Nov 04, 2025
3 min read
An analysis of the Sudanese civil war between the Heminty RSF and the Burhan Army with international gold mining interests.
War in Sudan, the origins of the conflict: alliances, international support and tempting gold mines |script
A woman hugs her three children and kneels on the floor.In front of her, a Rapid Support Forces fighter filmed her kicking her.Then, as if nothing had happened, machine gun fire exploded, ending the lives of the children and their mother.Everything is recorded.In the city of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, which has been under siege for 18 months by anti-government Rapid Support Forces, atrocities have been documented and uploaded online by the same militants who carried them out.From space, satellite images clearly show huge pools of blood spread across the city, ending up in the hands of these rebels.Hundreds of residents were summarily killed by the Rapid Support Forces, a militia loyal to General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as "Hemedti", one of the two main sides in the civil war that broke out in 2023. The war was fought against a former ally: General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the de facto president of Sudan.
Fighting in the field: the battle between the Judges
The RSF - Rapid Support Forces - was officially born in 2013 from the ashes of the notorious Janjaweed militia, the "devils on horses" who committed war crimes in Darfur in 2003 under the regime of Omar al-Bashir.Made up mostly of men from nomadic Arab tribes in western Sudan, Bashir used the RSF to suppress an uprising in Darfur's non-Arab communities.punchingAfter the arrest of El Bashir, the dictator of Sudan since 1989, the militia came under the command of Hamedti.He is the one who turned that paramilitary force into a private army over the years, financed by controlling gold mines and foreign trade.The RSF sent its mercenaries to the wars and conflicts in Yemen and Libya and strengthened its military and economic power.On the other hand, the regular army under the command of Abdulfetah Al Burhan, who won and recaptured Khartoum in March 2025 after fierce clashes with the RSF gangs.
The fight for gold
Behind this conflict lies the struggle for power and resources of a vast and fragmented country.The RSF defends its autonomy and profits from controlling the gold fields in Darfur and Kordofan, due to their location as strategic areas for mineral deposits and crossroads for commercial traffic.On the other hand, the regular army wants to restore the authority of the central government.But the war is also a 20-year ethnic and historical wound.In 2003, President Omar al-Bashir declared Darfur, a region bordering Chad and the Central African Republic.When it begins to suppress the protest movement that demands more representation.Upstream, a sense of discrimination and apartheid is perceived by the central authorities for a part of the region's population that is not the majority of Arab ethnicity.This conflict will last 17 years.There will be more acute stages where the war will turn into a new genocide justified by ethnic hatred.The Sudan Revolutionary Front, made up of several rebel groups seeking greater autonomy for Darfur, only reached an agreement with the Sudanese government in Khartoum in December 2020 in Juba, South Sudan.will sign a peace agreement.Sudanese are protesting to start a democratic transition: they want a government that will bring democracy and be led by civilians.They will succeed, but only partially.A coalition government led by civilians and the military will be established in 2021, lasting several months.General Abdul Fattah al-Barhan, the head of the armed forces, and Mohammad Hamdan Dagalo, the leader of the RSF, nicknamed "Hamdi", put an end to this coalition government in a coup.It later leads to a new civil war between the two.The power struggle begins.
Stripes and Dubai
The RSF, led by Dagalo, is supported, according to various investigations by other authorities and newspapers, by the United States of Emirates, which is responsible for exporting large amounts of gold to Sudan.To support this history, there are various weapons from the UK to the UAE, according to the secret of the United Council, which are found in the hands of the RSF.It is supported by several countries starting with Egypt who do not want chaos in the South.Then there are businessmen like Russia and China who want to enter mines and red ports in Sudan.
To date, the final phase of this conflict, which restarted in 2023, has left 150,000 people dead.While 12 million people were displaced because of the war.Amnesty International has also condemned Sudan's abandonment and the violence of this conflict that now prevails on all sides."All parties to the conflict continue to commit serious violations - we read in the human rights organization's 2024 document - and violations of international human rights law, as well as violations of international humanitarian law... millions of people who have been internally displaced or refugees abroad... continue to enjoy impunity."
