Turmoil in Sudan

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https://www.gulf-times.com/article/659492/region/over-50-civilians-killed-as-fighting-rages-in-sudan

Over 50 civilians killed as fighting rages in Sudan

Fierce fighting raged in Sudan's capital despite an hours-long pause Sunday to address humanitarian needs including the evacuation of wounded, on the second day of battles that left three UN staff among more than 50 civilians killed throughout the country.

The World Food Programme said it was suspending operations in the impoverished country after the killing of its three workers.

The battles between the powerful armed forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) sparked an international outcry and regional concern, including border closures by neighbours Egypt and Chad.

Deafening explosions and intense gunfire rattled buildings in the capital Khartoum's densely-populated northern and southern suburbs as tanks rumbled on the streets and fighter jets roared overhead, witnesses said.

Fighting continued after nightfall on Sunday, as Sudanese hunkered down in their homes with fears of a prolonged conflict that could plunge the country into deeper chaos, dashing long-held hopes for a transition to civilian-led democracy.

Violence erupted early Saturday following weeks of power struggles between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo who heads the heavily-armed RSF.

The pro-democracy Central Committee of Sudan Doctors reported 56 civilians killed as well as "tens of deaths" among security forces, and around 600 wounded.

Despite the pause, heavy gunfire could still be heard in central Khartoum near the airport, and dense black smoke billowed from the surrounding area.

Daglo's RSF say they have seized the presidential palace, Khartoum airport and other strategic locations, but the army insist they are still in control.

As the fighting continued, the stench of gunpowder wafted through Khartoum's streets, deserted except for soldiers.

Medics pleaded for safe corridors for ambulances and a ceasefire to treat the victims because the streets were too dangerous for transporting casualties to hospital.

Fighting also erupted in the western Darfur region and in the eastern border state of Kassala, where witness Hussein Saleh said the army fired artillery at a paramilitary camp.

The UN said its WFP employees had been killed Saturday in clashes in North Darfur and announced a "temporary halt to all operations in Sudan".

Created in 2013, the RSF emerged from the Janjaweed militia that then-president Omar al-Bashir unleashed against non-Arab ethnic minorities in Darfur a decade earlier, drawing accusations of war crimes.

The RSF's planned integration into the regular army was a key element of talks to finalise a deal that was hoped to restore Sudan's civilian transition and end the political-economic crisis sparked by the military's 2021 coup by Burhan and Daglo.

Appeals to end the fighting have come from across the region and the globe, including the US, Britain, China, the European Union and Russia.

After a meeting on the situation in Sudan, the African Union said a senior official would "immediately" travel there on a ceasefire mission.

The Arab League bloc held an emergency meeting in Cairo, at the request of Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Sudan's former prime minister Abdalla Hamdok, at a press conference in Abu Dhabi, described the humanitarian situation as "catastrophic", called for a truce, and appealed for "a helping hand" particularly from Arab countries.

But the two generals appeared in no mood for talks, having described each other as criminals.

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https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/16/sudan-unrest-what-is-the-rapid-support-forces

Sudan unrest: What are the Rapid Support Forces?
The RSF is commanded by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who currently holds the position of deputy head of Sudan’s ruling Sovereign Council.

Sudan’s military and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group are engaged in fierce fighting in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere in the country, raising fears of a civil war.

The fighting, which began on Saturday, has killed at least 56 civilians, the Sudanese Doctors Union said in a statement.

The clashes follow months of heightened tensions between the army and RSF. The paramilitary group says it has taken control of the Presidential Palace and Khartoum International Airport in an apparent coup attempt. Military chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has rejected the claims.

Here is what you need to know about the RSF:

How was RSF formed?
The group evolved from so-called Janjaweed militias, which fought in a conflict in the 2000s in the Darfur region, where they were used by the government of long-ruling President Omar al-Bashir to help the army put down a rebellion.

An estimated 2.5 million people were displaced and 300,000 killed in the conflict.

International Criminal Court prosecutors accused government officials and militia commanders of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

Over time, the militia grew. It was made into the RSF in 2013, and its forces were used as border guards in particular. In 2015, the RSF along with Sudan’s army began sending troops to fight in the war in Yemen alongside Saudi and Emirati forces.

In the same year, the group was granted the status of a “regular force”. In 2017, a law legitimising the RSF as an independent security force was passed.

In addition to the Darfur region, the RSF was deployed to states such as South Kordofan and the Blue Nile, where it was accused of committing human rights abuses. In a 2015 report, Human Rights Watch described its forces as “men with no mercy”.


Who runs the RSF?
The RSF is commanded by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commonly known as “Hemedti”, or “Little Mohamad”. He currently holds the position of deputy head of Sudan’s ruling Sovereign Council.

Dagalo was born into an impoverished family that settled in Darfur in the 1980s. He dropped out of school in the third grade and made a living trading camels before becoming a Janjaweed leader when the Darfur conflict broke out.

As the RSF became more prominent and its role in the country’s security affairs grew, Dagalo’s business interests prospered with help from al-Bashir. His family expanded its holdings in gold mining, livestock and infrastructure.

When did Dagalo take a top government position?
In April 2019, the RSF participated in a military coup that removed al-Bashir after months of demonstrations against his 30-year rule.

Four months later, the military and the pro-democracy movement reached a power-sharing deal, which established a joint military-civilian council that would govern Sudan for the next three years until elections were held.

Dagalo was announced as vice chairman of the council headed by al-Burhan.

Prominent economist Abdalla Hamdok was sworn in as Sudan‘s prime minister and leader of the transitional cabinet. Before signing the deal, activists accused the RSF of participating in killing dozens of pro-democracy protesters.

In October 2021, the RSF was involved in another coup with the army, halting the transition to a democratically elected government. The move triggered new mass pro-democracy rallies across Sudan that continue until today.


What are the source of tensions between army, RSF?
The army and pro-democracy groups have demanded the RSF’s integration into the regular armed forces. Adel Abdel Ghafar, a fellow at the Middle East Council, said the RSF “has resisted integration into the army, understanding it would lose its power.”

Negotiations on integration been a source of tension that has delayed a final signing of a new transition agreement, originally scheduled for April 1.

Dagalo and al-Burhan reportedly remain at odds over who would be the commander-in-chief of the military during a multiyear integration period. The RSF said the commander should be the civilian head of state, a situation the army rejects.

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https://www.africanews.com/2022/03/03/sudan-welcomes-military-base-agreement-with-russia-in-the-red-sea/


Sudan welcomes military base agreement with Russia in the Red Sea

Deputy Chairman of Sudan Sovereignty Council, General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalu Hmidti, reported that he discussed cooperation with Russian officials on national security and political issues.

Hmidti held a press conference at Khartoum Airport after his 8-day visit to the Russian capital, Moscow.

Hmidti said that meetings were held with many officials in Russia, and that they discussed all issues between the two countries, especially politics and economy, during the visit, and that the meetings were productive.

Hmidti stated that they discussed the issues of economy and cooperation between the two countries with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak.

