formally accusing the RSF of carrying out a genocide, though the United Nations warned in June that the risk of genocide in Darfur was very high. In July, Médecins Sans Frontières published a report condemning both factions while specifically noting that civilians in Darfur are actively targeted by the RSF and its allies on the basis of their ethnicity.\n\n## Historical Context: Janjaweed Origins and Echoes of Past Massacres\n\nThe current violence in Darfur is deeply connected to the historical context of the region, specifically the origins of the RSF. The paramilitary group grew directly out of the Janjaweed militias responsible for carrying out the original Darfur genocide twenty years ago. During that period, nomadic Arab fighters systematically slaughtered members of the sedentary Zaghawa, Masalit, and Fur communities as part of a complex wider war. Those killings ultimately led to Sudan’s then-dictator Omar al-Bashir being indicted on genocide charges by the International Criminal Court. Today, it appears that the legacy of the Janjaweed has returned in a newly militarized form to resume those ethnic purges. This historical continuity is evident in the siege of El-Fasher, a North Darfuri capital of approximately one million inhabitants that remains the last holdout against the RSF in a region larger than California. Surrounded and subjected to brutal bombardment, the city has resisted largely because local militias recognize the historical pattern of slaughter that follows an RSF victory. Fighters have spoken openly about plans to \"clean\" El-Fasher, signaling the intended removal or destruction of its non-Arab communities. Earlier this year, when the RSF overran the Zamzam refugee camp outside El-Fasher, paramilitaries rampaged for four days, firing machine guns into crowds, burning homes, and explicitly seeking out and executing individuals belonging to the Zaghawa ethnic group. The massacre at Zamzam mirrors a previous slaughter orchestrated by the paramilitaries in the city of El-Geneina in 2023. Following ethnic fighting between the RSF and armed Masalit groups, the city fell, resulting in the organized mass killing of Masalit civilians. A Human Rights Watch report detailed how the violence culminated on June 15, when the RSF and its allies opened fire on a kilometers-long convoy of civilians desperately trying to flee. The paramilitaries pursued, rounded up, and shot men, women, and children in the streets, resulting in an estimated minimum of 10,000 deaths—a death toll exceeding the 1995 Srebrenica massacre. Furthermore, the International Criminal Court is actively investigating targeted sexual violence in the region, confirming that women and girls are being attacked on the basis of their ethnicity.\n\n## Destabilization, Famine, and Global Apathy\n\nThe implications of the escalating conflict extend well beyond immediate massacres, threatening widespread famine and regional destabilization. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification has declared parts of North Darfur and sections of the Nuba Mountains to already be in a state of famine. Following two years of interrupted and poor harvests, the number of people facing starvation is projected to grow exponentially, particularly during the lean season extending through October. In the first five months of the year alone, UNICEF reported treating 40,000 children for severe malnutrition, a figure expected to multiply as fighting intensifies in oil-rich Kordofan, where the army is attempting to establish a forward base for attacks into Darfur. Geopolitically, the announcement of a parallel government in Darfur dramatically increases the risk of Sudan’s formal partition along historical fault lines. While regions like the Nuba Mountains have legitimate historical grievances rooted in aggressive land grabs by central elites, a Libyan-style partition of a nation harboring nearly seven times Libya's population would unleash unprecedented chaos. Multiple neighbors and regional powers could soon be forced to recognize competing governments, igniting a broader geopolitical struggle. The Sudanese government has already lodged a genocide case at the International Court of Justice against the United Arab Emirates, alleging the UAE has supplied the RSF with weapons, though the ICJ ruled it lacked jurisdiction due to a 2005 treaty reservation. Despite the sheer scale of the crisis, the international response has been characterized by profound apathy. While the original Darfur genocide prompted massive global campaigns fronted by celebrities in the 2000s, the current atrocities are met with relative silence from the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, the African Union, and other global powers. As Alan Boswell of the International Crisis Group observed, dedicating even a fraction of the diplomatic energy currently focused on crises like Gaza and Ukraine could potentially save tens of thousands of lives in Sudan. The failure of the international community to intervene actively permits this engineered catastrophe to continue unfolding unchecked.\n\n## Frequently Asked Questions\n\n### Who are Hemedti and General al-Burhan, and why are they fighting?\n\nHemedti is the commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and has declared a parallel government in Nyala, South Darfur, aimed at partitioning Sudan along ethnic lines. General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan heads the Sudanese Armed Forces and leads the internationally recognized government in Port Sudan. The two men were allies in a 2021 coup, but a growing rift escalated into open war in April 2023. Both have been accused of war crimes: the United States sanctioned the SAF for crimes against humanity while formally accusing the RSF of genocide.\n\n### What was the significance of the Nyala declaration on July 26?\n\nOn July 26, the Sudan Founding Alliance assembled in Nyala, South Darfur, and declared a new parallel government headed by Hemedti, with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North holding the vice presidency and civilian politician Mohamed Hassan Al-Ta’aishi serving as prime minister. The declaration followed the RSF’s military setbacks in Sudan’s central regions, including the loss of Khartoum in March, and represents a shift toward entrenching RSF authority in Darfur as a step toward permanent partition.\n\n### What distinguishes the ethnic killings in Darfur from the broader violence in Sudan?\n\nWhile the nationwide conflict has resulted in at least 150,000 deaths through indiscriminate bombing, torture, and crop burning by both sides, the killings in Darfur follow a distinct ideological pattern: the RSF and its allies systematically target settled Black communities—the Masalit and Zaghawa—on the basis of their ethnicity, using rhetoric that characterizes them as an unclean presence to be eradicated. This targeted ethnic cleansing is what led the United States to formally call the situation a genocide, a designation not applied to the broader conflict.