Episode 285: Sudan Now: Famine, Foreign Backers, and the Future of Civilian Voices with Dr. Amgad Eltayeb
Today, Dominic Bowen hosts Dr. Amgad Fareid Eltayeb on The International Risk Podcast to examine Sudan’s engineered famine, the influence of foreign backers, and the struggle of civilians caught between paramilitary violence and geopolitical ambition. They discuss how starvation, siege tactics, and external intervention have become central features of the war, driving one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises. Together they explore how regional power competition, gold extraction networks, and control of strategic corridors have shaped Sudan’s collapse and undermined efforts to restore democratic governance.
Dr Amgad Fareid Eltayeb explains why the crisis in Sudan cannot be understood without acknowledging the role of external sponsors, how disinformation has distorted the narrative surrounding the war, and why famine is being used deliberately as a weapon against besieged populations. The conversation highlights the erosion of state institutions, the fragmentation of sovereignty, and the urgent need to centre civilian agency in any future political settlement.
Dr. Eltayeb is a Sudanese politician, researcher, writer, and activist. He combines academic rigour with moral urgency. Lifelong commitment to truth-telling in the face of authoritarian violence, belief in citizen agency, and refusal to separate humanitarian imperatives from politics and power have defined his career. His training as a medical doctor was supplemented by postgraduate training in public health and research methods. He was one of the leading Sudanese revolutionaries that brought the December 2018 revolution to a triumph in toppling the Islamist regime of Omer Elbashir (1989 – 2019). After that, he worked as Assistant Chief of Staff to the Sudanese Prime Minister (2019–2021), where he helped the fragile democratic transition after decades of authoritarianism. Later, he worked as a political advisor to the UN political mission to Sudan (UNITAMS) following the October 2021 military takeover. Currently he is the executive director of Fikra for Studies and Development, a non-partisan Sudanese think tank.
Since the recording of this episode, El Fasher has been seized. This development marks a profound and deeply concerning shift in the conflict, with far reaching humanitarian and political implications that intensify the situation described in this discussion.
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Transcript:
[00:00:00] Dr Amgad Fareid Eltayeb: In order to end the war, we need to end the foreign interventions that continue to fuel it, and we also need to end the ambitions of a paramilitary fascist militia that is dragging the country and the Sudanese people into a foreign agenda.
[00:00:29] Dominic: Hi, I am Dominic Bowen and welcome back to the International Risk Podcast, where we unpack the risks that are shaping our world. Today we are turning to Sudan, a nation where famine is being weaponised, where civilians are besieged, and where foreign powers are fuelling a proxy war that risks destabilising the entire Horn of Africa. With more than 25 million people facing acute food insecurity and 12 million displaced, this is not just a humanitarian crisis. It is the collapse of an entire country, and the situation is being deliberately engineered for power, profit, and impunity for some actors.
To help us understand how Sudan has reached this point, and what it means for the international community, we are joined by Dr Amgad Fareid Eltayeb. He is one of Sudan’s most compelling thinkers, a former political adviser to the Sudanese Prime Minister, and the Executive Director for the FCRA for Studies and Development. He joins us today to discuss the ongoing war, the deliberate use of famine as a weapon, the international risks, and what it will take to achieve peace. Amgad, welcome to the International Risk Podcast.
[00:01:33] Dr Amgad Fareid Eltayeb: Hi Dominic, and thank you for having me on the podcast.
[00:01:36] Dominic: Thank you for joining us today. As I said, with 25 million people facing acute food insecurity and nearly 19 million children out of school, Sudan now has one of the highest rates of education displacement in the world. Sudan has often been misrepresented as chaotic or tribal, but when I was last in Sudan, there was so much hope. There had been a revolution, it felt positive, there was a democratic transition underway, and young politicians were stepping forward. That is not the case today.
You have been arguing that the conflict in Sudan is not ethnic or ideological. It is a projection of power, of extraction, of gold, arms, logistics routes, and geopolitical positioning. What do people around the world need to understand about the conflict in Sudan today?
