The ongoing civil war in Sudan
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Genocide is defined by the United States Department of Justice as “violent attacks with the specific intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.” Alain Destexhe, former secretary-general of Medecins Sans Frontieres, said, “Genocide is a crime on a different scale to all other crimes against humanity and implies an intention to completely exterminate the chosen group. Genocide is therefore both the gravest and greatest of the crimes against humanity,” according to BBC.
Sudan is a country currently undergoing a horrific domestic war. Genocide Watch stated, “the war in Sudan has escalated to stage nine of the Ten Stages of Genocide: Extermination.”
Prior to this ongoing genocide, Sudan has experienced genocide before; the Darfur Genocide began in the early 2000’s. From 2003 to 2005, approximately 200,000 people were murdered and two million people were displaced. Janjaweed forces, alongside Sudanese forces, began to terrorize Darfur—particularly the Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa population—effectively committing an ethnic genocide and mass displacement, as described by Holocaust Encyclopedia and the United Nations.
The Sudanese government, under President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, supported the Janjaweed’s actions, encouraging and participating in the violence. In March of 2005, the International Crime Court (ICC) received the case of Sudan from the United Nations Security Council, as recorded by the Holocaust Encyclopedia. This transfer led to five different cases made against political leaders involved in the violence: Omar al-Bashir, Abdallah Banda Abakaer Nourain, Bahar Idriss Abu Garda, Ahmad Harun and Ali Kushayb, and Abdel Raheem Muhammad Hussein.
In April of 2019, former president al-Bashir was overthrown, arrested by military forces, and given a sentence of two years in a state-run reform center. He was charged with “illegal possession of foreign currency, illicit financial gains and corruption,” as reported by Al Jazeera. al-Bashir has so far evaded the ICC and has not been brought before the court for charges of genocide and related war crimes as of Nov. 16, 2025.
Hiba Morgan, a reporter for Al Jazeera spoke on the verdict, saying, “It is likely that this verdict of two years in a rehabilitation facility and not prison is not going to sit down too well with the protesters, who have been demanding for justice and accountability not just for Omar al-Bashir, but for his ruling party, members of his cabinet and government, some of whom are in the sovereign council right now.”
After al-Bashir was overthrown, a transitional government took over with the aim of democracy. Humanitarian specialist Sara Sinada and Sudanese researcher at Macquarie University Noah Bassil spoke on how this movement was intercepted by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who were unlikely allies. They continued to work “together,” with the SAF being the more dominant ally, until April 2023 when they began fighting each other. The SAF is led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the RSF is led by Mohamed Hamden “Hemedti” Dagalo, as reported by ABC News. Currently, the Rapid Support Forces are working to ethnically cleanse Sudan of non-Arab communities and people, according to the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect.
The RSF, a paramilitary group, have recently taken control over el-Fasher, which is the capital of North Darfur. El-Fasher was the last major SAF-controlled city in Darfur to resist RSF control and civilians were experiencing countless acts of violence from RSF forces, including gunfire, sexual violence, bombings, and more. Over 400 people were murdered in a hospital in el-Fasher with RSF footage showing the armed forces leaving the destroyed hospital. The Sudanese army and the RSF engaged in military conflict every day for months; the BBC reports that both sides have been accused of war crimes.
On Oct. 27, 2025 the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab observed reddish discoloration in satellite images taken of el-Fasher. In footage prior to Oct. 27, there was no discoloration visible. Based on the size of the discoloration, it can be inferred that this was caused by the blood from the bodies of those who had been executed, according to ABC News. On Oct. 31, bodies and burnt vehicles were observed in images, which were later confirmed by footage released by the RSF forces.
Following the takeover of el-Fasher, Dagalo has said that the “fact-finding committee will begin to immediately investigate and hold accountable any [of his own] officers and soldiers that exceed their limit or violate other rights…,” as stated by the New York Post.