Senior commanders of Sudan's RSF paramilitary are defecting to the regular army, which could finally break the stalemate in the world's worst war — good news for ending the conflict, but bad news for justice.

• After three years of war, Sudan's army and the RSF rebels were stuck in a stalemate, with the country nearly split in two.
• Several top RSF commanders, including a founding member, have switched sides this year, bringing fighters, vehicles, and key intelligence with them.
• The defections came after the RSF attacked the home territory of a powerful Arab clan that many of its own commanders come from.
• The army is welcoming these men as heroes and giving them amnesty, even though some oversaw sieges, mass killings, and what looks like genocide in Darfur.
• The RSF is still strong, with hundreds of thousands of fighters and a steady weapons supply from the UAE, which kept arming them even after the Alfasher massacre.

Outlook: The defections give the army its best shot at breaking the RSF, but ending the war this way means war criminals walk free instead of facing trial.