A Grim New Phase in Sudan’s War as Rebel Militias Open New Fronts

The Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group is making major territorial gains in long-running civil war, forcing some rebel groups to pick up arms and unite.

A fighter from the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces sits in an armed vehicle in the city of Nyala, in south Darfur, on May 3, 2015. Ashraf Shazly/AFP/Getty Images

There has been a new grim twist in the protracted civil war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF)—after two rebel groups decided to join the army to fight the RSF.

Last week’s move by the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Sudanese Liberation Movement (SLM) came after the RSF made major gains in the rebel groups’ support base in Darfur.