Bonus Episode: Reflecting on Sudan’s Collapse and Elusive Peace

About this episode

The episode discusses the complexities of ending Sudan's war and the humanitarian crisis, featuring insights from experts on the challenges of mediation and state authority erosion.

This week on The Horn, we post a recent discussion between Crisis Group’s CEO and President, Comfort Ero, and leading expert Alex de Waal, about ongoing efforts to bring Sudan’s war to an end. In this bonus episode of The Horn , Alan brings listeners a special episode from a panel on Sudan’s war hosted by Crisis Group earlier this month at the Qatar Mediation Forum, a sideline event at the Doha Forum. The discussion is moderated by Yasmine Farouk, Crisis Group’s Gulf Director, and features Comfort Ero, Crisis Group’s President and CEO, alongside Alex de Waal, a leading expert on Sudan. They examine why Sudan’s war is so hard to stop, looking at repeated past failures to secure a ceasefire. They discuss how state authority has eroded across large swathes of the country, what the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces’ model of control looks like and how the war has become an internationalised proxy struggle shaped by Gulf, regional and global interests. They also debate the merits and limits of the current mediation architecture, including with formats like the Quad. They explore the risks of transactional engagement, the dilemmas around arms flows and embargo proposals, and the…

People in this episode

Host: Comfort Ero

Guest: Alex de Waal

Topics covered

• Sudan's war
• ceasefire efforts
• humanitarian crisis
• international mediation
• paramilitary control
• regional interests

Keywords

• Sudan
• Crisis Group
• ceasefire
• humanitarian catastrophe
• Rapid Support Forces
• mediation architecture
• proxy struggle

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Crisis Group

Places: Sudan, Qatar, Doha

More episodes of The Horn

• Mediating the Horn’s Wars: An Exit Interview · June 12, 2026 · 33 min
• Tiny Djibouti, and Its Prime Real Estate · June 4, 2026 · 27 min
• Sudan, and a Region and World in Upheaval · May 15, 2026 · 36 min
• Somalia’s Election Standoff and New Inflection Point · April 30, 2026 · 36 min
• Bonus Episode: After Three Years of War in Sudan, What Hope for a Ceasefire? · April 9, 2026 · 42 min
• How the Iran War is Reshaping the Region · April 2, 2026 · 37 min