Since April 2023, a war between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces has been raging. Both war parties fight for control of the country, with battles concentrated in the region of Khartoum, but also beyond.
Civilians are facing ethnic cleansing, sexual violence, and other war crimes, with 14 million people – 30% of the population – forced to flee their homes.
The Rapid Support Forces
The RSF militia, originated from the infamous Janjaweed militias, which were involved in the genocide in the Darfur region in 2003. Until the escalation of violence in early 2023, the RSF served as the primary border force commissioned by the Sudanese government.
The official death toll of the current war is around 61,000 people – just in the state of Khartoum alone. This Sudanese state also lends its name to the Khartoum Process, now considered a blueprint for Europe’s deals with African states aiming for EU border externalization.
The Khartoum-Process
In 2014, EU and African countries started the Khartoum Process. Its goal: to stop people from fleeing to safety by strengthening border controls.
Numerous externalization projects are funded and implemented by the EU and member states within this framework, reinforcing the power of oppressive regimes through funding.
The EU funded for example Sudanese border control by building detention centers and providing border surveillance tools.
Since the war began in 2023, the RSF is no longer commissioned for border control. Moreover, in 2024, the EU imposed sanctions on organizations connected to the RSF.
Continuous support
However, indirect support by EU states continues. Recent reports by Amnesty International show that the RSF is using tanks equipped with French military technology. Thus France is likely violating the UN arms embargo on Darfur of 2005.
Europe’s borders are built at the cost of human lives, worsening the problems that make people flee in the first place.
We demand the EU to close all loopholes that support the war in Sudan and to commit
to an immediate end to the violence fully.
We call for establishing humanitarian corridors and safe passage for all people in Sudan.