[00:02:28] Dr Amgad Fareid Eltayeb: As you said, there are many factors behind what is happening in Sudan, but the biggest factor driving the suffering and misery of the Sudanese people is external intervention. This is the most ignored and the least spoken about factor. The United Arab Emirates has been providing support, weapons, political cover, media support, and even refuge and medical care to the RSF militia. The RSF is the direct descendant of the Janjaweed militia that committed genocide in Darfur between 2003 and 2008.
At the beginning of this war, the RSF committed another genocide, formally recognised by the United States government, against the Masalit community in West Darfur. In only a few days, they killed fifteen thousand people. It is catastrophic that the world talks about everything except the actors behind these atrocities, and the forces fuelling them.
We talk about 25 million people needing humanitarian assistance, but we do not talk about why. We talk about famine in Darfur, but we do not talk about the deliberate siege imposed on civilians, or the deliberate blocking of humanitarian aid to areas like El Fasher, which has been besieged for eighteen months. People trying to flee are being targeted and killed on an ethnic basis by the RSF, supported by the UAE. They are provided with weapons and with mercenaries who arrive from across the world, from as far as Colombia through the Emirates, to Somalia, and into Darfur through Chad or Libya.
What we have is an orchestrated new colonial sub imperial campaign by the UAE against Sudan, and everyone is silent. Many governments are afraid of the UAE’s influence. Last year, there were reports in the Guardian and the Financial Times about the UK government actively working to silence criticism of UAE involvement in Sudan.
This is a crisis, but it is a crisis with a cause. There is an actor behind it, and unless we name that actor, we will continue to circle around the suffering without addressing its source.
[00:05:30] Dominic: It is interesting you say that. Anyone who knows even a little about the conflict understands that the civil war is primarily between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, the RSF, which as you said is made up of the former Janjaweed. The RSF has been accused of major human rights violations for decades.
We often talk about displacement, humanitarian blockages, the collapsing economy, rising prices, climate shocks, and ethnic cleansing, but you are right that we do not talk enough about who is sustaining these dynamics.
Before we come to disinformation, I want to ask about the United Arab Emirates. Many people see the UAE as a wealthy state. Why are they interested in Sudan? Are they the only external actor? What is their motivation in the current conflict?
[00:06:34] Dr Amgad Fareid Eltayeb: The UAE represents a new colonial, sub imperial model of power. It is a small state in size and population, but one with enormous wealth, and it is seeking to extend its influence far beyond its borders. The UAE is trying to implement a project that turns the Red Sea into an Emirati-controlled zone. The Red Sea is one of the most important trade routes in the world. It carries an estimated 30 to 40 percent of global trade, and around 70 percent of the oil and gas that goes to Europe.
[00:07:12] Dr Amgad Fareid Eltayeb: Since the early 2000s, the Emiratis have tried to control ports along the Red Sea. This is why they became involved in the war in Yemen in the first place. Aden Port is the southern entrance to the Red Sea, and they also tried to control other ports in Djibouti, Eritrea, and Sudan, as well as ports in Egypt along the Red Sea. That is one reason.
Another factor is that Sudan produces around two billion dollars’ worth of gold per year. Most of this gold is sent illegally to the Emirates, where it generates significant profit. In addition, Sudan has extensive fertile agricultural land, three or four times larger than the entire land area of the United Arab Emirates. The Emiratis are seeking food security and want control over highly fertile areas like Al Jazirah and Sennar, as well as over Sudanese ports, while continuing to benefit from the smuggled gold entering UAE markets.
[00:08:28] Dominic: Thank you for explaining that. The last time I was in Sudan, I unfortunately encountered Russian mercenaries who were involved in the illegal extraction and export of gold. So your explanation makes sense regarding the geopolitical motivations, control of the Red Sea, access to minerals, and the agricultural value of Sudanese land.
How does the broader international community go along with this? Why are states not digging deeper into what is happening? Can you explain the deliberate disinformation campaign, or is it simply wilful negligence? Why is there so little discussion about the actual causes and driving forces behind this conflict?
[00:09:12] Dr Amgad Fareid Eltayeb: It is complicity rather than negligence or ignorance. The UAE holds significant influence over many countries and regional stakeholders.