Mentioning that he also met with Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev, Hmidti said that they discussed the issue of national security in Russia and Sudan in the field of experience sharing, joint cooperation, fight against terrorism and education.

Hmidti also said the following about the naval base that Russia wants to establish in the city of Port Sudan in the Red Sea:

"The issue of the Russian military base is the issue of the Sudanese Defense Minister. There is a lot of talk about this base. There are Russian bases in different countries in Africa. I cannot understand the interest behind the establishment of this base. If the establishment of a military base in Sudan is in the country's interest and does not threaten its national security, Russia There's nothing wrong with getting along with him or anyone else."

Noting that he and his delegation also visited Egypt and met with Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamil, Hmidti stated that the political situation in Sudan was discussed during the meeting and that the Egyptian side called for the crisis in Sudan to be resolved through dialogue.

Sudan's Sovereignty Council Vice President called on the parties to reach political consensus to overcome difficulties and engage in dialogue in the country.

During the visit of former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who was overthrown in 2019 by a military coup, to Moscow in November 2017, the two countries signed cooperation agreements on military training, exchange of experience and the entry of warships into the ports of the two- countries.

According to Russia Today, Russian President Vladimir Putin approved the establishment of a Russian base in Sudan on November 16, 2020, capable of accommodating ships with nuclear power units.

Sudan Chief of Staff Mohammed Osman al-Huseyin said in a statement on 19 November 2020, "So far, there is no full agreement with Russia on the establishment of a naval base in the Red Sea, but our military cooperation has been extended." had used the phrase.

On 9 December 2020, the official Russian newspaper published the text of the agreement between Russia and Sudan on the establishment of a supply and maintenance base for the Russian Navy in the Red Sea "to support peace and security in the region.

[Bill Ryan]

A 15 minute discussion by Alexander Mercouris:

Sudan: power struggle or coup d'état?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQOdT367UTU

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Article from 2019

https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/conflict-minerals/exposing-rsfs-secret-financial-network/


Exposing the RSF's secret financial network


The money behind Sudan's most powerful militia
In April 2019, Sudan’s social and political upheaval resulted in the removal of President Omar al-Bashir after nearly 30 years in power. Sudan has now entered a new period, where civilians share power with the Sudanese military in the ruling Sovereignty Council.

A militia named the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) is the most powerful paramilitary force in Sudan. At the head of the RSF – and vice chair of the Sovereignty Council – stands a man named Mohammed ‘Hemedti’ Hamdan Daglo.

Hemedti first rose to prominence in 2003 as one of the leaders of the Janjaweed, a paramilitary force deployed in Darfur which killed scores of civilians.

More recently, numerous witnesses accuse Hemedti’s RSF and Sudanese police of massacring pro-democracy demonstrators at a sit-in in Khartoum on June 3rd, 2019, with human rights groups reporting over 100 people killed. These killings fit a pattern of human rights abuses committed by the RSF and their predecessors, the Janjaweed, in Sudan’s western region of Darfur (see more below). Hemedti has denied the RSF was involved.

Now, an apparently genuine cache of leaked documents obtained by Global Witness show the financial networks behind Hemedti and the RSF. Not only have they captured a large part of the country’s gold industry through a linked company, but the leaked bank data and corporate documents show their use of front companies and banks based in Sudan and the UAE.

Some of the bank and corporate documents were originally published by satirical Sudanese online channel Al Bashoum, while others were obtained by Global Witness in the course of our investigation.

Global Witness has verified the documents using interviews, corporate records, and open source investigative methods including analysis of website infrastructure information.

We have concluded that the leaked documents are, in our opinion, likely to be genuine. In part 2 of this investigation we will publish more information about how we reached that conclusion.
A leaked RSF spreadsheet also published by Al Bashoum reveals how they bought a fleet of almost one thousand Toyota pick-up trucks – easily converted into highly mobile ‘technicals’ with mounted machine guns – which have been used by the militia to suppress popular uprisings around the country for over a decade.

Video footage taken a few hours before the 3rd June massacre show large numbers of police and RSF militiamen arriving in Toyota Land Cruiser and Hilux vehicles. While we cannot be certain that the vehicles uncovered in this new evidence were the same ones used by the RSF and police on 3rd June, Global Witness has found dozens of videos on social media of similar vehicles – including from earlier shipments – being used to suppress demonstrations, beat and arrest protestors and to indiscriminately shoot in civilian areas.

This briefing provides a rare glimpse into the finances of the RSF, an organisation whose military power and financial independence poses a threat to a peaceful democratic transition in Sudan.


THE RISE AND RISE OF ‘HEMEDTI’

Hemedti grew up in a camel herding and trading clan in Darfur, western Sudan. He first rose to prominence in 2003 as one of the leaders of the Janjaweed, a paramilitary force deployed by former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in Darfur to suppress an insurrection.

The Janjaweed displaced millions and played a dominant role in a conflict in which an estimated 300,000 civilians were killed. This led to an investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC). Hemedti was enough of a prominent figure as to feature in the ICC Prosecutor’s application for an arrest warrant for President al-Bashir for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.

As violence again intensified in Darfur in 2013, Hemedti led the newly-formed Rapid Support Forces in fighting Darfuri rebels – again with many accusations of human rights abuses against civilians. The RSF incorporated thousands of former Janjaweed fighters. Hemedti reported first to the security services and then directly to al-Bashir – in a parallel structure to the regular military.

Hemedti and the RSF subsequently profited through their takeover of the Jebel Amer gold mines in Darfur. The RSF’s provision of mercenaries to fight in Yemen, reportedly paid for by the UAE, also offered another source of revenue.

The RSF were rich enough for Hemedti to pledge over $1bn to help stabilise the Sudanese Central Bank in the aftermath of the economic crisis and protests which led up to the ousting of President Bashir in April 2019.

At that time Hemedti claimed: “We put $1.027 billion in the Bank of Sudan… the funds are there, available now” and that the RSF “supported the state at the beginning of the crisis by buying the essential resources: petrol, wheat, medication.”

He went on: “People ask where do we [the RSF] bring this money from? We have the salaries of our troops fighting outside [abroad] and our gold investments, money from gold, and other investments.”
THE NETWORK OF FRONT COMPANIES AND BANKS SUPPORTING THE RSF

Our investigation reveals for the first time the mechanisms enabling the funding of the RSF – and details the powerful grip Hemedti and his immediate family have over the finances of the militia.

This section focuses on the income of the RSF, while the next section focuses on their expenditure. Alongside payment for the provision of mercenaries to Yemen, a key element of the RSF’s income comes from their apparent association with major gold trading company Al Gunade. Together, they appear to have effectively captured a large part of the gold market in Sudan. The militia also uses front companies and maintains bank accounts in the UAE and Sudan to receive funds.

Al Bashoum, a Sudanese satirical and anti-corruption Facebook page has published what purport to be bank transaction records, describing them as leaked from ‘support companies’ of the RSF. The leaked documents, together with official corporate records and archived versions of company websites appear to show that two RSF front companies, GSK – a small technology and security company based in Sudan – and Tradive General Trading LLC, based in the UAE, are both controlled by one of Hemedti’s younger brothers. (GSK is no way related or connected to GlaxoSmithKline, the multinational pharmaceutical company).

