The truth about the war in Sudan
Even so, Sudanese look to allies in the region and in Washington with hope. Sudan is fighting not only for its survival, but for a just peace that can only be achieved with the support of partners who recognise the truth of how the war began and what is required to end it.
People outside Sudan often hear competing narratives about the war’s origins. As head of the Sudanese Armed Forces and president of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereign Council – the interim governing body established after President Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s ouster in 2019 – I know the truth is clear.
This conflict started because the RSF, a heavily-armed militia with a long record of brutality, rebelled against the state. Though the RSF denies harming civilians, the United Nations Human Rights Council, among others, has reported the militia’s mass killings, sexual violence, and terrorisation of Sudanese civilians. When the RSF seized the city of El Fasher in late October, it reportedly slaughtered thousands of civilians. The director of Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab said sources on the ground estimated a 10,000 death toll before the lab lost contact — almost five times as large as the number of people killed in the September 11 terrorist attacks, a grim measure of the horror unleashed.
I long recognised that the RSF was a powder keg. The RSF, formerly known as the Janjaweed, emerged in the early 2000s as an auxiliary militia in Darfur and later evolved into a powerful, independently commanded force. By the time of the political transition in 2019, it had grown into an unaccountable, heavily armed, and increasingly autonomous paramilitary formation operating outside the state’s chain of command. This structure – combined with its independent sources of funding and its reported record of abuses – posed a direct threat to Sudan’s stability and to the unity of our national institutions.
For that reason, the Sudanese government in December 2022 began to pursue a path to responsibly integrate the RSF into the Sudanese Army. Our goal was to prevent conflict, preserve national cohesion, and bring all armed formations under one lawful command. Our intention was never confrontation but reform; never escalation but the orderly unification of the forces that defend Sudan. In April 2023, the RSF turned on the national army it had pledged to join: secretly mobilising forces around Khartoum and other major cities, seizing strategic positions, and attacking government and military sites. The betrayal plunged Sudan into war.
What makes all this even more painful is the knowledge that the RSF isn’t acting alone. We and others, including the Trump administration, believe that the militia enjoys generous materiel and other support from foreign backers who wrongly believe that empowering a group the US has accused of genocide and ethnic cleansing will advance their own narrow interests. Sudanese people see this clearly. They understand the cost of becoming a battleground for someone else’s ambitions.
That battleground won’t stay confined to our borders. The war threatens the stability of the Red Sea to our East and the fragile Sahel to our West. And it poses a direct danger to US interests. The RSF has made its hostility to America unmistakeable. Early in the war, NBC reported an apparent attack by fighters linked to RSF on a US diplomatic convoy. As recently as September 2024, an American Embassy guard died in RSF custody, according to the US Bureau of African Affairs. These aren’t the actions of a force that seeks peace or respects international norms.
Against this backdrop, many Sudanese listened closely when US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke of the war at the Group of 7 Summit in Canada a few weeks ago. His remarks were encouraging not because they comforted us, but he told a difficult truth. He named the war for what it is, identified the RSF, and called attention to the foreign hands fuelling the violence. His clarity stood out in a world where Sudan is too often discussed through vague language or convenient misconceptions. Much of the world mistakenly sees this conflict as a mere power struggle between two generals, rather than a violent rebellion against the Sudanese state and people.
In the same spirit, President Trump’s positive remarks following his meetings with the Saudi Crown Prince, His Royal Highness Mohammed bin Salman were encouraging. We welcome the sincere efforts of the US and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to secure a just and equitable peace in Sudan, and we appreciate their continued concern and commitment to ending the bloodshed. We reaffirm our readiness to engage earnestly with them to achieve the peace that the Sudanese people have long awaited.
For any solution to secure enduring peace in the region, however, the RSF militia and its mercenaries must be dismantled. Neither they nor their collaborators have any place in Sudan’s security or political future. The only window that might remain open to members of the RSF is the possibility of integrating elements of the militia into the national army, but strictly under professional criteria and only for those who are free of any criminal wrongdoing.
The Sudanese people now look to Washington to take the next step: to build on the US president’s honesty and work with us — and those in the region who genuinely seek peace – to end this war. The consensus among Sudanese is that Mr Trump is a leader who speaks directly and acts decisively. Many believe he has the resolve to confront the foreign actors prolonging our suffering.
Sudan isn’t asking for charity or for outsiders to choose sides between particular leaders. We are asking the world to choose between stability and violence, between a sovereign state trying to protect its citizens and a genocidal militia bent on destroying communities. When the war ends, and it must end, Sudan wants to be a strong partner to the US. We want to help protect regional stability, fight terrorism, and rebuild our shattered cities and towns. American companies will have an important role to play in reconstruction, investment, and long-term development.
We also want Sudan to reclaim its role as a positive regional force. Under my leadership, Sudan took a historic step in 2021 by joining the Abraham Accords. We believe peace and co-operation are the only path to a stable Middle East and Horn of Africa. That vision still guides us.
But let me be clear: real peace in Sudan will never be achieved by military victory alone. It must rest on democracy, the rule of law, and the protection of the rights of our people. The Sudanese Armed Forces remain committed to a transition to civilian rule, a process interrupted by war but not abandoned. Our people deserve the chance to choose their leaders and shape their future.
Sudan stands today at a crossroads. One path leads to collapse and regional chaos. The other leads toward recovery and the fulfilment of a long-delayed promise of democracy and stability. We cannot walk this path alone. We need partners who understand the stakes and who are willing to confront uncomfortable truths.
The Sudanese people have suffered enough. The world should stand with them, not with those who seek to tear their country apart. Sudan stands ready to work constructively with President Trump’s administration and with all who genuinely seek peace.
Peace cannot be built on illusions. It must be built on truth. And in this moment, truth is Sudan’s strongest ally.
Abdel Fattah al-Burhan is president of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereign Council.
The Wall Street Journal
Sudan is a country with a long memory: Our history stretches back to the biblical Kingdom of Kush, one of Africa’s greatest civilisations. The war now waged by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia is unlike anything we’ve ever faced. It is tearing the fabric of our society, uprooting millions, and placing the entire region at risk.