\n\n### What is the historical connection between the RSF and the original Darfur genocide?\n\nThe RSF grew directly out of the Janjaweed militias that carried out the original Darfur genocide roughly two decades ago, when nomadic Arab fighters systematically slaughtered members of the Zaghawa, Masalit, and Fur communities. That earlier genocide led to Sudan’s then-dictator Omar al-Bashir being indicted by the International Criminal Court. The same ethnic targeting has resumed in a newly militarized form, most visibly in the RSF’s siege of El-Fasher and its massacre at the Zamzam refugee camp, where paramilitaries explicitly hunted Zaghawa individuals.\n\n### How severe is the humanitarian crisis, and why has the world largely ignored it?\n\nThe United Nations has described Sudan’s crisis as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, with at least 15 million displaced and 30 million struggling to feed themselves. Famine has been officially declared in parts of North Darfur, and UNICEF reported treating 40,000 children for severe malnutrition in the first five months of the year alone. Despite this scale, global attention remains largely focused on wars in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Alan Boswell of the International Crisis Group has observed that even a fraction of the diplomatic energy devoted to those conflicts could potentially save tens of thousands of lives in Sudan.\n\n## Related Coverage\n- [Sudan's Forgotten War: Why the World Looks Away](https://warfronts.pub/conflicts/sudans-forgotten-war)\n- [The Year the World Changed: Understanding the Shift in Global Order](https://warfronts-prod.fulcrum-labs.workers.dev/conflicts/the-year-the-world-changed-understanding-the-shift-in-global-order)\n- [Sudan's Ignored Genocide and the Tragic Fall of El-Fasher](https://warfronts.pub/conflicts/sudans-ignored-genocide-and-tragic-fall-of-el-fasher)\n- [South Sudan is on Fire. Here's Why. (And More)](https://warfronts.pub/conflicts/south-sudan-is-on-fire-heres-why-and-more)\n- [South Sudan on the Brink: Nation Faces Collapse](https://warfronts-prod.fulcrum-labs.workers.dev/conflicts/south-sudan-on-the-brink-collapse)\n\n## Sources\n1. <https://sudanwarmonitor.com/p/hemedti-named-president-of-rsf-led>\n2. <https://www.rfi.fr/en/africa/20250704-civilians-in-sudanese-city-el-fasher-at-risk-from-mass-killings-and-starvation-medecins-sans-frontieres-msf-report>\n3. <https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg819yxkp5o>\n4. <https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/05/09/sudan-ethnic-cleansing-west-darfur>\n5. <https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/feb/29/sudans-war-leaves-deep-scars-in-geneina-a-city-of-two-massacres>\n6. <https://2021-2025.state.gov/genocide-determination-in-sudan-and-imposing-accountability-measures/>\n7. <https://worldpeacefoundation.org/blog/sudan-genocide-case/>\n8. <https://www.theguardian.com/law/2025/may/05/sudan-fails-in-attempt-to-make-uae-accountable-for-acts-of-genocide>\n9. <https://www.msf.org/besieged-attacked-starved-mass-atrocities-el-fasher>\n10. <https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/darfur>\n11. <https://operationbrokensilence.org/our-work>\n12. <https://www.newarab.com/news/risk-genocide-sudan-very-high-un>\n13. <https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/07/world/africa/sudan-genocide-numbers.html>\n14. <https://thearabweekly.com/kordofan-becomes-epicentre-intensifying-war-sudans-conflict-escalates>\n15. <https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/07/17/sudan-a-war-of-attrition-a-war-on-civilians/>\n16. <https://sudanwarmonitor.com/p/rsf-rampages-through-north-kordofan>\n17. <https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/yale-hrl-report-corroborates-rsf-massacre-in-north-kordofan>\n18. <https://www.dw.com/en/why-is-the-world-ignoring-the-sudan-civil-war/a-69364378>\n19. <https://www.nytimes.com/video/world/africa/100000009893408/sudan-war-crimes-rsf.html?searchResultPosition=1>\n20. <https://sudantribune.com/article303319/>\n21. <https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/7/28/why-sudans-rsf-chose-this-parallel-government-ahead-of-peace-talks>\n22. <https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/07/1165516>\n\n[1]: https://sudanwarmonitor.com/p/hemedti-named-president-of-rsf-led\n[2]: https://www.rfi.fr/en/africa/20250704-civilians-in-sudanese-city-el-fasher-at-risk-from-mass-killings-and-starvation-medecins-sans-frontieres-msf-report\n[3]: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg819yxkp5o\n[4]: https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/05/09/sudan-ethnic-cleansing-west-darfur\n[5]: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/feb/29/sudans-war-leaves-deep-scars-in-geneina-a-city-of-two-massacres\n[6]: https://2021-2025.state.gov/genocide-determination-in-sudan-and-imposing-accountability-measures/\n[7]: https://worldpeacefoundation.org/blog/sudan-genocide-case/\n[8]: https://www.theguardian.com/law/2025/may/05/sudan-fails-in-attempt-to-make-uae-accountable-for-acts-of-genocide\n[9]: https://www.msf.org/besieged-attacked-starved-mass-atrocities-el-fasher\n[10]: https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/darfur\n[11]: https://operationbrokensilence.org/our-work\n[12]: https://www.newarab.com/news/risk-genocide-sudan-very-high-un\n[13]: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/07/world/africa/sudan-genocide-numbers.html\n[14]: https://thearabweekly.com/kordofan-becomes-epicentre-intensifying-war-sudans-conflict-escalates\n[15]: https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/07/17/sudan-a-war-of-attrition-a-war-on-civilians/\n[16]: https://sudanwarmonitor.com/p/rsf-rampages-through-north-kordofan\n[17]: https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/yale-hrl-report-corroborates-rsf-massacre-in-north-kordofan\n[18]: https://www.dw.com/en/why-is-the-world-ignoring-the-sudan-civil-war/a-69364378\n[19]: https://www.nytimes.com/video/world/africa/100000009893408/sudan-war-crimes-rsf.html?searchResultPosition=1\n[20]: https://sudantribune.com/article303319/\n[21]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/7/28/why-sudans-rsf-chose-this-parallel-government-ahead-of-peace-talks\n[22]: https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/07/1165516\n\n<!-- youtube:r6rTshOg_a0 -->"
url: https://warfronts.pub/article/sudan-partition-ethnic-cleansing-darfur-crisis.md
canonical: https://warfronts.pub/article/sudan-partition-ethnic-cleansing-darfur-crisis
datePublished: 2026-03-03
dateModified: 2026-03-03
author:
  - name: Simon Whistler
    url: https://warfronts.pub/author/simon-whistler
publisher: Warfronts
image: "https://media.warfronts.pub/cdn-cgi/image/width=1600,height=900,fit=cover,quality=80,format=auto/articles/r6rTshOg_a0/hero.jpg"
type: NewsArticle
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summaryUrl: https://warfronts.pub/article/sudan-partition-ethnic-cleansing-darfur-crisis.md.summary.md
---

