Sudan, the War in Yemen and the Company You Keep
One of the lowest points of my time working in government service was hearing a civil servant from the Department for International Development (DFID - now rolled into the FCDO) discuss the issue of supplying aid to the Sudanese government around the time of the Darfur genocide. The argument isn’t straightforward: of course you shouldn’t supply aid to genocidal maniacs, but if you deny aid to the people of Sudan, many of whom live in dire poverty, is this a better outcome? In grappling with this difficult question, the DFID official uttered the unforgettable line: “the genocide is nearly finished” as an argument in favour of continuing aid.
Sudan is a complex country that has faced instability throughout its history. The legacy of British colonialism is relevant to this story, although it should be noted that Sudan was one of the first African countries to gain independence, in 1955. Lengthy wars led to the independence of South Sudan in 2011. In parallel, the Darfur Genocide, now often overlooked, was perhaps the worst of the conflicts ravaging the country, in which Sudanese Arab militias known as Janjaweed targeted ethnic groups in the west of the country that identified as ‘African’ in contrast to ‘Arab’ (these are all complex identities and I am not suggesting they are entirely satisfactory ones. But they are used by people in Sudan.
As has been widely reported, the Janjaweed evolved into the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in 2013. It remains under the command of Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti. The actions of the Janjaweed in Darfur, as well as other elements of the Sudanese state, including former president Omar Al-Bashir, were hideous, and clearly outlined in the International Criminal Court’s investigation which found clear evidence of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
As has been widely reported, the Janjaweed evolved into the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in 2013. It remains under the command of Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti. The actions of the Janjaweed in Darfur, as well as other elements of the Sudanese state, including former president Omar Al-Bashir, were hideous, and clearly outlined in the International Criminal Court’s investigation which found clear evidence of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
But that did’t stop Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates from seeing a potentially convenient opportunity. To bolster their faltering military escapade in Yemen in 2015, effectively, the RSF became a vast mercenary force in the pay of Abu Dhabi and Riyadh as they attempted to defeat Yemen’s Houthi rebels…
