After nearly two years of Sudan’s warring parties wrestling for control of its capital, the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) announced their recapture of Khartoum from the United Arab Emirates-backed paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on 26 March. This clip shows Sudanese in Port Sudan, a coastal city about 500 miles northeast of the capital, celebrating the news in the streets.
According to experts from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Sudan’s proxy war that began on 15 April 2023 had klled over 61,000 people in just Khartoum alone in the first 14 months. In recent weeks, the military has been gaining ground against the RSF, accused of gencide.
Meanwhile, the RSF maintains control of several areas, including the Darfur region comprised of five states, where North Darfur’s El Fasher is the last remaining capital under SAF control. However, Sudanese people are hopeful that the military will defeat the RSF and that the grave atrocities they have endured under the paramilitary occupation will soon come to an end.
Evidence gathered by monitoring groups shows both the RSF paramilitary and the SAF have committed human rights abuses against civilians, and the US sanctioned both of their leaders in January. In Darfur, for instance, while the SAF carries out airstrikes on civilians, the RSF is accused of shelling villages, torture and s*xual violence. However, in the past two years, documentation has pointed to the RSF as being responsible for the larger share of the atrocities. Many experts also agree that the UAE has prolonged the proxy war by bankrolling the paramilitary group. Yet, the UAE has still not been held accountable for exacerbating the crisis that has left more than half of Sudan’s population suffering ‘acute food insecurity’ and forced more than 12 million to flee their homes.
Video credit: Rayana Elssadig (Facebook)
Sources
https://www.dw.com/en/sudans-army-chief-says-khartoum-is-free-amid-gains/a-72049352
https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/newsevents/news/2024/invisible-and-severe-death-toll-sudan-conflict-revealed
https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy2789
https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/truce-crumbles-sudanese-armys-last-darfur-holdout-2024-04-23
https://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/north-darfur-least-nine-dead-17-wounded-rsf-shelling
https://adf-magazine.com/2025/01/evidence-of-uae-supplying-rsf-continues-to-mount