TIME op-ed: How the International Community Failed Sudan

Note: This op-ed originally published in TIME and was written by The Sentry’s co-founders George Clooney and John Prendergast. 

How the International Community Failed Sudan

Sudan’s violent implosion shows that the international community’s approach to responding to conflict there is misguided and devoid of imagination. Most significant is the failure by the international community to appreciate how stacked the incentives are in favor of those using control of the state to violently loot and repress. Unless these incentives are altered, the calculus favoring violent kleptocracy will persist.

One of the two men vying for control of the Sudanese state is General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (known as Hemedti), who heads the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The RSF was formalized in 2013 out of the militias known as the Janjaweed that carried out the genocidal dirty work in Darfur. The RSF is now the largest paramilitary entity on the African continent, receiving significant support over the years from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar, and Russia’s Wagner Group. Hemedti has enriched both himself and his networks through control of gold smuggling, real estate, and other key sectors of the economy…

Read the full op-ed in TIME.