Before addressing disinformation, we need to understand the roots of that influence in Sudan. The war is taking place between the Sudanese Armed Forces, which is the national army, and the Rapid Support Forces, which evolved from the Janjaweed militia. The RSF was legalised and organised under the Bashir regime in 2013, not because of national necessity or any formal state process, but to protect Bashir from any challenge to his power from within the army. It was created as a personal militia for the former president.
When Bashir was removed by the popular uprising in 2019, the RSF quickly lost its patron, but it already had a new master in Abu Dhabi, which was ready to benefit from its services.
Even before that, Taha Hussein, Bashir’s office director from 2007 to 2017, was detained by Bashir on corruption charges, then released under pressure from the UAE. He was sent to Abu Dhabi and became an adviser on African affairs. He was the person who oversaw the creation of the RSF and who unilaterally decided to send RSF fighters to Yemen and Libya. This was not a decision by the Sudanese state, but by a man working for another country while holding a senior position in Sudan.
This fragmentation of sovereignty invited interference from every direction. Every country and every mercenary actor saw an opportunity. You mentioned Russian mercenaries. They were invited by Bashir himself, who asked President Putin in 2015 for protection against what he described as US aggression. The Russians immediately partnered with the RSF because both groups operate as unofficial or semi official militias.
If you connect the dots, you see how Russia avoids international sanctions using Dubai as a hub for money laundering and sanctions evasion. Sudan is one part of a larger network, a new axis that is protected by wealth and political influence while undermining international law.
[00:12:39] Dominic: You mentioned several international actors. I would like to understand that more. We know that Russia and China have armed both sides, both the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Iran have supported the Sudanese Armed Forces to varying degrees. Other regional and non state actors have supported the RSF.
This has all the hallmarks of a regional proxy war, reminiscent of the Cold War. How is this happening in 2025? And does this reflect what we might expect to see in places like Chad, Mali, and other states in the region? Is this a sign of what is coming?
[00:13:21] Dr Amgad Fareid Eltayeb: From the list you mentioned, only Russia is directly applicable. China does not appear to have significant involvement at the moment, at least based on verified information.
As for Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Eritrea, and Ethiopia, these are regional states maintaining relations with the internationally recognised government of Sudan, which is expected. If non state actors like the RSF are allowed to impose chaos in the region, instability will spread everywhere. We are already seeing this in Chad, in Ethiopia, and in other countries facing similar pressures.
[00:14:03] Dr Amgad Fareid Eltayeb: Many regional states maintain a strict stance on respecting the sovereign borders of neighbouring countries, but you will not find comparable evidence against any state that matches what exists regarding UAE support to a non state actor, a fascist militia. When I use the term fascist militia to describe the RSF, it is not a political insult. The RSF fits all twelve defining characteristics of fascism, from disinformation and propaganda to sexual violence, racism, and hero worship. Their leader, Hemedti, is publicly framed as a prince, an Amir, which reflects the ideological project they are pursuing across the areas they control, from Khartoum and Al Jazirah to Darfur and the besieged city of Al Fasher.
There is an overwhelming amount of evidence pointing to UAE support for the RSF, which has no legitimate basis for its existence as a force. You find this in the United Nations Panel of Experts report from January 2024, and in dozens of investigative reports from Reuters, the New York Times, the Guardian, and others. These document not only the supply of weapons, but also the construction of drone bases under the guise of humanitarian access.
The UAE is not simply backing the RSF. The RSF is fighting the Sudanese government on behalf of the UAE. That is the reality. Unless we dismantle the myth that the UAE is playing a neutral or stabilising role, we cannot understand the conflict.
The UAE claims it is fighting political Islam in Sudan, yet Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund was the last entity to support the Bashir regime with 300 million dollars in March 2019, only weeks before his downfall. It was the Sudanese people who toppled the political Islamist regime, not the UAE, not the West. Yet Western governments continue to accept the UAE’s framing, which provides a corrupted justification for its continued support to the RSF as it commits atrocities.
