The Bear in the Red Sea What are the Implications of a Russian Naval Base on Sudan’s shores? Since the start of the recent fighting on 15 April 2023 between the SAF and the RSF, more than 25.000 people have been killed and eight million are internally displaced or fled to Egypt, Ethiopia, Chad, South Sudan or Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, the conflict has resulted in a wide-spread famine where the World Food Programme estimated five million people will directly be affected by the end of 2024. The foreign backing to General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Chairman of the Sovereign Council, currently the highest authority in Sudan, and his former deputy General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo“Hemedti”, commander of the Rapid Support Forces(RSF), encourage both sides to believe the war could end through military means rather than negotiations. Egypt and Saudi Arabia provide political and military support to General al-Burhan, as he is, despite all, still representing the Sudanese state institutions. Egypt believes those institutions protect its southern borders from smuggling operations, terrorist groups and influx of refugees. In the same sense, Saudi Arabia seeks to protect its western shores to secure its investments that are tied to its Saudi Vision 2030. General Hemedti and the RSF continue to get support from the UAE, Eastern Libya, Chad and Russia, who have been providing the RSF with military equipment, drones, machinery, and transit points for recruitment of soldiers in counterpart for the smuggling of Sudanese gold to the UAE and Russia by the RSF. Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Sudan Occasional Papers#1, July 2024 1