Sudan 101 (Basics & Geography)
This is the month and year when the current Sudanese civil war began.
What is April 2023?
He leads the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).
Who is Abdel Fattah al-Burhan?
This Gulf state is widely accused of arming the RSF to protect its gold and commercial interests.
What is the UAE?
The immediate cause of the conflict was a disagreement over the timing and terms of this security reform.
What is integrating the RSF into the SAF?
Nearly 13 million Sudanese have been forced from their homes, producing this status under international humanitarian law.
What is mass displacement or refugee/IDP crisis?
Sudan’s capital city, where the conflict first exploded.
Answer: What is Khartoum?
Hemedti’s power base originated from this militia, responsible for major atrocities in Darfur.
What is the Janjaweed?
Egypt supports the SAF because instability in Sudan threatens this critical national resource.
Answer: What is the Nile River?
This IR concept describes how elite actors fear losing control and therefore choose conflict over compromise.
What is a bargaining failure?
Attacks like the killing of 460 civilians at the Saudi Hospital in El Fasher are examples of violations of this legal framework.
What are the laws of war / international humanitarian law?
This region in western Sudan, infamous for genocide under Bashir, has seen some of the worst current violence.
Answer: What is Darfur?
This authoritarian leader ruled Sudan for 30 years and orchestrated the Darfur genocide.
Who is Omar al-Bashir?
Russia’s pursuit of a naval base at Port Sudan reflects this realist strategic interest
What is power projection or control over sea lanes?
Burhan and Hemedti’s competition for power reflects this intra-elite phenomenon common in fragile states.
What is elite fragmentation?
The ICJ dismissed Sudan’s case against the UAE because it lacked this type of legal authority over the issue
What is jurisdiction?
When did South Sudan become independent from Sudan?
What is 2011?
These grassroots committees helped organize the 2019 uprising and now run emergency relief efforts.
What are the Resistance Committees?
This IR concept explains how external actors fund different sides of a conflict to expand influence without direct intervention.
What is proxy warfare?
Sudan’s reliance on gold exports and informal resource networks makes it an example of this IR economic pattern.
What is resource dependency or a rentier system?
The inability of the UN, AU, or IGAD to enforce ceasefires reflects this major limitation of liberal institutionalism.
What is the enforcement problem or lack of coercive power?
Sudan borders four countries directly affected by refugee flows. Name three.
Answer: What are any two of the following — Egypt, Chad, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Eritrea?
These volunteer-run community hubs provide food, medicine, and evacuation support where the state has collapsed.
What are the Emergency Response Rooms?
Saudi Arabia and the United States co-hosted these negotiations, which produced multiple ceasefires that collapsed almost immediately.
What are the Jeddah talks?
The conflict illustrates this realist idea: when no neutral, enforcing authority exists to prevent violence between power contenders.
What is anarchy in the international system?
Ongoing violence, blocked aid routes, funding cuts, and famine risks reflect this IR-level explanation: when global crises overshadow African conflicts.
What is international attention asymmetry, or global geopolitical distraction?