Amid humanitarian crisis and ongoing fighting, Africa's war-torn Sahel region faces a brand new threat: ethno-mercenaries

Sudan's ongoing humanitarian crisis after greater than a 12 months of civil war shows little sign of slowing downAnd amidst the fighting, a worrying development is emerging that might complicate the conflict and spread beyond Sudan’s borders: the Rise of “ethno-mercenaryism”.”

These are fortune hunters recruited on the idea of their ethnicity or economic reasons who come to Sudan from across Africa's Sahel region – the vast, semi-arid area of ​​the continent that separates the Sahara within the north from the more fertile tropical regions within the south.

The involvement of non-Sudanese Arab fighters within the Sudanese civil war has implications far beyond the country's borders and highlights broader sociopolitical and economic trends across the African continent. As a researcher who follows the developments that Political transitions within the countries along the Red SeaI’m convinced that understanding the complex dynamics that draw outside fighters into the Sudanese civil war is critical to understanding the larger geopolitical shifts that Shaping the region.

Migration, climate change and resource scarcity

The war between the Sudanese armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces broke out in April 2023 after the support forces, which had until then been under the control of the armed forces, attacked government positions within the capital Khartoum. The war quickly escalated into bloody fighting across the country between the 2 rival groups.

It isn’t only an area problem, but increasingly a regional one. Fighters from Chad, Libya and Niger have joined the support forcessuggesting an internet of alliances that challenge traditional notions of national sovereignty and security.

This cross-border engagement underscores the interconnectedness of the Sahel region. And the fighters involved should not mere mercenaries – they’re participants in a deep-rooted, historically complex struggle for resources and power that pits the region's ethnic groups against one another.

The recruitment of foreign Arab fighters by the Rapid Support Forces – a bunch that emerged from the Janjaweed militia accountable for massacres throughout the Darfur region – is influenced by several aspects, including historical migration and economic pressures.

The legacy of Pan-Arabism and Arab supremacy ideologypropagated by personalities resembling the murdered Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, plays a job. It is linked to current issues resembling Climate change and resource scarcity to create a volatile environment during which traditional governance structures struggle to keep up order. Since the Nineteen Sixties, there have been Civil wars in Chad between tribal movements and in Sudan between Darfur's rebel groups and the central government in Khartoum.

However, understanding the rise of ethno-mercenaryism within the Sahel requires a comprehensive approach that takes into consideration the historical, socio-political and economic dimensions.

The Arabization of Sudan

In his ethnography “The Sanusi of Cyrenaica” from 1954, the British anthropologist Edward Evans-Pritchard captures the nomadic spirit of an Awlad Ali tribesman within the northern Sahel: “We don't call any place our home. It's wherever there is grass and water.”

Arab influence reached Niger and Western Sahara within the 14th century via trade routes, which led to intermarriage with local communities. In eastern Chad, Arabized communities have links to Sudan, where Arabization dates back to early Islam. In addition to the Rizeigat Baggara tribe Due to centuries-old land rights in Darfur, Arab nomads within the Sahel have been in constant motion since pre-colonial times.

Factors resembling land disputes and Desertification – the method by which fertile land becomes desert – were historically the Movement of Arab tribes across national bordersThese tribes, which migrated in the course of the pre-colonial era of France and Britain, have long-standing ties that transcend modern political boundaries, complicating the simplistic portrayal of an internal civil war.

And strict Droughts within the early Nineteen Eighties have exacerbated disputes over resources.

For example, declining rainfall and soil erosion in Darfur forced Arab groups to maneuver south, increasing competition with local farmers. Strong immigration from North Darfur and Chad to central agricultural areas contributed to the famine in 1983-84 which claimed hundreds of lives.

The Baggara Beltstretching from Sudan to Niger, also challenges colonial boundaries. Migration led to traditional institutions regulating land conflicts, but colonial and post-colonial laws often exacerbated conflicts by depriving nomadic tribes of their land rights. National post-colonial governments further fueled these conflicts by arming tribal militias, regardless that national armies were weak.

Postcolonial dynamics

The history of cross-regional ties between tribal groups crossing borders seeking resources provides the backdrop for today's situation in Sudan, where ethnic mercenaries are being drawn into the conflict.

But it isn’t only migration flows that complicate modern conflicts within the Sahel region, but in addition arms flows.

The influx of contemporary rifles from Libya to Darfur within the Seventies fueled the violence. In the meantime Conflict in Chad from 1978 to 1982 led to the collapse of the federal government and increased influx of weapons. In Darfur, weapons traded through business intermediaries, primarily the Zaghawa people, overwhelmed the Sudanese police. The Sudanese government armed Baggara Arabs to counter the SPLA rebel group within the mid-Nineteen Eighties, which led to tribal militias attacking neighboring regions.

This flow of arms disrupted peace, stability and traditional norms. Principle of “DiyaWhile “blood money” – paid to unintended victims or their families – was effective in curbing violence, modern weapons led to more killings, making blood money unaffordable. Nazirs, traditional tribal chiefs, lost control of Sudan's armed youth within the 2000s, resulting in an increase in violence.

Adding to the growing concerns concerning the region is a recent recent report documented how jihadists operating within the Sahel have begun to penetrate wealthier West African coastal states resembling Nigeria and Benin. In addition, the rise of the Rapid Support Forces and their attacks on the federal maximum security prisons in Khartoum have raised fears that Terrorists join their ranks within the war.

Addressing the regional unrest requires a nuanced understanding of those dynamics and coordinated efforts to advertise stability and development within the Sahel region.

The rise of ethnic mercenaries supporting the support forces threatens to further destabilise an already unstable region. While stopping cross-border ethnic recruitment is crucial, a comprehensive approach is required to handle the foundation causes of this dangerous phenomenon: climate change, arms flows and poor governance.