It started with a market in Khartoum. The market was in an area held by the Rapid Support Forces. On October 13, 2024, the Sudanese Armed Forces hit it from the air.
At least 23 people died. Another 40 were wounded.
The SAF has roughly 300,000 personnel. The RSF is smaller. But the RSF fought in Yemen.
In 2016 and 2017, 40,000 of its members were in the Yemeni Civil War. By October 2019, 10,000 of those had come back to Sudan.
They brought combat experience with them. They brought a network of connections. Those connections matter now.
The RSF has Islamist elements. Some accuse the group of ties to Iran’s government. Iran is a hostile actor in the view of the United States.
The US, under President Biden, is watching. Officials have expressed concern.
The humanitarian toll is rising. The civil war began in 2023. It has not stopped.
It has destabilized the region. It has wrecked the economy.
Trade is disrupted. Commerce is disrupted. Both sides keep fighting.
Both sides keep killing. The international community is critical of the Islamist influence inside the RSF. The RSF is a paramilitary group.
It started as a militia. Now it controls parts of Khartoum.
The SAF wants those parts back. The airstrike on the marketplace was one attempt. Civilians paid the price.
The US and its Western allies want a peaceful resolution. Diplomats are talking to both sides.
The talks have not stopped the bombs. The situation remains volatile. The risk of further escalation is high.
China also has a stake. It has significant economic interests in Sudan. It has been involved in efforts to manage the conflict.
But China has not stopped the SAF from bombing markets. No one has.
Twenty-three dead in one strike. Forty wounded. Those are the numbers from one attack on one day.
The war has been running for over a year. The numbers keep adding up.
The SAF has the advantage in numbers. It has the air force. The RSF has mobility.
It has experience from Yemen. It has Islamist allies. The two sides are locked in.
Neither seems willing to back down. The market was in RSF-controlled territory.
That made it a target. The SAF likely saw military assets there. Or they saw RSF fighters.
Or they just saw an enemy-held area. The bombs do not discriminate.
The dead are dead regardless of the target. The civil war has shattered Sudan. The country was already fragile.
Now it is broken. The economy is in ruins. People cannot trade.
They cannot work. They are being bombed in markets.
The US is monitoring. The US is concerned. The US is talking to both sides.
None of that stopped the airstrike. None of that will bring back the 23.
None of that will heal the 40. The RSF is a key player. It has Islamist elements.
Those elements have ties to Iran. Iran is an adversary of the US. This complicates the diplomacy.
It makes the conflict harder to resolve. It gives the RSF a foreign backer, at least in perception.
China wants stability. China wants its investments protected. China is involved.
But China is not the United States. The two powers do not always agree on the path forward.
The marketplace attack is one event in a long war. It will not be the last. The bombs will keep falling.
The dead will keep being counted. The diplomats will keep talking. The war will keep going.
