Proxy Warfare and the Weaponization of Hunger

Sudan is facing one of the most severe humanitarian and legal crises in contemporary Africa. Civilians are being deliberately targeted through starvation, drone warfare, and systematic attacks on humanitarian operations.

What is unfolding is no longer an internal conflict but a proxy war, in which a regionally sponsored militia—the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)—has adopted hunger, terror, and the destruction of civilian life as central instruments of warfare.

These practices constitute grave breaches of international humanitarian law and expose the deep failure of global accountability mechanisms.

In a renewed and flagrant violation of the Geneva Conventions and the Jeddah Declaration signed under Saudi–American auspices, RSF forces targeted World Food Programme (WFP) trucks in the Shikal area of Kordofan State.

The convoy was delivering humanitarian aid to civilians when it was attacked, resulting in civilian casualties and the destruction of life-saving relief supplies.

The incident sparked widespread regional and international condemnation.

In another grave crime, the militia used armed drones to strike a civilian passenger bus departing from the city of Al-Rahad, killing all those on board, including many women and children.

RSF drones also targeted Al-Kuwik Military Hospital in Kadugli, killing doctors and medical staff in a direct assault on a protected medical facility—an act explicitly prohibited under international humanitarian law.

These crimes are not isolated. They form part of a systematic pattern of violence that has characterized RSF conduct since its failed coup attempt in April 2023.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has publicly stated that the militia, by its very nature and behavior, is incapable of honoring agreements or respecting ceasefires.

This pattern is most evident in El-Fasher, where the RSF rejected a UN-proposed seven-day humanitarian truce intended to allow food and aid into the besieged city, despite the Sudanese government’s approval.

For more than 600 days, starvation has been used as a weapon against the city’s population. Civilians attempting to flee were killed, forcing residents to survive on animal feeds.

Since the outbreak of the war, the RSF has systematically employed starvation as a method of warfare—destroying UN warehouses, looting humanitarian aid, intercepting relief convoys, and burning agricultural crops, particularly in Al-Jazira State.

These actions amount to collective punishment and war crimes under international law.

The militia’s brutality has been accompanied by alarming impunity. The international community’s failure to hold both the perpetrators and their regional sponsors accountable has emboldened further atrocities, despite the clear legal obligation to distinguish between civilian and military targets.

In this context, the RSF’s campaign of systematic violence, deliberate starvation, and the deliberate deepening of Sudan’s humanitarian catastrophe cannot be understood in isolation from the strategic objectives of its regional sponsors.

These atrocities—marked by the widespread destruction of civilian life, infrastructure, and humanitarian operations—have contributed to the deliberate creation of conditions that are later instrumentalized to justify calls for “international intervention” under the pretext of civilian protection or humanitarian necessity.

Notably, as the militia has suffered significant military setbacks on the ground and lost its ability to impose facts by force, voices advocating such intervention have grown markedly louder.

This pattern suggests a calculated effort to halt the Sudanese Armed Forces’ advances and to restore a strategic balance in favor of the militia after its battlefield failures.

In this way, the suffering of Sudanese civilians is cynically transformed into a tool of geopolitical leverage, not a genuine impetus to end the war or protect civilian lives.

In El-Fasher, RSF fighters executed doctors and medical personnel in cold blood, along with approximately 450 patients and their companions inside the Saudi Hospital.

Humanitarian workers were also targeted, including the Humanitarian Affairs Commissioner of North Darfur.

Similar crimes were reported in Umm Rawaba, where Red Crescent staff were summarily executed after the militia entered the city.

Against this backdrop, Sudan welcomed a statement by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which condemned RSF violations and reaffirmed its support for Sudan’s unity and sovereignty.

Khartoum described the statement as an important regional acknowledgment of the scale and gravity of the crimes being committed.

The Sudanese government has also repeatedly confirmed that it possesses documented evidence implicating the United Arab Emirates in supporting RSF-committed crimes, including genocide, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity.

Likewise, among the most prominent regional condemnations was that of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which reiterated its rejection of foreign interference in Sudan.

Saudi statement specifically highlighted the ongoing role of certain actors in supplying illicit weapons and mercenaries, despite their hollow claims of supporting a political solution.

Riyadh emphasized that these interventions only prolong the war and deepen the suffering of the Sudanese people.

Sudan has formally called for the militia and its sponsors to be designated as supporters of terrorism.

More than one thousand days after the RSF’s attempted military takeover and rebellion against the Sudanese Armed Forces, the militia continues its systematic assault on civilians.

Recent attacks appear to be desperate attempts to project strength following successive defeats, most notably in Dilling and Kadugli—cities that were besieged for over two years, with food and medical supplies deliberately denied to tens of thousands of civilians.

Any genuine resolution to Sudan’s crisis must begin with confronting the regional sponsorship that enables the RSF to acquire advanced weapons, deploy mercenaries, and prolong the war.

Continued arms transfers constitute an ongoing violation of UN Security Council resolutions, as documented by UN Panels of Experts, UN agencies, and reputable international media outlets.

Even Massad Boulos, senior adviser to former U.S. President Donald Trump, condemned RSF attacks on civilians and humanitarian convoys, affirming that those who target U.S.-funded humanitarian assistance will not be tolerated.

Sudan’s tragedy is not only a national crisis—it is a test of whether international law still has meaning when civilians are starved, hospitals are bombed, and accountability is indefinitely deferred.