Clashes erupted in Sudan in April as General Abdel Fattaj al-Burhan, his armed forces and the rapid support forces or Janjaweed of general Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo known as Hemedti, met in bloody battle for control over Sudan. In 2019, these generals were allies working together to oust the dictator Omar Al Bashir, (who worked with Osama Bin Laden at one point to cleanse Sudan of all non-Muslims) but when the two generals started fighting over who would be subservient to the other, brutal fighting broke out across the country. Once bustling streets and vibrant marketplaces turned into battlefields, leaving thousands dead or injured as the armed forces clashed in brutal combat with the camel bound Janjaweed militia. 

Social studies teacher, Frank Mathews, had this to say about the civil war: “This is very common after a country gains its independence. Omar Al Bashir becomes a dictator, he has his own personal agenda and once he’s gone you get a civil war.” he said, “New problems arise after freedom and the new problem is who should run the country right. And…you know it’s typically two bad options. These options are not good because their intent is power and power corrupts the soul.” This same thing happened in the US about a century after we gained independence from Britain. We had a civil war that left 620,000 people dead but we had a good leader come into power after the struggle. Unfortunately, the two new prospective leaders for Sudan both seem to be in it for the power. 

Omar al Bashir initially formed the Janjaweed almost 20 years ago to fight in an uprising in Darfur. According to The Human rights watch: “The government of Sudan is responsible for ’ethnic cleansing’ and crimes against humanity in Darfur ”. These Include: “massacres, summary executions of civilians-including women and children, burnings of towns and villages, and the forcible depopulation of wide swathes of land long inhabited by the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa.” It continued to state that, “They have driven more than one million civilians, mostly farmers, into camps and settlements in Darfur where they live on the very edge of survival, hostage to Janjaweed abuses”. 

Omar Al Bashir frequently sent out the Janjaweed on campaigns in Libya and Yemen. In 2019 the regular military and RSF (Rapid Support Forces/Janjaweed) worked together to oust Omar Al Bashir from his former position of power. However, in 2021 a second coup disrupted the democratic government that was beginning to form. This coup put the army back in charge, a change which saw weekly protests and renewed economic crises. Hemediti, who commands significant wealth from illegal mining operations and leads tens of thousands of battle hardened soldiers, seeks to gain absolute power over Sudan in the ongoing civil war, a goal he shares with the leader of the armed forces, General Abdel Fattaj al-Burhan. 

There are also many countries who see the civil war as a way to further their own agendas including Russia, the USA, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, with goals ranging from countering Islamic influence in the region to securing strategic footholds. The involvement of these world powers could exacerbate instability and cause even more conflict in Africa. The international community must work together to create a peaceful resolution to the civil war and help in the stabilization of Africa.

Social studies teacher, Scott Montanaro, shared his perspective on the civil war. He concluded: “The only thing to add is to the extent that we can to keep in mind that the Sudanese people are the people who are suffering.” Montanaro said. “That we want to understand the two sides of the war, who these two generals are and what are the powers that are influencing them, but also at the end of the day a war is a human tragedy and people are suffering.” In this civil war the citizens of Sudan have taken the brunt of the damage. Not only have hundreds of people died and thousands injured, but hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced from their homes with around 12,000 fleeing to neighboring countries. 

According to the UN “Civilians of all ages are experiencing various human rights abuses, including sexual assault and gender-based violence, as well as looting and shortages of food, water, healthcare, including reproductive healthcare, fuel and other basic goods and services.” It is imperative that we help and protect these people as they try to survive in the midst of this chaotic and bloody civil war.