<!-- aeo:section start="lede" -->
There is a genocide unfolding in Sudan, one that is taking place far from the headlines and seemingly ignored by the international community. This crisis is not hidden; the perpetrators frequently record themselves undertaking ethnic killings and upload the footage to social media, while researchers track the razing of homes and the proliferation of mass graves via satellite. Despite continuous reports of ethnic cleansing, mass expulsions, and the systematic persecution of the Masalit and Zaghawa communities, the conflict remains overshadowed by wars in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. The fighting in Sudan has seen whole cities emptied of their inhabitants and burned, forcing millions into exile and reducing thousands to consuming grass and leaves to survive. Described by the United Nations as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, the situation now threatens to deteriorate even further as the nation moves closer to a permanent fracture.

<!-- aeo:section end="lede" -->
<!-- aeo:section start="key-takeaways" -->
## Key Takeaways
- On July 26, the Sudan Founding Alliance declared a parallel government in Nyala, South Darfur, led by RSF commander Hemedti, directly challenging the internationally recognized government in Port Sudan.
- The Rapid Support Forces are actively seeking to partition Sudan along ethnic lines, targeting settled Black communities like the Masalit and Zaghawa in what the United States has formally called a genocide.
- A Human Rights Watch report detailed a June 2023 RSF massacre in El-Geneina that left an estimated minimum of 10,000 Masalit civilians dead—a toll exceeding the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.
- The current paramilitary forces evolved directly from the Janjaweed militias responsible for the original Darfur genocide two decades ago, and famine has been officially declared in parts of North Darfur.
- Despite being described by the United Nations as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, the conflict remains largely ignored by the international community.

