SUMMARY

The Sudan Founding Alliance violently opposed the Government of Sudan and, during the intrastate armed conflict, carried out one-sided violence against civilians.

SFA launched its armed struggle against the Sudanese government in 2025, when the RSF, SPLM/A-North, and several political and armed actors signed the Sudan Founding Charter in February 2025 amid the ongoing civil war between the Government of Sudan, represented by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), and the RSF that erupted on 15 April 2023. The alliance sought to challenge the dominance of the Sudanese government and restructure Sudan’s political order through an alternative governing framework centered on military and regional power-sharing arrangements. The coalition drew heavily on pre-existing armed networks and grievances rooted in Sudan’s long-running conflicts in Darfur, Kordofan, and central Sudan.

SFA’s one-sided violence was closely tied to Sudan’s broader history of political exclusion, regional marginalization, and ethnic polarization. In Darfur particularly, violence reflected longstanding tensions between predominantly Arab militias and non-Arab communities, many of whom were perceived as supporters of the Sudanese government or resistant to SFA control. Civilians were frequently targeted because of their perceived political loyalties, ethnic identities, or local affiliations. Communities perceived to support government forces, as well as rival ethnic groups, were subjected to executions, reprisals, looting, and forced displacement during SFA attacks.

One of the most significant episodes of one-sided violence occurred following the SFA capture of Al Fashir in late October 2025. After months of fighting in and around the town, SFA forces consolidated control over Al Fashir and surrounding areas through widespread violence against civilians. Reports from local monitors and survivors described large-scale extrajudicial killings, executions, enforced disappearances, torture, and attacks targeting displaced communities and neighborhoods accused of supporting the Sudanese government or allied forces. The violence extended to nearby displacement camps and surrounding villages, where civilians attempting to flee were also targeted. The massacres that followed the fall of Al Fashir reportedly resulted in an estimated 60,000 fatalities, making it one of the deadliest episodes of one-sided violence during the Sudanese conflict.

SFA first became active as a one-sided actor in UCDP data in 2025, when the one-sided violence resulted in at least 25 civilian deaths. The threshold was reached in early March that year after a number of attacks against civilians in North Darfur state of Sudan.