Civil War Sudan Has No Inclusive National Identity

 By Henry Srebrnik, Saint John Telegraph-Journal

Sudan has struggled to construct an inclusive national identity in the postcolonial era, but ethnic marginalization, uneven development, and authoritarian governance have fragmented the national project. It involves the lack of a cohesive postcolonial vision and the suppression of cultural diversity under Arab-Islamic narratives.

Sudan’s 50 million people are mainly Sudanese Arabs, who are one of 19 major ethnic groups and over 597 ethnic subgroups, speaking more than 100 languages and dialects. There are elements within Sudanese society that view Black people with disfavor. The country is dominated by an Arab elite, while sub-Saharan Africans often face oppression and marginalization. It is common for newspapers to publish racial slurs, including the word “slave.”  

This is the background to the civil war Sudan was plunged into back in April 2023, after a vicious struggle for power broke out between its army and a powerful paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The latter are the military descendants of the Janjaweed militias that terrorized non-Arab African peoples in Darfur in the early 2000s. That led to a famine and claims of a genocide in the western Darfur region. The group committed brutal crimes, including mass displacement, sexual violence, and kidnapping. The loosely coordinated Janjaweed was then formally organized under the RSF banner in 2013.

The current war started with a coup in October 2021, staged by the two men at the centre of today’s conflict: General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of the armed forces and in effect the country’s president, and his then deputy, RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti.

The main sticking points were plans to incorporate the 100,000-strong RSF into the army, and who would then lead the new force. The suspicions were that both generals wanted to hang on to their positions of power, unwilling to lose wealth and influence.

Shooting between the two sides began on April 15, 2023, following days of tension as members of the RSF were redeployed around the country in a move that the army saw as a threat.

In early June 2025, the RSF achieved a major victory when it took control of territory along Sudan's border with Libya and Egypt. This was followed by the capture of the city of el-Fasher in late October that year, meaning the RSF controls almost all of Darfur and much of neighbouring Kordofan. The military controls most of the north and the east, including the capital, Khartoum.

The RSF has denied committing genocide in Darfur in this civil war, but United Nations investigators said they had received testimony that RSF fighters have taunted non-Arab women during sex attacks with racist slurs, saying they will be forced to have “Arab babies.” Director General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has stated that “I think race is in play here.”

More than 150,000 people have died in the conflict across the country, and about 14 million have fled their homes in what the UN has called the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. With no end in sight, tens of millions of Sudanese people are facing an historic humanitarian crisis of “industrial proportions.”

Food has also been weaponized. Both sides have blocked aid convoys, destroyed food supplies, and restricted access to fertile farmland in areas already facing drought and economic collapse. The RSF intentionally razed rural farming communities near el-Fasher. Their attacks substantially reduced these communities’ agricultural output, contributing to an already severe humanitarian situation in which more than twenty-one million people across the country are acutely food insecure.

Richard Data, the International Rescue Committee’s Sudan director, emphasized that “This is not just a conflict, it is a collapse of an entire country and a crisis that is rapidly engulfing the region.” The incalculable violence, atrocities, and depth of the humanitarian crisis facing Sudan’s population continue to accelerate. 

“Three years of war have already cost Sudan immeasurably,” warned Amande Bazerolle, Sudan lead for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). “Allowing this trajectory to continue risks condemning an entire generation.” Yet despite the humanitarian toll of Sudan’s Civil War, the conflict has received remarkably little international media coverage.

Mediation efforts have stalled as top officials in both warring camps refuse to halt their violence, and regional and international actors continue to fund and arm both belligerents. Sudan has accused Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of playing a role in the recent drone attacks on the country, warning that the aggression will not be “met with silence.”

In early May, the Sudanese government recalled its ambassador from Ethiopia, accusing Addis Ababa and the UAE of being behind an attack on Khartoum International Airport that forced authorities to suspend operations for three days. The RSF has also received support from an armed group in Libya tied to eastern Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar.

Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has accused “mercenaries and traitors” of seeking to hijack the Sudanese state. Alan Boswell, the Horn of Africa director at the International Crisis Group (ICG), warned that Sudan’s accusation against Ethiopia marks a dangerous new phase in a conflict already destabilising the region.

Clearly, a viable Sudanese identity would require a commitment to equitable development and inclusive governance. Can an Arab elite serve as a foundation for a more inclusive national identity? It’s very doubtful.