<!-- aeo:section end="key-takeaways" -->
<!-- aeo:section start="the-nyala-declaration-and-the-pivot-to-a-parallel-government" -->
## The Nyala Declaration and the Pivot to a Parallel Government

The trigger for this bleak assessment came on Saturday, July 26, when the Sudan Founding Alliance assembled in the regional South Darfur capital of Nyala to declare the formation of a new government. This new authority is intended to be headed by the commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the warlord known as Hemedti. The declaration immediately complicated the national crisis, as Sudan already possesses an internationally recognized government based over 1,500 kilometers east in the coastal city of Port Sudan, run by the head of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. The Nyala declaration follows months of SAF offensives that pushed Hemedti’s RSF out of Sudan’s central regions. Driven from the ruined capital of Khartoum in March, the RSF responded to these military setbacks by entrenching itself in its home region of Darfur, where it currently holds all territory except the besieged city of El-Fasher. Prior to the loss of the capital, it appeared that Hemedti was intent on winning the war and having himself declared the sole ruler of Sudan. With the fall of Khartoum, however, the paramilitary strategy shifted toward establishing a parallel government in the nation’s west. Although headed by the RSF, the new government has actively attempted to broaden its appeal beyond the nomadic Arab tribes from which the paramilitaries originally sprang. The vice presidency was granted to the head of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, which dominates the Nuba Mountains and controls swaths of South Kordofan and Blue Nile states in southern Sudan. Other key posts have gone to rebel groups such as the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Forces Gathering, while civilian politician Mohamed Hassan Al-Ta’aishi has assumed the role of prime minister.

