Is calling the SAF-RSF conflict a ‘dirty war’ an objective description or a moral judgment? A critical analysis of the ongoing war in Sudan (2023–present)

This paper critically examines the ongoing conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which began on 15 April 2023, and continues to date. It focuses on widespread and general violence against civilians, including forced displacement, destruction educational and healthcare systems, and massacres based on identity, rape and acts of sexual exploitation. Through qualitative examination of secondary sources like international and local news reports, human rights records, and conflict statistics on war crimes and attacks against civilians, the study questions the use of the term "dirty war" in the definition of the conflict. The research hypothesis raised in the middle asks if the declaration of the SAF-RSF conflict as a "dirty war" is an objective classification based on trends of war crimes and attacks on civilians or a moral description determined by political and discursive frameworks. By exploring the language, motivations, and narratives of war, the paper analyzes how war has been involved in influencing internal public opinion, international response, and historical record. The research contributes to further discussion of war talk humanitarian law, and the protection of civilians in contemporary internal armed conflicts.