Tradive seems to have funnelled money into the RSF, while individuals associated with GSK are involved in the RSF’s procurement process. The RSF also appears to have close financial ties with Al Gunade, a large gold trading and construction group based in Sudan, owned by another of Hemedti’s brothers who is himself deputy head of the RSF.

Below we describe the RSF’s financial network in more detail.

Finding #1: RSF finances appear not to be under control of either the Sudanese military or the civilian elements of the country’s government

The leaked bank documents appear to show that the Rapid Support Forces hold an account under their own name at the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (now part of First Abu Dhabi Bank). This provides evidence of the financial autonomy of the RSF.

Despite an ambiguous law of 2016 placing the militia under the control of the President as supreme commander of the Sudanese armed forces, it suggests that the RSF might not be under the financial control of the military, let alone the civilian elements of the power-sharing Sovereignty Council.

When contacted by Global Witness a spokesperson for the Sudanese military denied that the RSF had a separate budget from the Sudanese Armed Forces.

First Abu Dhabi Bank, as the owner of, and successor company to, the National Bank of Abu Dhabi, hadn’t responded to requests for comment by the time of publication.

Finding #2: Possible front company Tradive General Trading, controlled by Hemedti’s brother, is funnelling money into the RSF

The bank documents appear to show money flowing back and forth between the RSF bank account and the account of a company called Tradive General Trading LLC. Credit notes for Tradive seem to show that it received almost 50 million dirhams (US$11 million) from the RSF in four instalments in April and July 2019. An ‘outward customer transfer report’ from July 2019 has the RSF bank account being paid 48 million dirhams (US$11 million) by Tradive. Global Witness has seen information from the Dubai Department of Economic Development that confirms Hemedti’s brother, Algoney Hamdan Daglo, is a director and an ultimate beneficial owner of Tradive.

In one of the bank documents the purpose of the funds transfer from Tradive to RSF is described as a ‘transfer to sister company’. In the opinion of Global Witness, Tradive is probably an RSF front company, funnelling money in to and out of the RSF at least partly in order to obscure the involvement of the militia.

Tradive itself holds an account at the Sudanese El Nilein bank in Abu Dhabi. El Nilein did not respond to a request for comment on its relationship with Tradive.

Despite repeated attempts to contact Tradive by Global Witness, the company has not commented on these findings.

Finding #3: Hemedti and his family have effectively captured part of the Sudanese gold market, and are likely funding the RSF using these profits

Hemedti’s rise to power is frequently explained partly by his control of the Jebel Amer gold mines in Darfur, and a gold trading company frequently referred to as Al Junaid. (Letters from the organisation indicate that the company group refers to itself as Al Gunade — the same pronunciation but different spelling.)

Global Witness has obtained a corporate document which, for the first time, provides the precise details of Hemedti’s link to Al Gunade.

The Al Gunade gold company is owned by three members of the Daglo family: Hemedti’s brother, Abdul Rahim Hamdan Daglo, and Abdul Rahim’s two young sons, while according to the document, Hemedti himself is on the Board of Directors.

When approached by Global Witness a spokesperson for Al Gunade said that Hemedti had ended his formal role in the company in 2009, and that the corporate document hadn’t been updated. The spokesperson denied that Al Gunade provides any financial support to the RSF but did confirm commercial ties between the company and the RSF. He claimed that certain money movements between Al Gunade and would have related to commercial transactions.

Al Gunade and the RSF appear to be deeply intertwined. Al Gunade’s owner, Abdul Rahim Daglo, is widely reported to be the deputy head of the RSF. A Sudanese Ministry of Minerals press release describes a ministerial visit to Jabel Amer, by invitation of Lieutenant Brigadier Abdul Rahim Hamdan Daglo. In former President al-Bashir’s corruption trial Abdul Rahim Hamdan Daglo was said, by President Bashir’s former office manager, to have received five million euros from the former Sudanese dictator, who handed over the funds in the presence of Hemedti.

Abdul Rahim is also alleged to be partly responsible for the 3rd June massacre. The BBC reported an interview with an anonymous RSF officer that an Abdul Rahim Daglo gave the order to clear the Khartoum sit-in – although the BBC was unable to independently corroborate this claim.

A leaked RSF spreadsheet shared with Global Witness by the Sudanese Al Bashoum Facebook page also suggests close links between Al Gunade and the RSF. The RSF seemingly recorded paying 686,000 Dirham (US $186,000) to wire to an individual for payments to China with a reference to Al Gunade in the same spreadsheet line. Another line of the spreadsheet lists a 50,000 Dirham (US $14,000) payment apparently for the debts of Al-Gunade.

These payments suggest a financial link between the company and the paramilitary group. Evidence of the payments are also interesting in the context of independent reports from Sudanese businesspeople with knowledge of the situation, that the Al Gunade company was in debt in the months leading up to and following the ousting of Bashir – the same financial period covered by the spreadsheet.

In response to a separate investigation by Reuters, the company’s General Manager denied any link to the RSF, reportedly saying “Algunade is as far as can be from the RSF.”

Al-Gunade has expanded in recent years, perhaps in part due to its apparent relationship with the RSF. The RSF famously took control over the large Jebel Amer gold mining area in Darfur by force in November 2017. A map from the state-owned Sudanese Mineral Resources Company shows that Al Gunade has the only large concession operational in Darfur, in the vicinity of Jebel Amer. The region has some the largest mineral and gold reserves in the country, according to the Ministry of Minerals.

Al Gunade now operates well beyond Darfur. In addition to Al Gunade’s office in Khartoum the SMRC mining registry lists the firm as active in South Kordofan, while interviews with traders indicate their presence in the northern Sudanese gold markets of Abu Hamad and Alabidia.

Recently, according to Sudanese media organisation Radio Dabanga, protests by local people in the town of Talodi, South Kordofan against the excessive use of mercury contamination around Al Gunade mine sites led to a heavy handed response from the RSF, who arrived in Toyota Hilux and Land Cruiser vehicles, reportedly injuring civilian protestors in the ensuing clashes.

In sum, the RSF and a connected company have captured a swathe of the country’s gold industry and are likely using it to fund their operations.

RSF VEHICLES AT RISK OF BEING USED IN HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES WERE BOUGHT IN DUBAI

While the documents discussed above detail some of the sources of the RSF’s economic power, another leaked document sheds light on their military power. This power partly derives from their use of highly mobile units of ‘technicals’ – armed desert vehicles converted from civilian use by welding mounted machine guns on to the back of pick-up trucks.

The leaked RSF spreadsheet seemingly describes how the militia received over 150mn Dirham (US $40 million) ‘for technical support’ from an unknown source, and used over 111mn Dirham (US $30 million) of that to purchase vehicles and communications equipment.

The document suggests that the RSF bought over 1,000 vehicles during the first six months of 2019, from dealers in the UAE. The shipments included over 900 Toyota Hilux and Land Cruisers, models which the RSF frequently converts into ‘technicals’ – 4x4 military vehicles mounted with machine guns.