<!-- aeo:section end="the-nyala-declaration-and-the-pivot-to-a-parallel-government" -->
<!-- aeo:section start="partition-risks-and-the-ideology-of-ethnic-cleansing" -->
## Partition Risks and the Ideology of Ethnic Cleansing

Despite the inclusion of various political factions, the parallel government exists primarily to cement Hemedti's hold over Darfur and to pave the way for what may be the RSF's ultimate goal: partition. This strategy risks cleaving Sudan into two separate states drawn along ethnic lines, echoing the deeply destabilizing division previously seen in Libya. By institutionalizing its authority and appointing a rival presidential council, the RSF has reinforced its refusal to recognize the Port Sudan-based military leadership, entrenching the political divide. The SAF has consistently viewed discussions regarding a parallel government as illegitimate and destabilizing, making the already-remote prospects of a ceasefire increasingly distant. The push for partition is fundamentally rooted in the ethnic and social dynamics of the region. The nomadic Arab populations that make up the RSF's base of support have long felt marginalized by the political elite in the nation's center and actively seek to rule their own ethnic statelet in Darfur. However, Darfur is historically home to other established ethnicities, such as the Masalit and Zaghawa. Rather than viewing these settled Black communities as political rivals to be negotiated with, RSF factions actively seek their removal to establish an ethnically homogenous territory. The extreme actions taken to effect this cleansing form the basis for international charges of genocide. The rhetoric utilized by the paramilitaries frequently characterizes these settled populations as an unclean presence that must be systematically eradicated from the land. This ideological framing translates directly into the targeted mass violence observed across the region, fundamentally distinguishing the atrocities in Darfur from the broader, albeit devastating, combat operations occurring elsewhere in the country.

<!-- aeo:section end="partition-risks-and-the-ideology-of-ethnic-cleansing" -->
<!-- aeo:section start="the-broader-apocalyptic-war-vs-targeted-genocide" -->
## The Broader Apocalyptic War vs. Targeted Genocide

Before detailing the precise nature of the ethnic killings in Darfur, it is necessary to understand how they differ from the rest of the violence engulfing Sudan. The fighting nationwide is apocalyptic; although accurate data is difficult to verify, it is widely assumed that at least 150,000 people have been killed, with at least 15 million forced to flee their homes and 30 million struggling to feed themselves. The war has been defined by severe atrocities committed by both primary factions. The SAF is notorious for indiscriminately bombing civilian neighborhoods and summarily executing civilians it suspects of collaborating with the RSF, including recent airstrikes on markets and civilian shelters that resulted in the deaths of children. The government in Port Sudan has also fueled the nationwide hunger crisis by refusing to allow aid into areas controlled by the RSF. Conversely, the actions of the RSF outside of Darfur have been equally brutal. During the period the paramilitaries controlled Khartoum, they established torture centers where hundreds of residents disappeared. In other regions, RSF forces have burned crops, looted entire cities, and committed a staggering number of sexual assaults. The conflict has seen maternity hospitals bombed causing roofs to collapse onto infants, refugee camps shelled, and streets filled with corpses, providing war crimes prosecutors with ample evidence against both Hemedti and General al-Burhan. Consequently, the United States sanctioned the SAF earlier this year for crimes against humanity. Yet, it is only in Darfur that mass ethnic killings appear to be taking place on a systematic scale. The United States remains largely alone in formally accusing the RSF of carrying out a genocide, though the United Nations warned in June that the risk of genocide in Darfur was very high. In July, Médecins Sans Frontières published a report condemning both factions while specifically noting that civilians in Darfur are actively targeted by the RSF and its allies on the basis of their ethnicity.

