Intense fighting has ravaged Sudan since 15 April The war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and its erstwhile comrades-in-arms, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, has created one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.
Famine, displacement and mass atrocities are wreaking havoc in the country. International mediation efforts have been lacklustre and fruitless. The United Nations security council has been preoccupied with other crises and blocked by its own divisions.
The African Union has created diplomatic groups , a high-level panel and a presidential committee , none of which has been particularly active.
It has been very slow in tackling the political process it wanted to lead. The Sudanese Armed Forces delegation failed to turn up in Switzerland.
The Rapid Support Forces expressed willingness to talk peace, while simultaneously committing sexual and gender-based violence on a massive scale. The Biden administration only lately slapped sanctions on the top leaders of both forces, Abdelfattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo also known as Hemedti. I have studied civil wars, mediation and peacebuilding for more than 12 years, with a focus on Sudan, including regular visits to the country and the region in the past five years.
