The RSF’s defeat will not end Sudan’s war but merely fragment it

What the report says

Al Jazeera argues that recent Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) advances against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) may not bring a clean end to the conflict. The article, published on 26 August 2026, says the army has retaken towns along the strategic Export Road and gained ground in central Sudan, while the RSF and its allies have also shown they can still strike in Blue Nile state and beyond.

The piece says the SAF’s battlefield momentum depends on a loose coalition that includes Darfuri armed movements and other irregular groups. Those allies, including factions linked to the 2020 Juba Peace Agreement, have often kept their own chains of command and political leverage. The article also notes that RSF defections have sometimes brought intact units and commanders over to the army side rather than fully integrated troops, creating another source of fragmentation.

It further highlights the role of Islamist brigades that fought alongside the SAF in recapturing Khartoum, saying they have gained combat experience and may not simply disband when the war slows. According to the article, this makes General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan’s national dialogue look less like a full peace plan than an effort to manage wartime alliances and shape postwar influence.

More broadly, the article says Sudan has a long history of relying on militias in the peripheries, especially in Darfur, and warns that even if the RSF is weakened, its fighters and weapons are likely to be absorbed by new armed entrepreneurs unless there is a political settlement and demobilisation plan.