There is also a concerning trend where some elites who were part of the revolution, including former Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, have chosen to work in service of the UAE’s agenda. They have publicly defended the UAE, repeating narratives about the Muslim Brotherhood and accusing anyone who opposes the RSF or the UAE’s project of being Islamist. They describe the UAE as a sister state and speak of conspiracies against it.
[00:17:32] Dominic: You have described the suffering of the population, and we know famine is now confirmed across Darfur and the Nuba Mountains. You have said hunger in Sudan is being used as a weapon system, deliberately engineered through sieges, market blockades, and aid obstruction. Tens of millions are now food insecure and starving. Can you help our listeners understand what this actually looks like on the ground? When you speak to family, friends, and contacts, what are these sieges like in reality? Many of our listeners in Oslo, Stockholm, London, and Washington will find it difficult to imagine. How is starvation being weaponised across Sudan?
[00:18:21] Dr Amgad Fareid Eltayeb: Starvation during war has many causes. There is economic collapse, soaring prices, and war profiteers. But the use of starvation as a weapon has been deliberate and systematic by the RSF.
Let me give you an example. Al Fasher is the capital of North Darfur and the last major city in Darfur still controlled by the Sudanese government. Al Fasher has been under siege since May 2024. When we say siege, we are talking about actual siege warfare. The RSF has built encirclements around the city and controls all access points. No assistance can enter, and civilians cannot leave. Those who attempt to flee are targeted and killed. There are multiple videos documenting this.
The RSF launches drone attacks almost daily. Just two days ago, they bombed the last functioning hospital, killing eleven people. On the previous Friday, they bombed a mosque, killing more than seventy five people, including eleven children.
[00:19:37] Dr Amgad Fareid Eltayeb: The RSF is trying to break the will of the people. Those in Al Fasher, who are mostly from non Arab communities in Darfur, fear the same fate as what happened in Geneina and Murrah, where the RSF committed genocide against the Masalit. These people are not fighting on behalf of the Sudanese Armed Forces. The Sudanese Armed Forces are fighting to protect them from genocide, yet the rest of the world responds with statements instead of action.
The RSF continues to block all land routes for humanitarian convoys. Recently, the World Food Programme announced that more than forty trucks loaded with food were ready to move, but the RSF refused to allow them through. Before that, the UN Secretary General proposed a humanitarian truce, which General Burhan agreed to, but the RSF rejected.
The world has also been deaf to calls for humanitarian airdrops. Meanwhile, the Sudanese Armed Forces were conducting airdrops of aid until April 2025, but the UAE has now supplied the RSF with air defence systems that have been used to shoot down aircraft and prevent safe passage. Since 29 September, the Sudanese Armed Forces have resumed humanitarian airdrops into Al Fasher.
This demonstrates the complicity of the international community in ignoring the only feasible method of delivering aid to almost 300,000 besieged civilians. These 300,000 people were part of a population of two million just one year ago. You can imagine how many have been displaced or have died.
Famine is not limited to Al Fasher. It is widespread across Sudan. Fourteen million people have been displaced, and they have overwhelmingly fled RSF controlled areas into Sudanese Armed Forces controlled areas, yet the international community is ignoring their needs. I am focusing here on access to the areas that are hardest to reach, and the way international actors are ignoring the only viable means of delivering aid to these besieged communities.
[00:22:28] Dominic: I wonder whether a genuine civilian led political settlement is still possible. Is peace even achievable, or is there a risk that Sudan becomes a permanent proxy battleground, where famine, disinformation, and foreign sponsorship become defining features of the conflict? What would it take to reverse this trajectory and work toward lasting peace?
[00:22:55] Dr Amgad Fareid Eltayeb: It begins with restoring Sudanese agency over our problems and our solutions. The problem today is that disinformation, systemic manipulation, and alternative narratives of facts are being pushed by foreign actors. These actors use every possible means to corrupt the Sudanese political landscape.
A civilian led government and democracy in Sudan is the demand of the Sudanese people. They marched for it in a glorious revolution for four months, and they struggled for it for thirty years against political Islam and the Bashir regime. Democracy in Sudan is not being imported by the UAE or by the West. It will happen after the war ends, but the priority now is to end the war.
