By giving a glance into the ongoing 15th April war, which undoubtedly agreed was started by the Muslim Brotherhood and their allies from the National Congress party and the jihadist militia, but in the general context it’s found that the parties were named as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese armed Forces (SAF) which is estimated to be a hundred years old and is also considered the main controller of all the country’s economic resources.
This war began as if it were a summer cloud in the eyes of its instigators and the estimates of their experts who expected it to end within 72 hours at most, supporting this hypothesis with the military equipment possessed by the Sudanese army, specifically represented by artillery and the air force, backed by the people’s money, whose treasuries were generously opened to complete the mission.
The experts’ expected period passed without achieving any victory, but the opposite happened, as the Rapid Support Forces have achieved noticeable progress while the Sudanese army forces retreated terribly. This situation continued as it was for a period exceeding seven months.
The SAF have used all possible tools to achieve their alleged victory, both moral and immoral, but to no avail. The Sudanese military media used the weapon of rumors, and their goal was to discourage the RSF fighters, raise the morale of the SAF soldiers, and draw the attention of the international community to the violations that the Sudanese army had been committing, whether by itself or through their allies that had been tasked for this mission within civilian communities and attributed to the RSF soldiers. Despite this tool had been an effective for some time, but as usual, the evil cunning besets its maker, and this behavior soon became exposed to everyone.
The second phase of the war witnessed some changes, in which some armed movements that signed the Juba Agreement came and decided, without awareness or realization, to involve themselves into a fight that they were unable to handle in exchange for a handful of dollars that they could have avoided and thus spared areas that had been suffering from the scourge of war for decades. The intervention of these movements was part of the strategies that the SAF worked hard on, believing that it could move the war away from the central areas that had been issuing wars since 1956.
The Sudanese war also witnessed shameful violations, as the SAF have killed the people and then walked on their corpses, they have been seen beheading and eating human flesh, and also killing citizens on ethnic and regional base, women were forced to have sex in exchange for food, ignoring all human norms and rights, the same army used the air force to strike defenseless citizens in their safe villages and cities, and also closed all crossings and prevented humanitarian aid from reaching the needy and affected.
The Rapid Support Forces, on the other hand, were more balanced and more moral in waging their battle, which they considering it as a liberation battle that will lead to the end of the era of dictatorships that Sudan had witnessed throughout its dark history, and thus establish a state of justice, and many observers considered this to be the reason for the strength and victories of the RSF. Thus, in addition to the battling victories, the RSF have significantly achieved moral victories that were accepted and appreciated by the local civil forces and the international community, which continued to seek ways to stop this war.
In order to alleviate the suffering of the Sudanese people, several regional and international mediators have sought to bring the warring parties closer together through several platforms that may be known to everyone, and in all of them it’s found that the leadership of the Rapid Support Forces is always the first to accept the proposed solutions, while the clear intransigence and non-acceptance comes from the SAF delegation. These negative response of the Sudanese army have led to prolonging the war and doubling the resulting losses, as well as increasing the losses of the army itself and narrowing its opportunities, and with the continuation of the war, the Sudanese army may not find anything to negotiate about. Therefore, it still has an opportunity today that it may not be found tomorrow.
The recent Geneva talks were a return to the negotiation table after a long hiatus, and although the addressed issues were limited to how to deliver humanitarian aid and protect civilians, however it was considered as a good platform that can be developed into a permanent ceasefire and engagement in a political process that can ends the suffering of Sudan and its people. As usual, the SAF haven’t shown any flexibility towards these talks, while the RSF have achieved great gains with commitments to the United Nations to deliver humanitarian aid and protect civilians.
Few days after the Geneva talks ended, the US Secretary of State called on the two warring parties to resume the Geneva forum under Saudi-US sponsorship to begin negotiations that would cease the fire and alleviate the suffering of the Sudanese people by reaching a comprehensive solution. This call was immediately accepted by the Rapid Support Forces leadership from the outset, while the other party has been procrastinating until this moment. This call may be considered as the last chance that the Sudanese Armed Forces may get, and if it is rejected, the consequences could be dire.
