Sudan’s war is being fought twice.

The first battle is on the ground, where civilians are being killed, displaced and starved. The second is over perception: who is seen as the aggressor, who is treated as legitimate and which foreign actors are held responsible for keeping the war alive.

Much of the international focus has understandably been on the appalling record of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, and allegations concerning its foreign support.

In January 2025, the United States determined that members of the RSF and allied militias had committed genocide in Sudan. A UN investigation following the RSF’s capture of El Fasher documented atrocities amounting to war crimes and potentially crimes against humanity.

None of this should be minimized. Nor should investigations into the RSF or its alleged foreign supporters be weakened.

But the horror of one force’s crimes cannot become the other force’s certificate of innocence.

The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, is Sudan’s regular state military. But a state uniform should not automatically confer political or moral legitimacy.

Burhan and Hemedti co-led the October 2021 military takeover that seized power from Sudan’s civilian-led transitional government. The two commanders who later turned their weapons against each other had previously helped derail Sudan’s democratic transition together.

The evidence concerning the SAF itself is serious.

The United States sanctioned Burhan in January 2025. The US Treasury said the SAF had carried out lethal attacks on civilians, including airstrikes on schools, markets and hospitals, and accused it of........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)