Leaders | The curse of civil war

In Sudan and beyond, the trend towards global peace has been reversed

Conflicts are growing longer. Blame complexity, criminality and climate change

Tigray Defense Force fighters survey the burning wreckage of an Ethiopian Air Force plane downed a few hours earlier by the rebel group south of the Ethiopian city of Mekelle in the country's Tigray region, June 23, 2021. A scrappy force of local Tigrayan recruits scored a cascade of battlefield victories against the Ethiopian military, one of Africa's strongest. (Finbarr O'Reilly/The New York Times)Credit: New York Times / Redux / eyevineFor further information please contact eyevinetel: +44 (0) 20 8709 8709e-mail: info@eyevine.comwww.eyevine.com *** Local Caption *** 15542084 — Image: New York Times/Redux/Eyevine

Apr 19th 2023

In Sudan the laws of war carry no more weight than the rules of Quidditch. As two thuggish generals fight for power, civilians have been murdered, diplomats attacked and patients evicted from a hospital so that soldiers can use it as a fortress. The battle that began on April 15th could be the start of a full-scale civil war (see Middle East & Africa section). But another way of looking at it is even gloomier. Sudan has endured a kaleidoscope of civil wars for most of the time since independence in 1956. The mayhem this week illustrates an underreported global calamity: the increasing duration of war.

This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “Climate, crime and the conflict trap”