The forgotten war of the Nile

Sudanese security forces stand guard in Sudan's capital Khartoum - AFP/ASHRAF SHAZLY

Diego Carcedo

10 de junio de 2024 (06:00 h.)

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Sudan

The wars in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip have almost completely distracted attention from another, less international, but no less bloody and protracted war in Sudan, the one renamed the Nile War, which since April last year has pitted two warring parties against each other across the country: the official armed forces - to put it mildly - the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Armed Support Forces (ASF). It all began when General Mohamed Handan Degalo, head of the SAF and Vice-President of the government, rebelled against General Abdelafthah Buchan, head of the SAF and President of the Executive.

The confrontation between the two allied leaders, each in command of his own forces - 10,000 SAF and 70,000 ASF - quickly escalated into open fighting, first in Khartoum and then throughout the territory on both sides of the river, which, with slight intervals, has been prolonged and worsening until now. The number of casualties, civilian and military, is not known precisely because of the dispersed nature of the fighting, but it is estimated to be in the hundreds. What is known exactly is the number of displaced people, more than five million, including 1.1 million abroad.

Neighbouring countries such as Egypt, Ethiopia, Chad and South Sudan host the bulk of those fleeing the war, which has wreaked havoc on infrastructure, businesses and homes. The conflict worsened in recent weeks when it became clear that the ASF has the armed support of the pro-Russian group Wagner and the incorporation of another little-known militarised rebel organisation, the MLS-T, with several thousand active in the south.

Several African governments in the area have promoted attempts at peace negotiations, but so far all have been frustrated by the obstinacy and intransigence of the two rival generals, formerly friends and partners in the overthrow of the previous government, with neither of them putting forward convincing reasons or political criteria for maintaining a confrontation based on personal ambitions for power that is costing so many lives.

The latest reports from international news agencies report that urban fighting has worsened in recent days in the streets of the centre of Khartoum, the country's capital, which is already largely unpopulated. A large part of the population continues to flee and abandon their homes while famine is taking hold of the people in the face of the shortage of food and medicine, while the photographs that are coming to light show the image of a city in ruins, with buildings collapsed and streets cut up by rubble. Some experts criticise the international passivity regarding this conflict.