The spreadsheet helps builds a picture of how the RSF have become Sudan’s most powerful military force. There is no suggestion that Toyota were aware of the use to which these vehicles have been put at the time of their purchase.

THE SPREADSHEET ALSO REVEALS ANOTHER PROBABLE RSF FRONT COMPANY – GSK

One payment made by the RSF is described in the spreadsheet as being made on behalf of GSK Advance, an information technology and security company run by Hemedti’s younger brother Algoney Hamdan Daglo.

According to the spreadsheet several payments were made by the RSF to (or on behalf of) Algoney directly, or to a network of Algoney’s friends and acquaintances who are named in an archived copy of the GSK website as GSK staff members. Some of the line items specify that payments are made by these middlemen on behalf of the RSF (rather than another entity) as part of its procurement activities overseas. Despite repeated contacts, neither GSK, nor Algoney Hamdan Daglo or the middlemen named in the RSF spreadsheet have commented on allegations put to them by Global Witness.

In total, the RSF seems to have paid over 9 million dirhams (US $2.5million) to companies overseas via a network of procurement agents in countries including the UAE, Rwanda, Malaysia and China. Individuals within the network also made visits to Germany, Russia, and the Netherlands, countries to which the spreadsheet shows substantial transfers.

CONCLUSION

Exposing the workings of the RSF’s financial network is a crucial step towards combatting their economic power. If Sudan is to pursue a peaceful democratic transition, it is crucial to ensure civilian oversight of the military spending, and to give the Sudanese people greater control of their own natural resources — that at the moment are dominated by RSF and other security forces within Sudan.

Hemedti sits at the apex of a ‘paramilitary-industrial complex’. He controls both a large powerful military force, and an independent source of wealth. Unless he is removed from this dual position, and all military forces are brought under civilian strategic and financial control, he is an obstacle to the transition to civilian and democratic government that many in Sudan yearn for.

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https://thecradle.co/article-view/23858/israel-fearful-sudan-conflict-might-shatter-normalization-report

Israel fearful Sudan conflict might shatter normalization: Report

Israeli officials have urged the leaders of the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to “immediately end the fighting” that has been raging in the East African nation over the past several days.

According to unnamed Israeli senior officials that spoke with Axios, the White House pressed Israel to use the relationships it has built with both Army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo – known as Hemedti – to broker a ceasefire.

To this end, officials from Israel’s foreign ministry have been in contact with Burhan, while Mossad officials reached out to Hemedti.

Axios also revealed that, as late as last week, Tel Aviv “was sure that an agreement on appointing a civilian government [in Sudan] was coming in days if not hours.”

In January 2021, Sudan signed the so-called Abraham Accords to normalize ties with Israel. However, the normalization process was put on hold in October of that year after Burhan took control of the government in a military coup.

Heavy clashes have been ongoing in Sudan since 15 April, mainly caused by a dispute over the integration of the RSF into the Sudanese army and over control of the transition to civilian rule, including which forces should be included in the transitional government.

As of Wednesday night, at least 296 people have been killed, and more than 3,000 have been injured.

Israel is only one of several regional nations with a stake in Africa’s third-largest country. Others like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Egypt are similarly involved in the current crisis.

Hemedti says Cairo is colluding with Burhan by sending troops and armament to help the Sudanese army. In 2021, Egypt backed Burhan’s coup against the civilian government of Abdalla Hamdok; the North African nation has also been accused of sowing discord among civilians and the military.

While both the UAE and Saudi Arabia supported the Sudanese military in preventing the establishment of civilian rule, more recently, the two Gulf giants have been at odds, with Abu Dhabi backing the RSF and Riyadh taking the corner of the Sudanese army.

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https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/72-hour-ceasefire-declared-sudan-death-toll-surpasses-400-killed

72-Hour Ceasefire Declared In Sudan As Death Toll Surpasses 400

One of Sudan’s two warring factions, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has on Friday declared a 72-hour ceasefire following almost a week of fighting to take control of the country.

But there are reports that despite the truce declaration, armed clashes have persisted north of the capital of Khartoum. The other side, the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), had not immediately confirmed whether it recognizes the ceasefire.


Fighting broke out last Saturday, and is fundamentally a power struggle between rival generals representing the two factions, and has largely been confined to the capital, but threatens to engulf the rest of the country.

The World Health Organization (WHO) meanwhile announced a fresh death toll Friday, saying at least 413 people are confirmed killed and 3,551 wounded or injured.

The situation has continued to deteriorate over the past days, also as the Pentagon said it is moving troops in place in the region in preparation to execute a potential emergency evacuation order. US diplomats and embassy staff are still said to be sheltering in place.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has also said it can't deliver urgent aid due to lack of security guarantees and potential for its workers to be subject to violence.

"Our urgent priority is to get medical assistance to more hospitals and to work to make repairs to their water and power infrastructure. We are ready to deliver more supplies as soon as there is a pause in the fighting," the president of the ICRC Mirjana Spoljaric said.

The ceasefire offered by the RSF appears to be because of Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the formal end of Ramadan, and began Friday.

The weeklong running street battles, which have at various points included reports of warplanes deployed, have pit the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo -- who's also known as Hemedti and has served as Burhan's deputy head of state.

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https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1649948736859131905

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https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-tries-blame-russia-sudan-deep-state-war

US Tries To Blame Russia For Sudan "Deep State" War

Debunking The Latest Fake News Narrative


CNN published an exclusive piece on Thursday alleging that “Evidence emerges of Russia’s Wagner arming militia leader battling Sudan’s army”. They claim that satellite imagery shows increased Russian military transport activity between Libya and Syria in the run-up to Sudan’s “deep state” war. According to CNN, this confirms rumors that General Haftar is supplying Rapid Support Forces’ (RSF) leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (“Hamedti”) with surface-to-air missiles (SAM) on behalf of Wagner.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published their own exclusive piece the day prior on Wednesday alleging that “Libyan Militia and Egypt’s Military Back Opposite Sides in Sudan Conflict”, so these two stories complement one another. Both Hamedti and Wagner have denied these claims, however. The Sudanese Ambassador to Russia also confirmed that “Russia is a friendly country to us so we have been in direct contact with [the] Russian Foreign Ministry since the very beginning of those events last Saturday.”

That diplomat’s reaffirmation of Sudan’s close ties with Russia is especially important since he represents the government that’s internationally recognized as being led by Chief General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, who commands the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and is one of the two figures vying for power. At present, Khartoum therefore doesn’t extend credence to the emerging US-led Western Mainstream Media (MSM) narrative that Russia is arming the RSF via Haftar-Wagner, but that could soon change.


Preconditioning The Public For Another Proxy War

Unless the present three-day Eid ceasefire holds and leads to the start of peace talks that ultimately end this “deep state” war, which is unlikely since both sides made clear their intent to completely destroy the other, then this conflict is expected to resume in the near future. Should the SAF fail to defeat the RSF and possibly even be placed on the backfoot, then Burhan might gamble that it’s in his best interests to parrot the MSM’s anti-Russian accusations in an attempt to receive direct Western military support.

