Buoyed by foreign backers and ignoring civilian casualties, both Burhan and Hemeti claim a breakthrough is in sight

For the next few months of the dry season, the rival factions look set to concentrate their forces in the devastating battles for control of two cities and environs – the capital Khartoum and El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur. With no constraints on tactics and weapons used – mostly supplied by the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Turkey, Russia, Belarus, China and Iran – tens of thousands of civilians will be caught in the fighting. They will have little chance of finding a passage out nor will relief agencies be able or allowed to meet the rising demand for emergency medicine and foodstuffs.

This latest chapter of the war started at the UN General Assembly in New York, which was meant to launch an internationally backed initiative for a humanitarian ceasefire and louder calls for outsiders to stop supplying arms to the combatants.

On 26 September, the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) commander General Abdel Fattah al Burhan addressed the UN General Assembly, savouring this shred of international recognition which was conceded to him in the hope that he would join serious negotiations for a ceasefire.

That hope was misplaced. Burhan’s SAF has proved even more unwilling than its opponent, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo ‘Hemeti’, to send representatives to ceasefire negotiations. So far neither has faced serious pressure, on or off the battlefield, to negotiate.

Khartoum offensive
As Burhan was speaking at the General Assembly, the SAF launched an ambitious offensive against RSF positions in Khartoum. For over a year, the RSF has dominated the capital, forcing anyone with enough funds to flee.

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