Can the force of a country fry its own people with bullets? By the way, in the 21st century, the answer to this question should not be done every time, but the reality is not like this. In Sudan, paramilitary forces have killed more than 200 civilians by attacking the camps of displaced people and around the city of L. Fashar. The city is the last major city occupied by the Sudani Army in Darfur region.
The army and paramilitary forces are face to face in Sudan and the battle of supremacy is going on between the two. About two years ago, the worst phase of violence has been going on in Darfur region since the start of the civil war between the army and paramilitary forces. The question is, why is this happening, why did this civil war start?
To understand all this, you have to take it to the past.
Story of Sudan
The Egyptian branch of the Ottoman Empire won in the 19th century and created the Sudan. After this, it was ruled by the British and Egypt as “condominium” till half of the 20th century.
This country is in North-East Africa. This vast area was formally divided when South Sudan became an independent country in 2011 after years of struggle against the central government here. Now it seems that the country will be torn down in the north too. Here the army and paramilitary forces are in front of each other.
Powerful army
The army has been superstitious for a long time in Sudan and this country is burdened under its burden. This is a kind of colonial heritage of Sudan- the army has always been at the center of the government. After independence, the soldiers not only called themselves the patron of the country, but started to consider themselves as the country. Three times in Sudan, the army captured power: in 1958, 1969 and 1989. Every time, they tried to impose their perspectives about how they stayed in power for a long time, and how Sudan should be. Many times when major rebellion took place, he put the military rule in danger. In such a situation, the army specialized in escaping by giving some temporary concession.
But still the army struggled to rule Sudan. There was a fight within the army officials that who would run the rule. According to the report of The Conversation, the long rule of Jafar Nimri was repeatedly prevented from the coup efforts. After this, Omar al-Bashir tried to control his rivals in the army by creating additional security forces and standing against each other.
In 2023 when Army- Paramilitary Force Struggle began
On 15 April 2023, a fight between Sudani Armed Forces (SAF) and paramilitary rapid support forces, or RSF, started in Sudan. The SAF was headed by the army chief and General Abdel Fatah al-Burhan, who was running the government while the RSF was led by General Mohammad Hamdan Dagalo.
Remember that SAF and RSF worked together to forcibly remove Omar al-Bashir, who was the President for a long time in 2019. But later they separated in the midst of power struggle which became fatal.
In early April 2023, the army -led government deployed SAF soldiers on the streets of the capital Khartum, while the RSF forces captured places across the country. The matter caught fire when there was an explosion and firing in Khartum on 15 April the same year. Since then, the two armies have been fighting among themselves.
In the north and east, the army dominates, while RSF controls most and parts of the south of Darfur. The war killed thousands of people, overthrown more than 12 lakh people and the United Nations has described it as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.
Human damage in the Civil War has been dangerous. Until February 2025, those killed ranges from 20,000 to 150,000, the lack of adequate medical facilities, hunger, war and its related reasons.
What is happening in Sudan right now?
The RSF announced on Sunday that it had controlled the famine affected camp in the Western Darfur area after two days of heavy shelling and firing. In a statement, RSF said that it has “deployed military units in Jamjam to secure citizens and human medical personnel … Earlier the camp was successfully freed from the army’s grip.”
According to the United Nations, Jamjam is a house of more than 5 lakh refugees. The surrounding refugee camps have suffered heavy losses during the two -year war between the army and the RSF. Since Friday, RSF has started ground and airstrikes on North Darfur’s surrounded capital Al-Fashar and nearby Jamjam and Abu hobby displacement camps. The United Nations said on Saturday that more than 100 people are expected to be killed in this latest RSF attacks.
The US has banned both sides in the war. According to the US, RSF has “massacred” in Darfur and the army has attacked citizens. One thing is clear that this struggle has essentially divided Sudan into two parts.