In April 2023, a war broke out in Sudan between the Sudanese armed forces and the Rapid Support Forces. The impact has been devastating. Thousands were killed in addition to massive destruction in buildings and infrastructure, causing many to fear that the whole country will fall into a cycle of violence. 

One of the primary causes of this crisis are the reckless interventions by external actors seeking to advance their interests. For years, European countries have been discreetly cooperating with the RSF militia to protect their borders from immigrants. Lately, with the increase of refugees flowing into European coasts, this approach has proved to be not only immoral but is also backfiring on those who invested in it. 

The Rapid Support Forces is a rebranded name for the notorious Janjaweed militia known for its atrocities in Sudan. It was utilized by the deposed regime in counterinsurgency operations in Darfur and South Kordofan. In 2017, the parliament passed a law that recognized the militia as an official force headed by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. Then in September 2023, a government decree officially dissolved the militia and declared it a rebel group. The militia has different sources of funding that come from gold smuggling, the UAE, and military aid from Wagner Group. During his visit to Russia, the RSF leader defended the invasion of Ukraine, a step that reveals a growing relationship between the RSF and Russia.

The collaboration between the RSF militia and European countries dates back to the launching of the Khartoum process initiative in 2014. In line with the EU’s border externalization strategy, the agreement states that the EU will provide military funding and logistics support to Horn of Africa countries who are located in immigration routes. 

The number of Sudanese immigrants is rapidly increasing. According to a recent report, 10 million are now internally displaced. In Libya, the usual step for immigrants before Europe, there are now 40,000 Sudanese people who fled the war, according to official numbers. In February 2024, at least 13 Sudanese asylum seekers were killed after their boat capsized while attempting to cross the sea to Europe. Since the beginning of 2023, there have been 6,000 Sudanese who arrived in Italy. The UN refugee agency expects these numbers to increase if the war continues.

         

Europe, which is certainly anxious about this escalation, has started to respond in different ways. In February 2024, the Italian prime minister voiced her concern about the immigration catastrophe and called for support to build a buffer zone in African countries to protect Europe from immigrants. The EU pledged  a 7.4 billion euro funding package to Egypt to stem immigration in addition to providing 17 million euros to thousands affected by the war. Moreover,  in June 2023, the EU committed 190 million euros as a humanitarian and development package, part of which was dedicated to neighboring countries affected by the immigration flow. The EU also doubled its assistance to Chad as a response to the thousands of Sudanese who fled Darfur and escaped to the eastern region of the country. It has also allocated funding to address the health crisis of Sudanese immigrants arriving in Libya as a result of the War. 

However, there are obvious reasons that should push Europe to move on and address the root causes of this issue by rethinking its partnership with the RSF, and acknowledging that this partnership is causing serious damage to its immigration goals and interests. 

First, the scale of violations and massacres in areas that the RSF controls reveals the failure of the militia to act as a de facto ruler and protect citizens from the brutality of its soldiers. More importantly, these horrifying incidents give a window into the future of the rules of the country. In such a grim scenario, we can readily expect a surge of immigrants fleeing the country to save their lives, for instance, during ongoing clashes in Elfashir City in Darfur,  the militia decided to launch an attack on the last secured shelter for displaced people in the region, hundreds of thousands were forced to escape the city, this militia repeated this scenario in different other towns such as Ardamata, Khartoum and Wad Medani, exposing the simple fact that RSF will keep attacking more cities causing more killing, rape, and looming famine forcing citizens to leave the country.  Given the dire situations of Sudanese refugees in countries such as Egypt, Chad, and Ethiopia, many of those immigrants typically continue their journey to their final destination in Europe. 

Moreover, the militia itself isn’t credible and can’t be trusted for the immigration issue, a recent report exposed that RSF members are colluding with human traffickers and militias in Libya to facilitate the movement of illegal immigrants to Libya and then to Europe in exchange for money. 

Alarmingly, Dagalo’s record shows that he is a war criminal who is fully ready to weaponize the immigration issue to achieve his goals. Previously, The RSF leader warned Europe of an influx of immigrants if its policymakers did not cooperate with the military coup he was part of in 2021. He also threatened to stop blocking immigrants if the EU did not pay more money to him. While Europe is now somewhat benefiting from the militia, it will soon be under its mercy pressured by its political blackmail. 

Paradoxically, despite all these concerns, and while publicly declaring to stop partnership with the militia, the EU has been supporting the militia. For instance, after the outset of the war, the EU welcomed the RSF’s political envoy and allowed him to lobby its governments. Italy has sent an intelligence delegation to train the RSF militia. In May 2022, an investigative report exposed that Greeks permitted the transportation of surveillance technologies to be transferred to the militia. In addition to that, several European countries signed a contract with security companies affiliated with the militia to safeguard their embassies. Most recently, it was exposed that the UK foreign office held a secretive meeting with the RSF delegation in London.  

European parliaments and rights groups should hold their governments accountable for spending the taxpayers’ money on legitimizing a war militia, destroying other countries, and exacerbating European problems. Most recently, The Greek parliament kicked the boat by openly asking the government about the collaboration with RSF militia. University professors also wrote a public letter demanding the government stop funding the militia. Several rights groups, researchers, and journalists rebuked the role of the RSF militia in this project citing the bloody nature of the RSF militia formation and its destructive agendas. 

By funding and supporting the RSF militia, Europe is enabling it to wage war which results in more chaos and instability in the Sudan, directly pushing more Sudanese people to find permanent and safe shelter in Europe. It’s time for European policymakers to revisit their myopic strategy and break this vicious cycle. 

The recent agreement between the EU and the Sudanese government to address the immigration crisis is the first step in the right direction. Left-leaning parliaments that emerge victorious in European countries, such as in France and the UK, are morally challenged to reconsider the broken immigration policies adopted by the previous governments and seek a sustainable and just solution that benefits all sides. 

The clear facts on the ground tell that the RSF militia isn’t the solution, it’s rather the problem itself. 

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