Sudan may never forget or forgive RSF crimes during two years of war

No matter the outcome or the passage of time following Sudan’s civil war, in the minds of the vast majority of the Sudanese public, forgiveness of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for its crimes may never occur. Moreover, it is also highly likely that some members of paramilitary forces may never be accepted into the lives of the average Sudanese citizens ever again. After the horrific stories of widespread abuses committed before withdrawing from Al-Jazira state and the atrocities in Khartoum before its liberation, widely circulated videos have left an irrevocable anger that has left no possible room for compromise with the militia forces.

Such are the sentiments expressed by Sudanese citizens like 63-year-old Hussam Abdeen, who spoke in his exiled home in Medina, Saudi Arabia: “The remains of burned bodies that were found in huge containers; prisoners died of thirst after being locked in a school,” he recounted. “People were found locked in the bathrooms of their homes and left there for unspecified amounts of time,” he recalled. Hussam shuddered and recoiled when speaking of the graves that lay inside homes and streets because the RSF prevented people from leaving to bury the dead in cemeteries.

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Hussam spoke after spending 18 months experiencing war in which his wife and three children survived the mortar fire. He recalls surviving a daily ration of peas before escaping to join his son-in-law in Saudi Arabia. Hussam spoke of prisoners freed by the army from homes and camps that had been converted into makeshift detention centres and spoke of videos of torture, abuse and food deprivation. Some had died, and no one was allowed to bury them. Some survivors appeared to be in a deplorable state. Others were little more than skeletons unable to be rescued, dying within days of their release.

Commentators writing in independent Arabic news outlets such as Al-Tayar wrote on the shock practices and the stories of abuses circulating from Darfur, Al-Jazira, Khartoum and other regions: “A vast gap has emerged between the RSF and the majority of the Sudanese people,” columnist Osman Merghani, editor-in-chief wrote. “The result is that a new reality has emerged. A significant majority of people who previously sided with the RSF saw nothing but practices targeting citizens, their homes, their property and honour. Consequently, they see no possibility of coexistence with them,” Merghani added.

Ultimately, the widespread violations seemed to prompt a large number of young men to join the ranks of the popular resistance. This also contributed to recruiting fighters who viewed the war as defensive and a means of protecting property and honour. The conflict became labelled as the “Karama” war or the Dignity War. In the recent speeches heard from Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, his deputy Lieutenant General Shams Al-Din Kabbashi, his assistant Lieutenant General Yasser Al-Atta and other leaders in the army and the Sovereignty Council since the end of last year, including Foreign Secretary Ali Yousif, the position has been that there will be no negotiations or truce and that if the RSF wanted a solution, they would have to surrender their weapons and head to specific camps.

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The rapid advances achieved by the army and its allies since its transition from defence to offence last September have been attributed to the hardening position of the army, just as the RSF’s violations against civilians and the widespread and systematic destruction caused to property, institutions and infrastructure were another factor. Trying to salvage some hope from the RSF’s recent defeats by suggesting they undertook a tactical withdrawal from Khartoum or that secret negotiations are underway between them and the army to reach a deal to end the war does not appear to be borne from events on the ground. The announcement by RSF’s deputy leader Abdul Rahim Dagalo of the plan to attack the North of Sudan is also an attempt to breathe life into the notion that the RSF will rise again.

Some commentators argued that the last two speeches by Al-Burhan and Mohammad Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti) served as confirmation of the absence of negotiations and indicated that the coming period would witness an escalation in the pace of military operations, with the battles shifting from Khartoum to Darfur and Kordofan or even to the North. However, there are also many indications that many parties inside the country have reached the conviction that it is no longer possible to return to any negotiations that would give the RSF a military or political role in the Sudanese scene in the coming period. Any negotiations, if they take place, will be based on the condition of the delivery of equipment and the demobilisation of these forces. The two-year war appears to have taught the Sudanese many important lessons, but whether or not it will resolve in forgiveness for the level of injustice that some communities committed against others remains to be seen.

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The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.