Editorials

The Irish Times view on fighting in Sudan: a worrying cycle of violence.

The conflict that has reportedly cost 3,000 lives has paralysed Sudan, a country of 46 million, and threatens to destabilise neighbouring states.

Displaced people who have fled the ongoing violence by two rival Sudanese generals, gather in a room inside the university of al-Jazira, transformed into a makeshift shelter (Photo by AFP)
Displaced people who have fled the ongoing violence by two rival Sudanese generals, gather in a room inside the university of al-Jazira, transformed into a makeshift shelter (Photo by AFP)
Mon Jul 17 2023 - 21:30

A mass grave of 87 bodies, including ethnic Masalit, discovered last week in Sudan’s West Darfur has revived fears of a repeat of the post-2003 atrocities perpetrated in Darfur when militias, known as Janjaweed, helped the government crush a rebellion by mainly non-Arab groups, killing 300,000 people.

A spokesman for the UN has blamed the Janjaweed successor group, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), for the latest massacre. It has been involved in a bloody turf war with Sudan’s regular army (SAF) since April when the two groups which had together ousted the country’s transitional government, fell out. The conflict that has reportedly cost 3,000 lives has paralysed Sudan, a country of 46 million, and threatens to destabilise neighbouring states.

The UN reports that 740,000 people have fled across borders to those neighbours, while more than 2.4 million have abandoned the fighting-ravaged capital Khartoum. There has been a near total collapse of health, food and economic infrastructure which, aid groups warn, threatens disastrous disease outbreaks unless promised humanitarian corridors are reopened.

Reports of atrocities including sexual violence and civilians being targeted for their ethnicity have prompted the International Criminal Court to launch a war crimes investigation.

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Since April, the RSF and SAF have agreed to – and broken – at least 17 ceasefires. Attempts by the Saudis and US jointly to broker talks in Jeddah have repeatedly collapsed, but there were hopeful reports in recent days that an SAF delegation was heading back to resume them. The latter boycotted talks last week in Ethiopia hosted by east African regional bloc IGAD.

It is vital that the international community, particularly those countries with an influence with both groups step up pressure on them to desist. The call from human rights groups for UN Security Council targeted sanctions against those deemed responsible for the killings must be supported, along with more robust efforts to cut arms supplies to both sides.