On April 15, 2023, the Sudanese Civil war broke out. The civil war began when a military regime called the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) drew arms against the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) in order to impose Sharia Law to all of Sudan. The RSF is led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. Dagalo was born between the years 1973-1975 where he was nephew of Juma Daglo, chief of the Rizeigat tribe where he only had education up to the third grade. Later in life he eventually became leader of the Janjaweed Tribe. During the war in Darfur he was appointed general in the newly created RSF. The other leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan ,of the SLA (Sudan Liberation Army), was born in 1960 in a village of Gandatu where he completed his education before he joined the Sudanese military college among the 31st batch. After he graduated military college he joined the Darfur war where he was a regional commander. As his military career progressed, he eventually became one of the leaders of Sudan. Ms Smith, a current IHS current events teacher stated that “ The two leaders had been allies who worked together to overthrow the last dictator [Of Sudan] .”

The conflict began when RSF launched multiple attacks on SLA bases across the country, the most notable being the battle of Khartoum (capital of Sudan). In this battle, the  RSF claimed to have captured Khartoum International Airport, Merowe Airport, El Obeid Airport as well as the headquarters of Sudan’s main news broadcasting center, causing the Sudanese Air Force to announce a closure of all Sudanese airports. Concurrently, the RSF launched its second wave of attacks on the state of Darfur. The RSF, while clashes erupted in the city by the Sudanese people, captured the airport, and the Signal Corps and Medical Corps headquarters in Al-Fashir (the capital of Sudan).  As the days passed, the RSF continued to fight, despite heavy losses. From April 21-24, the RSF had managed to cause five jailbreaks across Sudan, one of which being in Kobar. It said that the RSF raid on Kobar led to the deaths of two prison officials and the release of all detainees. The total number of escapees from the attacks was estimated to be at about 25,000. Following these prison breaks, on 30 April, the SLA announced it was launching an all-out attack to flush out the RSF in Khartoum using air strikes and heavy artillery. The Sudanese police deployed its excess Central Reserve Forces in the streets of Khartoum to maintain Sudanese law, the forces later reporting that they had arrested 316 members of the RSF. As the month of May was just around the corner, the RSF had not given up, still fighting in Khartoum, Khartoum Bahri, Omdurman and Darfur.

Currently in May, the SLA has reduced the combat capabilities by 55% and stopped alot of RSF advances in western regions. Fighting in the capital cities and other cities still continued when the U.N head of emergency relief, Martin Griffiths arrived in Port Sudan to inspect the damage. The Sudanese government claims to have had 5,000 people injured since the conflict began. After Griffiths spoke to both the RSF and SLA he said that the “will to end the fight still was not there.” Although the RSF’s power has certainly dwindled, the end of the crisis is distant. This raises the question, “What should outside countries do to help Sudan?” Connor Lavoie, a current IHS senior, when asked “What do you think the U.S or other countries could do to help in the civil war?” responded, “The US could issue aid to refugees.” Although it may seem impossible to help aid the Sudanese people yourself, you can still spread awareness through the internet and social media to hopefully make more people aware of the crisis in Sudan.