What’s behind the war in Sudan?

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 2 November 2025

⏱️ 37 minutes

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Summary

Blood spilled in Sudan's el-Fasher massacre is visible from space. What led to the latest dark turn of events that took place after the Rapid Support Forces seized the city in Northern Darfur from the Sudanese Armed Forces?

In this episode, first recorded in 2024, the Global Jigsaw digs into the prehistory of Sudan’s civil war. We focus on the power struggle between two men: Hemedti, in charge of the RAF, and Burkhan, the general leading the SAF. We ask who are the foreign powers aiding them, and why.

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts.
0:10.6	It's October 2025 and glimpses of unfolding massacres in Sudan have once again reminded the world of a long-running conflict that's been often overlooked.
0:23.1	Distressing images and videos have been trickling out from the city of El Fasha
0:27.5	after the paramilitary rapid support forces seized control of the city in Darfur from the Sudanese army.
0:35.1	The UN has raised the alarm.
0:39.4	And a warning before we go further,
0:44.2	there are some graphic descriptions in this program which some of you might find upsetting.
0:50.7	The UN through our High Commission for Human Rights has received credible reports of summary executions of civilians, including unarmed men being shot as they lie on the ground.
0:57.0	We also have received credible reports of summary executions of civilians trying to flee the city.
1:02.7	The scale and brutality of the mass killings have shocked even those familiar with this bloody conflict.
1:08.8	What we are seeing is an activity pattern by the rapid support forces
1:13.6	consistent with house-to-house killing of civilians.
1:16.6	And we can see on the ground objects consistent with about 1.5 to 2 meter long,
1:23.6	linear objects, which is the average measurement of the body of an adult human being.
1:30.8	We see a discoloration around objects consistent with human bodies that when we process it,
1:38.8	the color is red.
1:39.9	Nathaniel Raymond from the humanitarian research lab at Yale who monitors Sudan, referring there to
1:47.0	blood-soaked earth visible in satellite images. We believe that there are pools of blood.
1:53.9	There are thousands of these objects. We're hearing from sources on the ground before we've
1:59.3	lost communications with them.
2:03.2	The morning, they believe 1,300 were dead.
2:05.8	By the evening, they said it was over 10,000.
	...

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