The conflict that erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has had profound impacts on those resident in Sudan’s conflict-affected borderlands. This report draws on three case studies to examine how RSF commanders, traditional authorities, and local intermediaries assert legitimacy in borderland areas.
Sudan’s peripheries have long operated as hybrid spaces where state institutions, armed groups, and
local intermediaries share and contest authority through patronage and informal arrangements. The ongoing civil war between the SAF and RSF has intensified these dynamics, forcing borderland residents to navigate changing governance systems in order to manage the conflict’s impacts. These realities also pose significant challenges for policymakers, diplomats, and humanitarian actors working across Sudan and the wider region.
This report investigates how RSF power is organised, legitimised, and exercised, particularly in terms of replacing formal state structures and challenging SAF claims to sovereignty.
An Arabic translation of the executive summary of this report is available here.