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© AFPThis picture taken on March 20, 2024, shows children who fled Khartoum and Jazira states in war-torn Sudan standing near tents at a camp for the internally displaced in southern Gedaref state.
Since April 2023, clashes between the Sudan military Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary force Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have led to many deaths, chaos and instability in the country.

According to the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), as of April 2024, more than 8.6 million people have been forced from their homes in Sudan and more than 24 million Sudanese people are in need of humanitarian aid.

A UN report from earlier this year stated that up to 15,000 people were killed last year in El Geneina, the capital of the Sudanese state of West Darfur. In one of the most recent attacks by the RSF, more than 100 civilians were killed in a village in Sudan's Gezira state on June 6th, 2024. The situation is dire. What's going on?

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© UNAMIDA soldier from the Israel-backed rebel group Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).
In February 2003, 'rebel groups' Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) or Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) began fighting the government of Sudan in the Darfur region of Sudan.

One of the leaders of SLM, Abdul Wahid Mohamed al-Nur, is a lawyer who wants a liberal and democratic Sudan where religion is separated from the state and a Sudan that has strong ties with Israel. He received Israeli financial support.

The leader of JEM, Khalil Ibrahim, was an Islamist and opposed China. He said: "[The JEM] want all Chinese companies to leave. They have been warned many times. They should not be there." Analyst Prof. Ecaterina MAŢOI wrote about him:
JEM was founded by Dr. Khalil Ibrahim, who finished his master studies in Maastricht (1999) and launched JEM from the Netherlands in 2001. A 2012 article claims: "State-backed media sources claimed in mid-November 2011 that 400 JEM rebels had arrived in South Sudan after receiving "intensive military training" in Israel but provided no evidence (Sudan Vision, November 13, 2011). Khartoum later charged Israel with supplying JEM with weapons and vehicles transferred to France and Chad (SMC, December 27, 2011)" (McGregor, 2012). According to a UN report, SLA received finance from Libyan National Army, i.e., from Field-Marshal Haftar, for fighting in Libya (UN Rep., 2021, p. 42).
Interesting to note is that Field-Marshal Haftar is a Libyan military officer (who lives in the US) who has connections with the CIA.

Considering (1) the ties of these rebel groups to Israel and the CIA and (2) the leaders' visions being in line with the West (SLM being pro-Israel and JEM being anti-China) it's clear that these individuals don't have the Sudanese people's best interests at heart, but want a Sudan that serves their masters: the West and allies.

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© SUNAFormer Gezira state governor Al-Zubair Bashir Taha. In 2007, he told youth organizations: "The CIA is seeking to disrupt the demographics of Darfur".
In July 2007, Sudanese Interior Minister Zubair Bashir Taha told a crowd of youth organizations that the "CIA is seeking to disrupt the demographics of Darfur" and that the US is responsible for "prolonging the war in Darfur and the death of thousands of people after the Abuja peace agreement, just like they did in Iraq". Taha also accused the CIA of smuggling weapons into Darfur, as reported by Sudanese news portal Sudan Tribune.

In the same year, Sudan's defense minister, Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein, accused Jewish organizations of fueling the conflict in Darfur. In an interview, Hussein said:
Interviewer: "Are these Jewish groups supporting (the rebels) financially?"

Hussain: "Yes, they provide political and material support through their control over the media and across American and British circles. Jewish groups were using all means to fuel these conflicts."
Unsurprisingly, in November 2011, both rebel groups created an alliance called the Sudan Revolutionary Front or the Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF).

On December, 17th, 2014, Sudan Tribune reports that the Sudanese President at the time, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, described the rebel alliance SRF as agents, traitors and mercenaries for cooperating with the CIA and the Israeli intelligence service (Mossad) during a speech at a rally. He also asked: "Why do you work abroad, and why are they shuttling between the hotels of Paris and Israel?"

The Sudanese government fought the rebel alliance SRF with its army, police and a militia group called Janjaweed with Musa Hilal as its leader. A long battle ensued with many deaths and displacement as a result.

In 2013, Janjaweed grew into a paramilitary force called Rapid Support Forces (RSF) with Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo or Hemmeti (allegedly a rival of Musa Hilal) as its operations commander.

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Hemedti speaks to his fighters at an undisclosed location in Khartoum.
Analyst Prof. Ecaterina MAŢOI wrote:
In 2013, after founding various local paramilitary forces (militias or incorporating militias) [...] the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) were founded. Its role was to strengthen the government's control over territories like Darfur, but since they also incorporated former militias, did not prove to be very effective. National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) took over RSF and tried to utilize it to counter the influence of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). [...] Although placed under SAF control in 2016 through a law, against the wish of its commander - Hemmeti, RSF remained "autonomous". In November 2019, RSF elements allegedly fought SAF. The deployment of several thousands of RSF troops to Yemen boosted Hemmeti's political influence and relations with KSA and the UAE.