To end the war, we must end the foreign interventions that fuel it. We must also end the ambitions of a paramilitary fascist militia that is dragging the country and the Sudanese people into a foreign agenda.
[00:24:12] Dominic: I am interested in the role that European businesses and investors can play when operating in or near conflict economies, especially when neutrality risks becoming complicity. In many conflict zones, actors who claim neutrality are in fact contributing to the continuation of the conflict.
[00:24:30] Dominic: How should European boards and executive teams interpret the proxy war dynamics in Sudan when looking across the region and considering investments and partnerships across the Middle East and North Africa? What lessons should business leaders take from operating in resource rich and conflict affected regions like Sudan?
[00:24:49] Dr Amgad Fareid Eltayeb: I think the global business community needs to learn the lesson that stability and peace are ultimately more profitable than short term gains. War economies can produce high profits for a limited time, but stability offers the potential for long term, sustainable engagement.
Stability also reduces the risks of irregular migration, radicalisation, and hostility further down the line. Europe still has a chance to play a constructive role in Sudan. With the exception of Germany, Britain, and at times France, most European countries have taken a more principled approach to Sudan.
Europe has an opportunity to support peacebuilding, reconstruction, and rehabilitation in Sudan through genuine partnership. Sudan has tried partnerships with many actors, including China and the Gulf states, but these relationships have rarely been mutually beneficial. Sudan is rich in resources but crippled by corruption and decades of uneven development.
If Europe considers supporting a genuine Marshall Plan for Sudan, it must do so in a way that serves the interests of the Sudanese people. That includes livelihoods, education, health services, water supply, and electricity. By supporting development fairly, Europe could help address the very inequalities and marginalisation that have fuelled conflict across many regions of Sudan.
But before any of this, fragile and fragmented states with contested sovereignty, like Sudan, must be protected from the ambitions of immoral actors like Russia and the United Arab Emirates, who are spreading instability. If you look at the UAE and Russia, their destabilising roles are not limited to Sudan. The UAE is contributing to tensions between Somalia and Ethiopia, and between Ethiopia and Eritrea, tensions that are escalating rapidly. Russia is deeply involved in Central Africa, and increasingly in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
International law must apply to everyone, or there is no law at all.
[00:27:31] Dominic: Amgad, when you look around the world, what international risks concern you the most?
[00:27:38] Dr Amgad Fareid Eltayeb: My greatest concern is returning to my country and my city. The Sudanese people do not have the luxury of stepping back. We are a nation of more than 45 million people, all of whom are now in survival mode. We have a long legacy of a modern state, built over more than a century, that is being destroyed and looted.
Even the Sudan National Museum, which held artefacts dating back millions of years, has been looted by the RSF and trafficked onto the black market. This is the worst educational crisis in our history. We are not addressing the generational impact of this war. Children and university students have gone almost three years without structured education.
Even the calls for people to return to liberated areas such as Khartoum and Al Jazirah must be weighed against the destruction of infrastructure, the spread of cholera and dengue fever, and diseases from another era that are now spreading epidemically.
There is an overwhelming burden on the Sudanese people. But this should not only concern Sudanese citizens. Anyone who considers themselves a global citizen should recognise that Sudan is the largest humanitarian catastrophe in the world today, and one that has been forgotten, obscured, and deliberately kept ambiguous for the sake of another country’s agenda.
[00:29:19] Dominic: Thank you for unpacking that and for explaining all of this. And thank you very much for coming on the podcast today, Amgad.
[00:29:25] Dr Amgad Fareid Eltayeb: Thank you very much, Dominic, and thank you for taking an interest in Sudan. We are struggling to remind the world that Sudan is not only the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese government. There are people, there are stories, there is human suffering, and there is a government too fragile to protect its own citizens. The equation is clear and the choice now lies with the world.
[00:29:59] Dominic: I appreciate your insights and thank you again. That was a powerful conversation with Dr Amgad Fareid Eltayeb. Please remember to watch and subscribe to our content, now also available on YouTube. Today’s episode was produced and coordinated by Katerina Mazzucchelli. I am Dominic Bowen, your host. You have been listening to the International Risk Podcast. We will speak again in the next couple of days.