Sudan’s Fractured Fighters

September 2026

Also published in National Interest
A Sudanese army soldier stands near a bombed-out vehicle outside Khartoum - source: Reuters
About the Authors
Arieg Elhag
Areig Elhag

Areig Elhag is the Arabic Content Editor at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. She has more than 15 years of experience in journalism and political analysis.

Articles & Testimony

The conditions that created the war will likely recur if Sudan’s military stays fragmented between so many semi-autonomous armed groups.

Nearly three years into the Sudanese Civil War, US diplomacy remains focused on an immediate and necessary objective: securing a humanitarian truce, stopping the fighting, and getting aid to civilians. But a ceasefire, urgent as it is, will not resolve one of the problems that helped bring Sudan to this point. Even if Washington and the international community secure an agreement between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, they will still face a difficult question: What happens to the other armed forces that have grown stronger during the war? Sudan could emerge from this conflict not with two competing armies, but with five or six significant armed forces, each with its own commanders, weapons, political relationships, and areas of influence...

Read this article on the National Interest website.

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