- The rise of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan has coincided with the growing power of militias and other paramilitary groups in the region. The links between RSF, the Libyan National Army (LNA), the Wagner Group, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) represent a convergence of local, regional, and global trends in the outsourcing of warfare.
- While the power of RSF, LNA, and other paramilitary groups rivals that of some nation states, their rhetoric is anchored in state-centric notions of power and legitimacy, not the overturning of the state. This rhetoric is in contrast to non-state armed movements, such as the Islamic State (IS).
- Militia rule and war economies in Sudan’s peripheries have fostered a market for mercenaries, deepening regional fragility and calling into question statist analytical frameworks.
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