Rhino: Agencies – A report by African Defense Forum magazine on Tuesday confirmed that the emergence of new armed groups on the Sudanese scene is complicating the fierce civil war and threatening to spark other wars in the near future.

According to the report, the civil war in Sudan began as a conflict between two rival forces, but it has become increasingly complex with the addition of armed civilian groups, rebel fighters, and tribal and regional militias to the grinding battle.

The report noted that neighborhood defense units have emerged in urban areas in central Sudan, Khartoum, North Darfur, North Kordofan, South Kordofan, and West Kordofan.

According to the report, tribal and regional militias have become more prominent in Darfur and Kordofan, where deep-rooted ethnic and political rivalries have become entangled with the current war, leading some to ally themselves with the Sudanese Armed Forces, while others seek to pursue their own agendas.

The report said that militias linked to Islamists, particularly the Al-Baraa Bin Malik Brigade, now a key ally of the Sudanese Armed Forces, have emerged on the scene. It added that another Islamist group, the Sudanese Popular Resistance factions, also supports the Sudanese Armed Forces, and that if the rise of armed groups is not stopped, they could develop and establish areas where local leaders exercise unrestricted authority. This would undermine the possibility of establishing central rule in Sudan.

He added: “These groups do not share a single goal,” as some are fighting for self-defense, others for political power, and still others for revenue and wealth.

The report also noted that other militias seek ethnic control, which makes Sudan’s war even more dangerous: fragmentation creates multiple small wars within the larger conflict in the future.