By: Seringe S.T. Touray
The war in Sudan has reached horrifying new depths, yet the world’s response remains muted. In Al-Fashir, the last government-held city in Darfur, over two thousand civilians were killed in just forty-eight hours. Satellite images revealed bloodstains visible from space, a chilling symbol of a conflict that has gone largely ignored despite its scale and brutality.
This map visually captures the military and territorial situation in Sudan as of June 17th 2025, and it helps explain why the war, and the atrocities happening in places like Al-Fashir, have intensified.
For more than a year and a half, Sudan has been torn apart by fighting between the national army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti. The RSF, widely reported by investigations from Human Rights Watch, The New York Times, BBC, Reuters, and CNN to be backed by the United Arab Emirates, which denies the allegations, has been accused of carrying out systematic killings, targeting ethnic Black communities, and committing atrocities that human rights observers now describe as genocide.
Entire neighbourhoods have been wiped out, women and children have been subjected to unimaginable violence, and over 12 million people have been forced from their homes. In Al-Fashir alone, a quarter of a million civilians were trapped for over 500 days with no access to food, medicine, or humanitarian aid.
Despite this, the international response has been slow and fragmented. The United Nations has struggled to take decisive action, while the African Union has done little beyond issuing symbolic statements. The United States, which has called itself a defender of human rights, has also faced criticism for failing to hold its allies accountable, particularly the UAE, whose financial and military support for the RSF has been widely documented.
Analysts say the UAE’s interests in Sudan are largely economic, tied to gold, farmland, and port access. But in protecting those interests, Abu Dhabi has provided cover for one of the deadliest campaigns of ethnic cleansing in recent history. “This is genocide in real time,” warned one human rights advocate. “And the silence of the international community is what allows it to continue.”
Armed members of the Rapid Support Forces patrol a captured area in Darfur, Sudan. The RSF, accused of committing atrocities and targeting ethnic Black communities, has gained control over most of western Sudan amid the country’s ongoing civil war.
Ceasefire talks in Washington recently collapsed, deepening the sense of international paralysis. Western governments have condemned the violence but stopped short of taking tangible measures, such as sanctions or an arms embargo on the RSF’s backers. Meanwhile, regional organisations like the African Union have remained largely inactive, drawing sharp criticism from Sudanese civil society groups who accuse the AU of abandoning its founding principles of peace and solidarity.
The suffering in Sudan is immense. More than 25 million people face hunger and disease, and large parts of Darfur are now under RSF control. Yet global attention remains fixated elsewhere, leaving Sudan’s people to endure unimaginable horrors with little hope of intervention.
The world’s silence, many observers argue, is not due to ignorance but to indifference. Without political will, Sudan’s tragedy risks becoming another stain on the conscience of the international community, a reminder that promises of “never again” often fade when there are no strategic interests at stake.
By: Seringe S.T. Touray The war in Sudan has reached horrifying new depths, yet the world’s response remains muted. In Al-Fashir, the last government-held city in Darfur, over two thousand civilians were killed in just forty-eight hours. Satellite images revealed bloodstains visible from space, a chilling symbol of a conflict that has gone largely ignored The Fatu Network