That scenario isn’t all that far-fetched either considering that the Associated Press and Politico both cited unnamed officials on Thursday to report that the US is assembling additional troops in nearby Djibouti to prepare for the possible evacuation of Americans from Sudan. This pretext could easily be exploited to arm the SAF and/or attack the RSF, especially if the Pentagon claims that the latter tried stopping its operation by building upon last week’s claim that its forces shot at an armored US diplomatic vehicle.

In the event that Burhan repeats the MSM’s emerging anti-Russian narrative and promises to rubbish Sudan’s naval base deal with Moscow upon defeating the RSF, then the Biden Administration can “justify” its military intervention on the basis of “defending Sudanese democracy from a Kremlin coup”. The public would then be told that the latest conflict was sparked by Russia’s support for the “insurgent” RSF, which the MSM would attribute to its interests in defending Wagner’s mining operations there.

American Meddling In Russian-Egyptian Relations

This would predictably precede an unprecedented but preplanned information warfare campaign painting Russia as a “destabilizing” force in Africa, which would be aimed at counteracting its hitherto highly successful efforts at presenting itself as a force of stability in support of legitimate governments. The purpose of this aforesaid operation would be to erode Russia’s newfound “Democratic Security” appeal across the continent with a view towards reversing the decline of Western influence there.

Furthermore, Burhan’s potentially opportunistic piggybacking on the earlier described emerging anti-Russian narrative could have serous implications for Moscow’s ties with Cairo due to the perception of them backing opposite sides in Sudan’s “deep state” war. Russian-Egyptian relations have recently been beset by scandal upon the latest Pentagon leaks alleging that Cairo abandoned its supposedly secret plan to supply rockets to Moscow under pressure from Washington and agreed to arm Kiev instead.

Considering this context, the scenario of Egyptian-backed Burhan blaming Russia for sparking the latest conflict could therefore lead to the rapid deterioration of Russian-Egyptian ties, especially if Cairo decides to indirectly retaliate against Moscow by curtailing its investment rights in Port Said. Those two signed an additional agreement on this industrial zone last month, which was first approved in 2018 and is supposed to help Russia expand its economic engagement with the broader region.

Punishing The Emirates For Its Close Relations With Russia

That goal could be jeopardized if Egypt decides to punish Russia through these means in response to Burhan opportunistically piggybacking on the MSM narrative in an attempt to obtain direct Western military support against the RSF. Furthermore, the UAE’s ties with Egypt and the US could also become much more complicated in that event too since Abu Dhabi is accused of backing reportedly RSF-allied Haftar, being favorable disposed to that armed Sudanese group, and secretly allying with Russia.

The last-mentioned accusation was brought to the public’s attentions as a result of the previously mentioned Pentagon leaks, which were denied by the UAE but coincided with the weakening of its ties with Washington that are partially over that Gulf country’s growing ones with Moscow. There are more factors at play than just the Russian-Emirati relationship, but the point is that the UAE’s problems with the US could be amplified by the MSM if Burhan accuses Russia of arming the RSF via Haftar-Wagner.

It also deserves mentioning that America’s other ulterior interest in its incipient propaganda campaign against Russia in Sudan is to complicate its geopolitical opponent’s logistical connections with the Central African Republic (CAR), which owes its continued existence as a state to Moscow’s military support. The Kremlin largely relies on transit across Sudan in order to supply its forces and its ally’s there, but this could be cut off if Burhan jumps on the anti-Russian bandwagon and revokes Moscow’s privileges.

The Chadian Connection

Lastly, another strategic factor behind this latest information warfare offensive against Russia is that it could ruin that country’s surprisingly solid relations with regional military heavyweight Chad. As explained in this recent analysis here, N’Djamena ended up expelling the German Ambassador earlier this month for meddling instead of the Russian one despite the US telling its counterparts in late February that Moscow is using Wagner in the CAR and Libya to arm anti-government rebels against it.

The Associated Press cited an African analyst from a Western risk assessment firm in their article on Thursday about 320 SAF troops fleeing to Chad to claim that this development could prompt N’Djamena into taking those forces’ side in Sudan’s “deep state” war. According to Benjamin Hunter, “N’Djamena is likely to oppose (Dagalo) due to fears that RSF dominance in Darfur could empower Chadian Arabs to unseat the (president’s) regime. Many within (Dagalo’s) Rizeigat tribe live across the border in Chad.”

If Chad becomes embroiled in Sudan’s “deep state” war on Burhan’s side, then it might be susceptible to Western suggestions that jumping on the anti-Russian bandwagon like he would have already done in this scenario could lead to them suspending their regime change campaign against N’Djamena. Should that happen, then this regional military heavyweight might also support any potentially forthcoming rebel/terrorist offensive that its historical French partner could soon plot against Russia in the CAR.

Concluding Thoughts

Putting everything together, the US plans to achieve the following strategic objectives by introducing the narrative that Russia is arming the RSF:

Entice Burhan to extend credence to these claims in exchange for US military support;

Demand that he also rescinds Russia’s naval base rights and cuts off its overflight access to the CAR;

Consider direct support to the SAF on the pretext of commencing an “evacuation operation” in Sudan;

Discredit Russia and the UAE’s African engagement policies by framing both as “destabilizing forces”;

Attempt to provoke a crisis in Russia’s relations with Sudan’s Chadian and Egyptian neighbors;

Exploit the above scenario to assemble a regional coalition for pushing back against Russia in Africa;

Encourage Chad to support a French-backed rebel/terrorist offensive in the Russian-allied CAR;

Plot a copycat proxy war in Russian-allied Mali in order to crush the Kremlin’s influence in the Sahel;

Perfect this new Hybrid War method prior to employing it all across the continent;

And thus turn Africa into the top proxy war battleground of the New Cold War.

The US therefore has many reasons to push this fake news campaign, though it’s unclear whether it’ll ultimately achieve any of its envisaged objectives or not.

[Ravenlocke]

https://twitter.com/telesurenglish/status/1650880292561756162

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WHO Warns Of ‘Huge Biological Risk’ After Lab Seized In Sudan

The World Health Organization warned that there is now a ‘huge biological risk” after fighters in Sudan occupied a central public health lab on Tuesday.



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BREAKING: World Health Organization says there is an 'extremely serious' situation and 'huge biological risk' after a lab containing virus samples falls into control of Sudan fighters

Dr. Nima Saeed Abid said that fighters in the Sudanese capital city of Khartoum have seized the National Public Health Laboratory on Tuesday before technicians were able to secure the biological materials and samples located inside.

Some of the samples that are held in the laboratory include samples of diseases such as polio and measles, which according to Abid, create an “extremely, extremely dangerous situation.”

“There is a huge biological risk associated with the occupation of the central public health lab by one of the fighting parties,” the doctor said. “This is the main concern: no accessibility to the lab technicians to go to the lab and safely contain the biological material and substances available.”