<!-- aeo:section end="the-broader-apocalyptic-war-vs-targeted-genocide" -->
<!-- aeo:section start="historical-context-janjaweed-origins-and-echoes-of-past-massacre" -->
## Historical Context: Janjaweed Origins and Echoes of Past Massacres

The current violence in Darfur is deeply connected to the historical context of the region, specifically the origins of the RSF. The paramilitary group grew directly out of the Janjaweed militias responsible for carrying out the original Darfur genocide twenty years ago. During that period, nomadic Arab fighters systematically slaughtered members of the sedentary Zaghawa, Masalit, and Fur communities as part of a complex wider war. Those killings ultimately led to Sudan’s then-dictator Omar al-Bashir being indicted on genocide charges by the International Criminal Court. Today, it appears that the legacy of the Janjaweed has returned in a newly militarized form to resume those ethnic purges. This historical continuity is evident in the siege of El-Fasher, a North Darfuri capital of approximately one million inhabitants that remains the last holdout against the RSF in a region larger than California. Surrounded and subjected to brutal bombardment, the city has resisted largely because local militias recognize the historical pattern of slaughter that follows an RSF victory. Fighters have spoken openly about plans to "clean" El-Fasher, signaling the intended removal or destruction of its non-Arab communities. Earlier this year, when the RSF overran the Zamzam refugee camp outside El-Fasher, paramilitaries rampaged for four days, firing machine guns into crowds, burning homes, and explicitly seeking out and executing individuals belonging to the Zaghawa ethnic group. The massacre at Zamzam mirrors a previous slaughter orchestrated by the paramilitaries in the city of El-Geneina in 2023. Following ethnic fighting between the RSF and armed Masalit groups, the city fell, resulting in the organized mass killing of Masalit civilians. A Human Rights Watch report detailed how the violence culminated on June 15, when the RSF and its allies opened fire on a kilometers-long convoy of civilians desperately trying to flee. The paramilitaries pursued, rounded up, and shot men, women, and children in the streets, resulting in an estimated minimum of 10,000 deaths—a death toll exceeding the 1995 Srebrenica massacre. Furthermore, the International Criminal Court is actively investigating targeted sexual violence in the region, confirming that women and girls are being attacked on the basis of their ethnicity.

<!-- aeo:section end="historical-context-janjaweed-origins-and-echoes-of-past-massacre" -->
<!-- aeo:section start="destabilization-famine-and-global-apathy" -->
## Destabilization, Famine, and Global Apathy

The implications of the escalating conflict extend well beyond immediate massacres, threatening widespread famine and regional destabilization. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification has declared parts of North Darfur and sections of the Nuba Mountains to already be in a state of famine. Following two years of interrupted and poor harvests, the number of people facing starvation is projected to grow exponentially, particularly during the lean season extending through October. In the first five months of the year alone, UNICEF reported treating 40,000 children for severe malnutrition, a figure expected to multiply as fighting intensifies in oil-rich Kordofan, where the army is attempting to establish a forward base for attacks into Darfur. Geopolitically, the announcement of a parallel government in Darfur dramatically increases the risk of Sudan’s formal partition along historical fault lines. While regions like the Nuba Mountains have legitimate historical grievances rooted in aggressive land grabs by central elites, a Libyan-style partition of a nation harboring nearly seven times Libya's population would unleash unprecedented chaos. Multiple neighbors and regional powers could soon be forced to recognize competing governments, igniting a broader geopolitical struggle. The Sudanese government has already lodged a genocide case at the International Court of Justice against the United Arab Emirates, alleging the UAE has supplied the RSF with weapons, though the ICJ ruled it lacked jurisdiction due to a 2005 treaty reservation. Despite the sheer scale of the crisis, the international response has been characterized by profound apathy. While the original Darfur genocide prompted massive global campaigns fronted by celebrities in the 2000s, the current atrocities are met with relative silence from the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, the African Union, and other global powers. As Alan Boswell of the International Crisis Group observed, dedicating even a fraction of the diplomatic energy currently focused on crises like Gaza and Ukraine could potentially save tens of thousands of lives in Sudan. The failure of the international community to intervene actively permits this engineered catastrophe to continue unfolding unchecked.

