genocide in Darfur

Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan (left), the head of Sudan’s ruling military council, greets supporters near the capital Khartoum in 2019. Sudanese paramilitary commander Gen. Mohammed Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti, is shown on the right, in the capital earlier this month. The generals have been fighting for control of Sudan for nearly two weeks, leaving more than 400 dead.

YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP via Getty Images

The two generals waging a bloody power struggle in Sudan actually share a long history of working together — and it began 20 years ago when both were key figures during a genocide waged in the country’s Darfur region.

Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, now the commander of the military, and Gen. Mohammed Dagalo, the head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, have been fighting each other for the past two weeks in the capital Khartoum, leaving more than 400 dead.

They’re fighting for military and political power, and also to maintain control of their extensive business interests, according to Alex DeWaal, an expert on Sudan who heads the World Peace Foundation at Tufts University.

“Essentially, what we are seeing is a mobster shootout. We’re seeing two gang bosses shooting it out for control of the terrain in which they make their illicit money,” said DeWaal.

Both generals also held key military positions during the darkest days in Darfur, said Nicole Widdersheim, deputy Washington director of Human Rights Watch.

She said her group “has been documenting crimes and abuses by both of these leaders and the militaries and paramilitaries that they control for decades. They go all the way back to Darfur.”

“If we keep empowering…