While expressing the risks of the situation in Sudan, the doctor declined to specify which side had seized the lab.

According to Reuters, the doctor then went on to say that since the fighting had started on April 15th, 459 people have been killed, and over 4,000 injured.

Amid the ongoing violence in the country, the White House announced late on Saturday that the United States military has successfully evacuated the American government employees from the embassy in Khartoum. The diplomats were then transported to Djibouti, from where they flew to Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany.

State Department officials said that over 100 troops, all of whom were special forces, had executed the evacuation.

Less than 100 people were evacuated from the country, including the marines who were attached to the embassy. However, the American civilians in the country have not been evacuated.

President Joe Biden said that he was “receiving regular reports from his team on their ongoing work to assist Americans in Sudan, to the extent possible. We are also working closely with our allies and partners in this effort.”

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said that the operations would only include government employees, and that American civilians are responsible for their own safety, and would have to make their way out of the country on their own.

The United Nations humanitarian office (OCHA) has reduced its activities in parts of Sudan after at least five aid workers were killed in the fighting.

“In areas where intense fighting has hampered our humanitarian operations, we have been forced to reduce our footprint,” Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the OCHA, said. “But we are committed to continue to deliver for the people of Sudan.”

Laerke said the OCHA team had relocated from the capital city of Khartoum, and would now lead humanitarian efforts out of the Port of Sudan.

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https://www.rt.com/news/575583-sudan-pm-civil-war/

Ex-Sudanese prime minister warns of ‘nightmare’ civil war
More than 500 civilians are estimated to have died since violence broke out earlier this month between rival army factions

Former Sudanese prime minister Abdalla Hamdok said on Saturday that the worsening armed conflict in the African nation could prompt a civil war, which he said would be a “nightmare for the world.”

“God forbid if Sudan is to reach a point of civil war proper,” he said, speaking at an event in Nairobi, Kenya on Saturday. He added that he believed civil wars in Syria, Yemen, and Libya would be “small play” compared to what he fears might break out in Sudan. “I think it would be a nightmare for the world,” Hamdok explained.

Around 500 civilians are thought to have lost their lives since conflict broke out in the politically turbulent country on April 15, predominantly between army forces controlled by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and those controlled by Mohamed Hamdan Daglo – otherwise known as Hemedti – who is the commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The primary dispute between both parties centers around the planned integration of the RSF into Sudan’s existing army.

Both warring sides had tentatively agreed to several truces, but none have firmly taken hold, as violence continues in the country’s capital, Khartoum – which has reported widespread outages of electricity, as well as food and water shortages. UN estimates suggest that some 75,000 people have been displaced following the outbreak of fighting, which has also led to foreign workers leaving the country en masse.

Hamdok added that he believes the conflict to be a “senseless war.” “There is nobody who is going to come out of this victorious. That is why it has to stop,” he remarked.

Hamdok was ousted from power in Sudan by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan in October 2021, in what was another flashpoint amid the country’s fragile transition to democratic rule. He returned to government under power-sharing terms with al-Burhan’s army before opting to resign in January, amid claims by some demonstrators that Hamdok’s association with the army had only served to help rubber-stamp a military takeover.

Sudan was previously governed by authoritarian leader Omar al-Bashir between 1993 and 2019, before he too was removed from office after mass protests led to a military coup.

https://www.rt.com/news/575583-sudan-pm-civil-war/

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https://www.rt.com/news/575554-american-citizens-sudan-evacuation/

US helps some citizens flee Sudan

President Joe Biden’s administration has begun its first mass evacuations of US citizens from Sudan after more than a week of advising them to shelter in place amid fighting between warring factions battling for control of the East African nation.

A US-organized vehicle convoy carrying American citizens, locally employed staffers and people from allied countries successfully reached Port Sudan on Saturday, according to a statement by the State Department in Washington. From there, they will be able to travel across the Red Sea to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The move comes one week after US Navy Seals evacuated American embassy workers from Khartoum and days after other nations began transporting their citizens out of the war-torn country.

The State Department did not specify how many of the approximately 16,000 US civilians living in Sudan were brought out in Saturday’s convoy. Media reports pegged the size of the group at “hundreds.” Other countries, including Saudi Arabia, Spain, the UK, Germany and France, are reportedly winding down their evacuations after getting thousands of their citizens out of Sudan in recent days.

The White House has warned that time is running out in Sudan, as violence between the country’s military and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group could escalate at any time. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Thursday that Americans who wished to leave Sudan should “take advantage of the options that are available to them in the next 24 to 48 hours.”

US military forces have deployed surveillance and intelligence assets to support evacuation routes, while US Navy ships are now stationed off Sudan’s coast to provide any needed assistance. “Our focus has been and remains to help as many US citizens depart as safely as possible,” Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said on Saturday in a statement.

Biden’s administration previously claimed that it wasn’t feasible to carry out large-scale evacuations of civilians, even as other countries did so. The State Department said it has helped facilitate the evacuations of some Americans by allied countries in recent days.

The administration’s handling of such crises has come under increased scrutiny following its chaotic August 2021 evacuation from Afghanistan, which left hundreds of people dead and thousands of Americans stranded.

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https://tass.com/world/1611743?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=smm_social_share

Death toll in Sudan clashes up to 425, over 2,000 people injured — doctors

Moreover, 16 hospitals have been bombarded since the start of the conflict, doctors added

CAIRO, April 30. /TASS/. The number of people killed in clashes between the armed forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan has risen to 425, while 2,091 people were injured, the country’s Doctors Central Committee reported on Sunday.

"The number of civilians killed since the beginning of clashes has risen to 425, while the number of wounded - to 2,091," Al Jazeera TV channel cited the organization as saying. Moreover, 16 hospitals have been bombarded since the start of the conflict, doctors added.

On the previous day, the Committee said that 411 civilians were killed. Meanwhile, the country’s health ministry said in a statement released late on Saturday that 528 people were killed and 4,599 injured.

The situation in Sudan has escalated due to disagreements between army commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who also heads the Sovereign Council (the country's governing body), and his deputy in the council, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti), the head of the rapid support force. On the morning of April 15, clashes broke out between the two forces near a military base in the city of Merowe and in the Sudanese capital Khartoum.

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Saudi Arabia evacuated several dozen Russians from Sudan — consulate general

Usmanov specified that Russian citizens travel to Russia through transit countries, such as Egypt, Qatar and the UAE

MOSCOW, April 30. /TASS/. Saudi Arabia evacuated several dozen Russian nationals from Sudan aboard military ships, Ruslan Usmanov, Spokesman of the Russian Consulate General in Jeddah told TASS Sunday.

"Russian nationals do not evacuate on their own. They are being evacuated by Saudi military ships. They took this issue upon themselves. They evacuate from Port Sudan and take them to the Port of Jeddah, to the naval base. We meet them here," the diplomat said. "So far, about 40 Russian have arrived. Most of them have already departed: some back to Russia, and some to other countries - depending on their destination."

Usmanov specified that Russian citizens travel to Russia through transit countries, such as Egypt, Qatar and the UAE.

