While precise figures are hard to come by, the U.N. estimates that between 12% and 15% of Sudan’s 51 million people are internally displaced; 375,000 are on the verge of starving, because they have not eaten enough food; and 12 million face grave food insecurity.

What led to this crisis?

Previously, the decades-long régime of Omar El-Bashir crumbled in 2019 under popular pressure coming from a coalition that included the Sudanese Communist Party, the National Consensus Forces, the Sudanese Professionals Association, the Sudan Revolutionary Front, the Women of Sudanese Civic and Political Groups and many local resistance and neighborhood committees.

The RSF and SAF “persuaded” El-Bashir to step down and set up the Transitional Sovereignty Council (TSC), consisting of six civilians and five military, with the head of the SAF as its chair and the head of the RSF his deputy.

The TSCs’ economic policies made gold smuggling more profitable, strengthening the RSF, which controlled gold mining in Sudan.

The RSF and the SAF, although part of the leadership of the TSC, kept attempting coups until they succeeded in 2021, when they pushed aside civilian leadership. The two groups then turned on each other to settle their profound differences over control of Sudan’s resources. The vicious and dangerous conflict between the RSF and the SAF began April 15, 2023.

The popular agitation and rejection of military control, so evident in the struggle against El-Bashir, means that neither armed group has support from a civilian-based political party. Without political support, they have relied on terror.

Imperialists’ rôle

The [neo]imperialist and regional powers — including the U.S., Britain, the European Union, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the African Union — have played a decisive rôle in shaping the tragedy unfolding in Sudan. In particular, Israel has helped the UAE to set up military bases throughout the region, and the U.S. has a contingent of 4,000 troops based in the UAE.

As a major gold trading hub, the UAE has also been the recipient of much of the gold smuggled out of Sudan. Yet, all these countries share a common objective: to prevent the success of the Sudanese revolution of 2019.

Besides making the situation in Sudan known to the widest audience, progressives should push for a ceasefire and expose the poisonous rôle played by the U.S. and its allies.

(Emphasis original.)