“I ask the security forces as directly as I can: put down your weapons, start talking.” It was the plea of Linda Thomas Greenfield, United States ambassador to the UN, to those who wield the submachine guns and drop the bombs. To the soldiers of the two armies that are fighting for control of Sudan. Both parties would have agreed on a 24-hour ceasefire on Tuesday, after the fighting has left more than 180 dead and nearly 2,000 injured (the Sudanese Medical Committee lowers the death toll to 144).
Intense fighting has been pitting the army against the Rapid Action Forces (SFR) since last weekend, a powerful paramilitary group that has been gaining power in the last decade to become practically another army.
In the sky of Khartoum, the capital, located at the confluence of the Blue Nile and the White Nile, the inhabitants take refuge in their homes, many do not have water or electricity; the incomprehension of the first days has given way to fear. Hospitals are no longer able to treat those who bleed. “Most of the injured are civilians who were caught in the crossfire. Among them are many children. They have extremely serious injuries and, until Saturday, there was no surgical capacity at this hospital,” explained Cyrus Paye, coordinator of the project. of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in El Fasher (in the north of the country). “The hospital is rapidly running out of medical supplies to treat the survivors. It is running out of medicine and blood for transfusions,” he continued.
The two men in the fighting are not willing to give up. General Abdel Fatah al Burhan, leader of the army, and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, ‘Hemedti’, commander of the SFR, have been de facto president and vice president since the October 2021 coup against a hybrid government in which the military and civilians they had agreed to share power. That government emerged after massive protests and another previous coup, which overthrew Omar al Bashir after three decades in power.
At the beginning of April, the two soldiers, staunch enemies, agreed with the civilians on a new transition. They promised to give up much of their power and create a government with elections within two years. But with the violent outburst four days ago it is demonstrated that everything was a false promise; that neither Burhan nor ‘Hemedti’ were willing to concede. Everything exploded because of the plans to integrate the SFR into the army.
“This is a ridiculous battle for power, it has caught civilians in the middle. We have nothing to do with this. We have seen bloodshed on both sides. We are caught in the middle. And this is now our new normal.” , denounced, in a video recorded at his home, with the sound of explosions in the background Tagreed Abdin, architect and project manager in Sudan. Abdin shares videos of tanks driving under her house and is puzzled. “At this point she just wants the power back on while they get on with whatever this is,” she says.
Yesterday, the European Union denounced that its ambassador “was attacked in his own residence”, although he is “fine”. The high representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, assured this Tuesday that there are “several missing” Europeans “who are not known where they are”.
Also yesterday, a US diplomatic convoy was the target of shots, according to what Secretary of State Antony Blinken denounced, who described this action as “insane”. Meanwhile, voices from abroad are growing for a ceasefire, at the end of hostilities. With each new shot, with each new death, peace moves one step further.
“It is not a civil war, because the civilians are only the victims, they are not one of the parties. It is a war of military leaders who fight to control the state, although that is only a step to control the country’s wealth,” he explained. yesterday Marc Lavergne, from the French National Center for Scientific Research, in a debate on France 24.
State television broadcasts images and statements by the army, which claims to have regained ground in many places. “Burhan is bombing civilians from the air, we will hunt him down and bring him to justice,” Hemedti’ said. Burhan replied “he is approaching the moment of final victory”.
“The population is hostage to the fight between two armed factions led by two generals who compete for their interests,” explains Haizam Amirah Fernández, principal researcher for the Mediterranean and the Arab World at the Elcano Royal Institute. These two factions “are prepared for war, have foreign support and also have great economic interests,” he continues, before recalling that, although they are now rivals, they collaborated not so long ago. They were allies in the coup that overthrew Omar al Bashir in 2019 and now “they face each other so as not to lose their privileges.”
In the end, these two rivals are not fighting just for the government, but for control of the resources of Sudan, rich in oil but also in gold. Most of the mines are now in the hands of the RSF militias. And when the two leaders pledged this year to hand over power to a future civilian government, that transaction included control of gold production.
Meanwhile, that civil society that took to the streets to protest against Al Bashir in what some analysts dubbed a second Arab spring (there were similar uprisings in Algeria and Lebanon), four years later has seen how the military cling to power, taking advantage of weariness, of poverty. After the violent fighting, numerous NGOs and UN agencies have suspended their activities due to the looting. People remain locked in their homes, information is scant and the future bleak.
Three years ago, the Sudanese journalist Ismail Kushkush wrote an emotional article in The New Yorker about the changes taking place in his country at the time. “The core of Sudan’s instability has been the lack of a permanent constitution and disputes over whether the country should be a liberal democracy or a socialist or Islamist state, and whether Sudan is Arab, African or both. (…) Growing up, I was inundated by my parents’ stories about what Sudan was and complaints about what it has become. Many Sudanese fear a leak from military and intelligence officials who will refuse to relinquish power.” It seems that fear has come true.
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