Amsterdam — As we approach the third-year anniversary of the war between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that erupted in Khartoum on April 15, 2023, there has been little progress on mediation.
There are three emerging realities of the conflict that are disempowering mediators. First is the audacity of regional intervention in the war in Sudan has risen to the extent that many now treat Sudanese, who are subjected to war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, the use of chemical weapons, and the most unthinkable types of human miseries, as objects rather than actors the crisis. The fact that the Quad Initiative, which is being brokered by the United States, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and UAE, does not even allow active participation of Sudanese actors, whether those engaged in the fighting or civilians, while major bargains are made about their country's fate, is a case in point. Second is that political life and civic spaces in Sudan have become deeply and extremely polarized. International actors continue to fail to understand the nuances of these divisions and how they impact organizing by Sudanese actors within these spaces.
