By Ambassador Mohamed Osman Akasha, PhD, Charge’ d’Affaires a.i, Embassy of the Republic of the Sudan in Nairobi
Why calling Sudan’s war a conflict between “two equal parties” is a moral and factual distortion
A dangerous myth persists in international discourse that Sudan’s devastating conflict is a war between “two equal parties.” This framing, repeated in some international and regional circles and a few media reports, is not only false but deeply unjust. It blurs the moral and legal line between a national army defending its state and people, and a militia waging terror against them.
To understand Sudan’s war, one must look beyond slogans and into logic, evidence, and the lived experience of millions of Sudanese civilians.
Legitimacy Cannot Be Shared Between a State and a Militia
The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) is a constitutionally established institution, recognised by international law and tasked with safeguarding Sudan’s sovereignty and unity.
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia, by contrast, is not a legitimate national force. It is the rebranded face of the Janjaweed militia, a group of supremacists responsible for genocide, ethnic cleansing, and mass atrocities in Darfur since 2003.
According to the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Darfur (2005), the Janjaweed were responsible for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed against non-Arab communities.[¹] These militias, were reorganised and renamed as the RSF under Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (“Hemedti”), keeping their same command structures and violent practices and also their genocidal nature.[²][³]
For years, the international community condemned the Janjaweed for mass killings, rape, village burnings, and forced displacement. Yet today, many of those same international actors risk moral amnesia by equating this genocidal militia with Sudan’s national army.
The RSF militia seized Sudan’s political instability, as in April 2023, it turned its guns on the state, attacking government institutions, airports, and residential areas in an endeavour to consolidate power through a well-planned coup d’état.
To describe both as “equal sides” is like calling a nation’s police and an armed gang “two parties in conflict.” One defends the rule of law; the other destroys it. Legitimacy is not a matter of opinion, it is a matter of law.
Civilians Know Who Protects Them
The truest test of legitimacy is found in the movement of civilians. Across Sudan, millions have fled RSF militia-controlled areas, streaming toward army-held zones or neighbouring countries in search of safety.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), more than nine million people have been displaced since the war began, most fleeing violence, looting, and sexual abuse committed by RSF militias in Darfur, Al-Gezira, Sinnar, and Khartoum.[⁴]
If both sides were equal, the population would be divided. They are not. Sudanese civilians are voting with their feet, escaping the RSF militias seeking refuge under the army’s protection.
The RSF’s Documented Crimes
The RSF’s record is one of systematic brutality, not political legitimacy. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has documented mass killings, torture, and sexual violence by RSF militia fighters in Darfur, warning that the crimes amount to crimes against humanity.[⁵]
Human Rights Watch recorded ethnic massacres in El Geneina, where RSF militia forces and allied militias slaughtered non-Arab civilians and burned entire neighbourhoods to the ground.[⁶]
Amnesty International confirmed widespread rape, abductions, and forced disappearances used as weapons of war by the RSF militia.[⁷]
Meanwhile, the UN Panel of Experts on Sudan traced foreign arms supplies and illicit financial flows that sustain the militia’s operations, violating international sanctions and prolonging Sudan’s agony.[⁸]
These are not the actions of a movement seeking justice or reform, they are the crimes of a mercenary militia, driven by greed, tribal domination, and foreign sponsorship.
The National Army’s Role Is Defensive, Not Aggressive
The war did not begin with the Sudanese Armed Forces. It began when the RSF militia launched a coordinated assault on state institutions, looting public assets, seizing airports, and occupying homes in Khartoum. According to the UN Secretary-General’s report to the Security Council (S/2023/700), the RSF militia initiated the fighting on 15 April 2023, attacking both military installations and civilian neighbourhoods.[⁹]
Under Article 51 of the UN Charter, every sovereign state has the right and the duty to defend itself from internal rebellion. Sudan is no exception. To condemn the national army for defending the nation is to deny Sudan’s right to exist as a state.
The Danger of False Neutrality
In the name of “balance,” some international voices continue to speak of “both sides.” But false neutrality is not fairness, it is complicity. Equating the Sudanese Armed Forces with a militia accused of genocide and crimes against humanity is morally untenable and strategically reckless.
This misguided parity rewards the perpetrators and punishes the victims. Peace cannot be built on deception, it requires acknowledging who defends the nation and who destroys it.
Truth Before Peace
Sudan’s war is not a clash between equals. It is a nation under attack by a rebranded genocidal militia. The Sudanese Armed Forces represent the continuity of the state, the flag, and the people’s collective will to defend their homeland. The RSF militia represents anarchy, foreign interference, and mass suffering. To call them “equal parties” is not diplomacy, it is denial. Truth must come before peace, because peace without truth sanctifies injustice. Sudan is not at war with itself. It is fighting for its survival.
References
- *United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Darfur, Report to the Secretary-General, 25 January 2005.
- *Human Rights Watch, “Darfur Destroyed: Ethnic Cleansing by Government and Janjaweed Militias,” May 2004.
- *Amnesty International, “Too Many People Killed for No Reason: Darfur, 2003–2004,” 2004.
- *UNHCR, Sudan Situation Update, August 2025.
- *OHCHR, Report on Human Rights Violations in Sudan (April–December 2023), Geneva, 2024.
- *Human Rights Watch, “Darfur: RSF Massacres Civilians, Ethnic Targeting in El Geneina,” July 2023.
- *Amnesty International, “Sudan: Sexual Violence and Killings by RSF in Darfur,” November 2023.
- *UN Panel of Experts on Sudan, Final Report Pursuant to Security Council Resolution 2676 (2023), February 2024.
- *United Nations Secretary-General, Situation in the Sudan, Report to the Security Council (S/2023/700), October 2023.