According to the spokesman, Saudi Arabia also evacuates American and European citizens. Saudi authorities provide lists of evacuated people to the consulate general several hours in advance.

"Saudi Arabia also pays for their two-day stay in hotel, with catering," Usmanov. "After that, Russian citizens depart to Russia. If necessary, we escort them to the airport, resolve some issues, but, usually, everything goes smoothly. There have been no problems so far."

The situation in Sudan escalated amid disagreements between the army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who also heads the ruling Sovereignty Council, and the head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (known as Hemedti), who is al-Burhan’s deputy on the council.

The main points of contention between the two military organizations pertain to the timeline and methods for unifying the armed forces of Sudan, as well as who should be appointed as commander-in-chief of the army: a career military officer, which is al-Burhan’s preferred option, or an elected civilian president, as Dagalo insists.

On April 15, armed clashes between the rival military factions erupted near a military base in Merowe and in the capital, Khartoum.

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Alexander Mercouris explains Egyptian and U.S. interest in Sudan, and dismissed the ridiculous claims that Russia is driving the instability there. (15 minutes)

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https://twitter.com/TheCradleMedia/status/1653522166640521220

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https://thecradle.co/article-view/24319/sudan-the-new-geopolitical-battlefield-between-east-and-west

Sudan: The new geopolitical battlefield between east and west?

The story of Sudan is one of contrasts and contradictions. It is a country with tremendous potential and resources, yet it is plagued by poverty, conflict, and exploitation. The forces currently pulling Sudan apart are complex and multifaceted, but one thing is certain: the future of this nation is inextricably linked to the broader geopolitical landscape.

In order to fully comprehend the dynamics of this growing conflict, it is essential to look beyond Sudan’s borders. Attention must be paid to the broader geopolitical chemistry at play in the Horn of Africa, the Persian Gulf, the wider West Asian region, and even Ukraine.

Once the largest African nation with a population of 46 million and the third largest landmass, Sudan underwent a seismic shift in 2011 with a western-championed Balkanization, which divided the country into a “Muslim north” and a “Christian/Animist south.”

Extremes of wealth and poverty

The country is blessed with one of the most water-rich zones of the earth. The White and Blue Niles combine to form the Nile River, which flows northward into Egypt. Sudan’s water abundance is complemented by fertile soil and immense deposits of gold and oil.

The majority of these resources are located in the south, creating a convenient geological divide that western strategists have exploited for over a century to promote secession.

Despite its abundance of resources, Sudan is also one of the poorest nations in the world. Thirty-five percent of its population lives in extreme poverty, and a staggering 20 million people – or 50 percent of the population – suffer from food insecurity.

Although Sudan achieved political independence in 1956, like many other former colonies, it was never truly economically independent. The British utilized a strategy they had previously employed before leaving India in 1946 – divide and conquer – carving out “northern” and “southern” tribes, which led to civil wars that began months before Sudan’s independence in 1956.

General against General

After achieving independence in 2011, South Sudan was plunged into a brutal civil war that lasted for seven years. In the meantime, the north was hit by two coups; the first in 2019, which ousted President Omar al-Bashir, and the second in 2021, resulting in the current power-sharing military-led transitional government led by the president of the Sovereign Council, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and his deputy, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.

It is these two former allies-turned-rivals who now find themselves at the center of the conflict pulling Sudan in two opposing directions against the backdrop of the rapidly developing multipolar order.

Following the 2021 coup in Sudan, the two rival generals, Dagalo and Burhan, continued the momentum toward building large-scale projects. China funded a program to rehabilitate 4725 km of defunct colonial-era railways connecting the port of Sudan to Darfur and Chad.

A recent report by The Cradle suggests that if peace is maintained in the Horn of Africa and the new Iran-Saudi Arabia entente results in a durable peace process in Yemen, then the revival of the Bridge of the Horn of Africa project, which was last proposed in 2010, could become a reality.

Global South benefits from China-Russia co-op

In the past decade, the strategic partnership between China and Russia has been rapidly gaining favor among countries in the Global South. With the five BRICS member states accounting for over 3.2 billion people and 31.5 percent of global GDP, China and Russia have been providing financial support for major infrastructure, water, and energy projects while also backing the military needs of nations facing destabilization.

This has set the stage for a new era of geo-economics based on mutually beneficial cooperation. The Horn of Africa, which includes North and South Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, and Kenya, has been drawn into this positive dynamic of peace and development.

Ethiopia was able to end its 20-year conflict with neighboring Eritrea in 2018 and put down a potential civil war in November 2022. Furthermore, China’s diplomatic efforts facilitated a peace deal between Saudi Arabia and Yemen, while even Syria has seen a new hope emerge with the Arab League’s consensus that the US-led regime change doctrine against President Bashar al-Assad is over.

Sudan’s multipolar prospects

While the cause of the recent violence in Sudan remains uncertain, there are some things that are known. Prior to the recent outbreak of violence that claimed nearly 500 lives, Sudan was making significant strides toward consolidating its participation in the emerging multipolar alliance.

This included Sudan’s submission of a request to join the BRICS+ alliance along with 19 other nations, including resource-rich African states such as Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe. Sudan’s decision to grant Russia full use of the Port of Sudan and engage in large-scale economic development with China, Russia, Egypt, and Kuwait was viewed as a positive development by many but drew threats of “consequences” from the US Ambassador John Godfrey.

In April 2021, agreements were signed to build a 900 km Egypt-Sudan railway connecting Aswan to Sudan’s Wadi Halfa and Khartoum. In June 2022, a Joint Ethiopia-Sudan government commissioned feasibility study was finished outlining a 1522 km standard gauge railway connecting Ethiopia’s Addis Ababa to Khartoum and the Port of Sudan.

In January 2022, China pledged financial and technical support to extend Kenya’s 578 km Mombasa-Nairobi railway to Uganda, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as Ethiopia, where the Chinese-built Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway was completed in 2017. In this comprehensive project, extensions into Eritrea were included.


The revival of the Jonglei Canal

Water and oil are both abundant resources in South Sudan, making the region’s security a top priority for Beijing’s African interests. Despite this abundance, the country’s infrastructure is poor, leaving it with no means to move these resources to market or use them for industrial purposes.

Water is just as geopolitically important as oil, if not more so. Thus, nearly forty years ago, the Jonglei Canal project was launched, which aimed to connect the White and Blue Nile in South Sudan, creating a 360 km canal that would divert water runoff from the Upper White Nile.

The canal would result in 25 million cubic meters of water per day being directed north into Egypt, while 17,000 square kilometers of swamp land would be transformed into agricultural land. The project would make the desert land bloom in Egypt and northern Sudan, turning the Sahel into the breadbasket of Africa. However, the project was stopped after 250 km had been dug by a German-made Bucketwheel 2300-ton, laser-guided digging machine.

The secessionist southern Sudanese Peoples’ Liberation Army (SPLA), led by western-educated John Garang De Mabior, launched a civil war in 1983 and kidnapped the machine’s operators, effectively halting the project. Notably, De Mabior’s 1981 doctoral dissertation in the US focused on the environmental damage that the Jonglei Canal would cause if not managed correctly.