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## Frequently Asked Questions

### Who are Hemedti and General al-Burhan, and why are they fighting?

Hemedti is the commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and has declared a parallel government in Nyala, South Darfur, aimed at partitioning Sudan along ethnic lines. General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan heads the Sudanese Armed Forces and leads the internationally recognized government in Port Sudan. The two men were allies in a 2021 coup, but a growing rift escalated into open war in April 2023. Both have been accused of war crimes: the United States sanctioned the SAF for crimes against humanity while formally accusing the RSF of genocide.

### What was the significance of the Nyala declaration on July 26?

On July 26, the Sudan Founding Alliance assembled in Nyala, South Darfur, and declared a new parallel government headed by Hemedti, with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North holding the vice presidency and civilian politician Mohamed Hassan Al-Ta’aishi serving as prime minister. The declaration followed the RSF’s military setbacks in Sudan’s central regions, including the loss of Khartoum in March, and represents a shift toward entrenching RSF authority in Darfur as a step toward permanent partition.

### What distinguishes the ethnic killings in Darfur from the broader violence in Sudan?

While the nationwide conflict has resulted in at least 150,000 deaths through indiscriminate bombing, torture, and crop burning by both sides, the killings in Darfur follow a distinct ideological pattern: the RSF and its allies systematically target settled Black communities—the Masalit and Zaghawa—on the basis of their ethnicity, using rhetoric that characterizes them as an unclean presence to be eradicated. This targeted ethnic cleansing is what led the United States to formally call the situation a genocide, a designation not applied to the broader conflict.

### What is the historical connection between the RSF and the original Darfur genocide?

The RSF grew directly out of the Janjaweed militias that carried out the original Darfur genocide roughly two decades ago, when nomadic Arab fighters systematically slaughtered members of the Zaghawa, Masalit, and Fur communities. That earlier genocide led to Sudan’s then-dictator Omar al-Bashir being indicted by the International Criminal Court. The same ethnic targeting has resumed in a newly militarized form, most visibly in the RSF’s siege of El-Fasher and its massacre at the Zamzam refugee camp, where paramilitaries explicitly hunted Zaghawa individuals.

### How severe is the humanitarian crisis, and why has the world largely ignored it?

The United Nations has described Sudan’s crisis as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, with at least 15 million displaced and 30 million struggling to feed themselves. Famine has been officially declared in parts of North Darfur, and UNICEF reported treating 40,000 children for severe malnutrition in the first five months of the year alone. Despite this scale, global attention remains largely focused on wars in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Alan Boswell of the International Crisis Group has observed that even a fraction of the diplomatic energy devoted to those conflicts could potentially save tens of thousands of lives in Sudan.

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<!-- aeo:section start="related-coverage" -->
## Related Coverage
- [Sudan's Forgotten War: Why the World Looks Away](https://warfronts.pub/conflicts/sudans-forgotten-war)
- [The Year the World Changed: Understanding the Shift in Global Order](https://warfronts-prod.fulcrum-labs.workers.dev/conflicts/the-year-the-world-changed-understanding-the-shift-in-global-order)
- [Sudan's Ignored Genocide and the Tragic Fall of El-Fasher](https://warfronts.pub/conflicts/sudans-ignored-genocide-and-tragic-fall-of-el-fasher)
- [South Sudan is on Fire. Here's Why. (And More)](https://warfronts.pub/conflicts/south-sudan-is-on-fire-heres-why-and-more)
- [South Sudan on the Brink: Nation Faces Collapse](https://warfronts-prod.fulcrum-labs.workers.dev/conflicts/south-sudan-on-the-brink-collapse)

