With the international system stretched to the breaking point, the world’s attention remains focused on the wars in Ukraine and Gaza and the questions of moral legitimacy they raise. However, conflicts in Sudan and Ethiopia are also setting precedents that will further erode the moral and legal constraints on state and nonstate actors.
The Sudanese armed forces have now lost control of Sudan’s two biggest cities while feeding the public a false sense of hope. In contrast, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, has sold the narrative abroad that its forces are waging a righteous crusade on behalf of the very Sudanese population it terrorizes.
Six months in, Sudan’s internal conflict has become a devastating humanitarian crisis, with tens of millions of people needing assistance. Worse still, neither side in the war is anywhere near ending the fighting. If concerted action is not taken soon to end the conflict, it could result in the collapse of Sudan.