Hemmeti has allegedly become one of the richest men in Sudan after taking over the gold mines from Darfur region in 2017. His brother Abderrahim Dagalo is RSF second in command and holds the gold mining company Al Junaid / Al Gunade (Nova.news, 2023).
In 2017, former President of Sudan since 1993, Omar al-Bashir, visited Russia for the first time and discussed economic and military cooperation between the two countries.
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© KremlinFormer President Al-Bashir met President Putin at the Black Sea resort of Sochi on November 23rd, 2017.
Al-Bashir said during the meeting:
"We are grateful to Russia for its position at international venues. We appreciate its efforts to protect the Sudan. Our positions coincide on the majority of issues. We are primarily opposed to U.S. interference in the domestic affairs of Arab countries, in particular, U.S. interference in Iran.

We think the situation that developed in our country (the same applies to Darfur and South Sudan) has the same roots - U.S. policy. As a result, our country split into two parts, which made a bad situation worse. We need protection from aggressive U.S. actions.

We believe that what is happening in Syria today is also due to U.S. interference, which resulted in such a disaster there.

We think peace cannot be achieved without President Bashar al-Assad. We believe that Syria would have been lost without Russia's assistance.

Now we are launching a large programme to reequip our armed forces and we agreed with the Defence Minister [Sergei Shoigu] that Russia will help us in this. We would like to increase our presence in Russia by sending more military attaches here.

We are also concerned about the situation in the Red Sea. We believe U.S. interference there is also a problem. We would like to discuss the use of military bases in the Red Sea.

Sudan may become Russia's key to Africa. We are also interested in developing relations with BRICS.
Two years later, al-Bashir was ousted in a military coup. One year after the coup, on August 31st, 2020, a peace agreement was signed between the government and the rebel groups on August 31st, 2020.

The general of the Sudanese military, al-Burhan, became the de facto ruler of Sudan as of April 2022. He leads the SAF against the RSF who are carrying out continued attacks against the Sudanese army, with both parties pointing the finger at each other when it comes to civilian casualties.

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© Copyright(Left) Al-Burhan, the de facto ruler of Sudan and general of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). (Right) Hemedti, leader of the paramilitary force Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Egypt and Iran support SAF, while the UAE supports Hemedti. In December 2023, Sudan expelled 15 diplomats from the UAE on allegations that the UAE has been funneling weapons to the RSF. Allegedly, the private mercenary company Wagner that operates independently from Russia is working with Hemedti/SAF.

The US wasn't pleased with Iran sending weapons to the Sudanese military. The U.S. State Department spokesperson said:
"The United States opposes external involvement to support the Sudan conflict - it will only exacerbate and prolong the conflict and risks further spreading regional instability."
Which is rich coming from the US, considering it's known for its external involvement in countries around the world for decades.

Nonetheless, with Sudan-Iran relations warming up, the de facto ruler of Sudan, al-Burhan, formally received Iran's new ambassador to Sudan on July 22, 2024, ending a diplomatic freeze of eight years.

Due to the political instability in recent years, plans of constructing a Russian base on the Red Sea were up in the air, however on May 31st, 2024, assistant Commander-in-Chief of the SAF said that Russia will support Sudan militarily in exchange for a Russian permanent naval base on the Red Sea.

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A map of Sudan and surrounding countries, including the Red Sea. "A [Russian] naval outpost in Sudan would expand maritime Russian influence in northeast Africa, along vital shipping routes in the Red Sea and in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait," writes Eurasian foreign affairs expert John Daley.
In May, 2023, former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that it would be a major gain for Russia's President Putin if Hemedti were to win the war in Sudan. He probably made a miscalculation to believe that al-Burhan wouldn't resume plans for a Russian naval base.

With the US and allies likely panicking, on July 23rd, 2024, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken invited Sudan's military to participate in proposed talks with RSF in Switzerland on August 14th. The talks would be hosted by Switzerland, co-hosted by KSA and with the African Union, Egypt, UAE and the US as observers. The RSF agreed to attend, but al-Burhan said:
"The government made clear that any negotiations before...full withdrawal and an end to expansion (by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces) will not be acceptable to the Sudanese people."
He did request meetings with US officials to discuss the agenda for the talks. In a tweet from August 5th, 2024, al-Burhan wrote (translated from Arabic by Google):
"I received a call from US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and spoke to him about the necessity of addressing the concerns of the Sudanese government before starting any negotiations. I informed him that the rebel militia was besieging and attacking El Fasher and preventing the passage of food for the displaced people of Zamzam camp."
Knowing US' history when it comes to the invasion and destruction of other countries, it's hard to believe that Blinken is in any way interested in creating peace in the geo-politically strategic region. If anything, they likely want a puppet in Sudan (whether it be al-Burhan or Hemedti) who will work with them rather than with Russia, Iran and China.

With Sudan being the third leading producer of gold in Africa, the recent Freudian slip by US Senator Todd Young may give an idea of US' intentions in Africa:

It's to be hoped that, for the many innocent people in Sudan, peace will be achieved in the country and that whoever leads Sudan will align itself with a multipolar world.