<!-- aeo:section end="related-coverage" -->
<!-- aeo:section start="sources" -->
## Sources
1. <https://sudanwarmonitor.com/p/hemedti-named-president-of-rsf-led>
2. <https://www.rfi.fr/en/africa/20250704-civilians-in-sudanese-city-el-fasher-at-risk-from-mass-killings-and-starvation-medecins-sans-frontieres-msf-report>
3. <https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg819yxkp5o>
4. <https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/05/09/sudan-ethnic-cleansing-west-darfur>
5. <https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/feb/29/sudans-war-leaves-deep-scars-in-geneina-a-city-of-two-massacres>
6. <https://2021-2025.state.gov/genocide-determination-in-sudan-and-imposing-accountability-measures/>
7. <https://worldpeacefoundation.org/blog/sudan-genocide-case/>
8. <https://www.theguardian.com/law/2025/may/05/sudan-fails-in-attempt-to-make-uae-accountable-for-acts-of-genocide>
9. <https://www.msf.org/besieged-attacked-starved-mass-atrocities-el-fasher>
10. <https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/darfur>
11. <https://operationbrokensilence.org/our-work>
12. <https://www.newarab.com/news/risk-genocide-sudan-very-high-un>
13. <https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/07/world/africa/sudan-genocide-numbers.html>
14. <https://thearabweekly.com/kordofan-becomes-epicentre-intensifying-war-sudans-conflict-escalates>
15. <https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/07/17/sudan-a-war-of-attrition-a-war-on-civilians/>
16. <https://sudanwarmonitor.com/p/rsf-rampages-through-north-kordofan>
17. <https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/yale-hrl-report-corroborates-rsf-massacre-in-north-kordofan>
18. <https://www.dw.com/en/why-is-the-world-ignoring-the-sudan-civil-war/a-69364378>
19. <https://www.nytimes.com/video/world/africa/100000009893408/sudan-war-crimes-rsf.html?searchResultPosition=1>
20. <https://sudantribune.com/article303319/>
21. <https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/7/28/why-sudans-rsf-chose-this-parallel-government-ahead-of-peace-talks>
22. <https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/07/1165516>

[1]: https://sudanwarmonitor.com/p/hemedti-named-president-of-rsf-led
[2]: https://www.rfi.fr/en/africa/20250704-civilians-in-sudanese-city-el-fasher-at-risk-from-mass-killings-and-starvation-medecins-sans-frontieres-msf-report
[3]: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg819yxkp5o
[4]: https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/05/09/sudan-ethnic-cleansing-west-darfur
[5]: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/feb/29/sudans-war-leaves-deep-scars-in-geneina-a-city-of-two-massacres
[6]: https://2021-2025.state.gov/genocide-determination-in-sudan-and-imposing-accountability-measures/
[7]: https://worldpeacefoundation.org/blog/sudan-genocide-case/
[8]: https://www.theguardian.com/law/2025/may/05/sudan-fails-in-attempt-to-make-uae-accountable-for-acts-of-genocide
[9]: https://www.msf.org/besieged-attacked-starved-mass-atrocities-el-fasher
[10]: https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/darfur
[11]: https://operationbrokensilence.org/our-work
[12]: https://www.newarab.com/news/risk-genocide-sudan-very-high-un
[13]: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/07/world/africa/sudan-genocide-numbers.html
[14]: https://thearabweekly.com/kordofan-becomes-epicentre-intensifying-war-sudans-conflict-escalates
[15]: https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/07/17/sudan-a-war-of-attrition-a-war-on-civilians/
[16]: https://sudanwarmonitor.com/p/rsf-rampages-through-north-kordofan
[17]: https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/yale-hrl-report-corroborates-rsf-massacre-in-north-kordofan
[18]: https://www.dw.com/en/why-is-the-world-ignoring-the-sudan-civil-war/a-69364378
[19]: https://www.nytimes.com/video/world/africa/100000009893408/sudan-war-crimes-rsf.html?searchResultPosition=1
[20]: https://sudantribune.com/article303319/
[21]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/7/28/why-sudans-rsf-chose-this-parallel-government-ahead-of-peace-talks
[22]: https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/07/1165516

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