Muddying the waters

Despite former President Omar al-Bashir’s attempts to restart this project since 1989 – until the 2011 partition of Sudan – constant destabilizations never permitted this project’s revival.

Things began turning around when, on February 28, 2022, South Sudan’s Vice President for Infrastructure, General Taban Deng Gai, called for the resumption of the Jonglei Canal, saying:

“We, the people in Bentiu and Fangak, have no place to stay. We may migrate to Eastern Nuer [eastern bank of the White Nile] because we have lost our land to flooding … People are asking who opened this huge volume of water because we never experienced this for decades. Of course, Uganda and Kenya opened the water, because Kampala was almost submerged because of the rising level of water from Lake Victoria. The digging of the Jonglei Canal that was stopped needs to be revised … For our land not to be submerged by flood, let’s allow this water to flow to those who need it in Egypt.”

General Taban referenced a UN Report detailing the 380,000 civilians displaced due to recent Sudd Wetland flooding and stated: “The solution lies in opening the waterways and resuming the drilling of the Jonglei Canal, based on the conditions and interest of South Sudan in the first place.”

General Taban had worked closely with South Sudan’s Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Manawa Gatkouth, who had been the first to revive this project since the 2011 partition, submitting a proposal to the South Sudan Transitional Council in December 2021.

This proposal grew directly out of agreements to build cooperative water projects that Gatkouth reached with the Egyptian government in September 2020.

At the time, the Egyptian minister of water resources stated that “Egypt would increase the number of development projects for collecting and storing rainwater, with the aim of serving the South Sudanese people.”

Boots on the ground: The west returns

Expectedly, the Sudanese crisis has drawn attention due to the involvement of Anglo-American military forces. On 23 April, US President Joe Biden announced a War Powers Resolution to deploy troops in Sudan, Djibouti, and Ethiopia.

Where all other nations quickly moved to remove their citizens and diplomatic staff out of harm’s way, 16,000 US civilians have been left without support, providing a convenient excuse to insert US military forces into the picture to “restore order.”

US Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland’s surprise appearance in the region on 9 March is also worth noting. One of the key architects of Ukraine’s transformation into a confrontational state against Russia, Nuland bragged during her visit that she discussed a “democratic transition in Sudan,” along with her humanitarian concerns for Somalia and Ethiopia.

Sudan, incidentally, is dependent on wheat imports, 85 percent of which originate from Ukraine and Russia.

To date, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) funds over 300 separate civil society organizations in Africa, and at least 13 in Sudan – all of which use the tried and tested tactic of weaponizing pro-west local liberals to destroy their own nations under the cover of “democracy building,” human rights, and “anti-corruption” actions.

Conversely, the Global South increasingly views the rising multipolar powers China, Russia, and their growing coterie of allies, as advancing a non-hypocritical approach to supporting vital infrastructure projects and genuine national interests.

These new actors on the international stage prioritize the completion of large-scale water, food, energy, and transportation networks, which not only benefit all the involved parties, but also positively impact regions beyond national borders.

These transformative projects, such as Beijing’s ambitious, multi-trillion dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), promote unity and progress by overcoming the tribalism, bigotry, poverty, and scarcity that the west has historically relied on to sow conflict. By increasing education levels and providing quality jobs across tribal and national boundaries, economic development ignites dignity and innovation that poses a threat to oligarchs with imperialistic tendencies.

While the causes of the Sudan crisis are not fully understood, it is clear that there are powerful forces at work seeking to shape the outcome for their own benefit. However, the answer to Sudan’s problems lies in a different approach – one that prioritizes infrastructure development and nation-building rather than narrow geopolitical interests and regime change.

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The fighting raging in #Sudan could spur more than 800,000 people to flee into neighbouring countries, the United Nations warned Monday.

The UN refugee agency UNHCR said that it was now working with a planning figure of hundreds of thousands of people fleeing the violence that erupted in Sudan.

Sudan already hosted 1.13 million refugees before the conflict started, one of the largest refugee populations in Africa.

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https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/eu-launches-humanitarian-air-bridge-to-provide-essential-supplies-to-sudan/2894171

EU launches humanitarian air bridge to provide essential supplies to Sudan

GENEVA

The EU launched on Wednesday a humanitarian air bridge to meet the rising humanitarian needs in conflict-torn Sudan.

Thirty tons of essential items, including water, sanitation and hygiene as well as shelter equipment, were transported from the UN warehouses in Dubai to Port Sudan, a European Commission statement said.

Upon arrival, they were handed over to UNICEF and the World Food Program, it added.

According to the statement, the humanitarian air bridge is organized as part of the European Humanitarian Response Capacity, a tool aimed to cover gaps in humanitarian response to natural and man-made disasters.

The EU has already committed €200,000 ($219,741) for immediate relief and first aid assistance to people injured or in danger in Khartoum and other regions affected by the ongoing unrest, it said, noting that this funding is in addition to the €73 million already earmarked to Sudan for humanitarian assistance in 2023.

Furthermore, it said, €200,000 was granted to the Egyptian Red Crescent for the provision of assistance to Sudanese refugees landing in Egypt.

"I strongly condemn the fighting in Sudan and call on both parties to enable medical staff & humanitarian aid workers provide life-saving assistance," said Janez Lenarcic, the commissioner for crisis management.

"In the light of growing humanitarian needs, we are launching a Humanitarian Air Bridge, delivering essential supplies to our humanitarian partners on the ground – to be further distributed to those who need them the most," Lenarcic added.

He reiterated his call for an end to the fighting and to the loss of life.

On April 15, fighting erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the capital Khartoum and its surroundings. More than 600 people have been killed and thousands injured.

A disagreement had been fomenting in recent months between the Sudanese army and the RSF over the latter’s integration into the armed forces, a key condition of Sudan's transition agreement with political groups.

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https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/sudan-resolution-passes-in-un-human-rights-council/2895295

Sudan resolution passes in UN Human Rights Council

GENEVA

The UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution Thursday on the human rights impact of the conflict in Sudan.

Calling for an immediate cessation of violence with no pre-conditions by all parties in the fighting between the army and a paramilitary group, the decision was passed with 18 votes in favor, 15 against, and 14 abstaining at the end of a special session on Sudan.

It also urged the African Union, Inter-governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), and UN Trilateral Mechanism on Sudan's political transition to continue efforts to prevent further escalation of violence, and for the international community to coordinate and collaborate on separate initiatives to resolve the conflict and stabilize the situation in the country.

Demanding that the sides exercise the utmost prudence and desist from future violations and abuses of human rights, the resolution urged them to halt any action that worsens the humanitarian situation in the country, it called them to allow and facilitate the full, safe, and unfettered passage of humanitarian aid for people in need as soon as possible.

Additionally, it urged the international community to cooperate in addressing the immediate impacts of the humanitarian crisis in the country and its neighbors.

On those fleeing the violence in Sudan, it urged observance of the principle of non-refoulment, which forbids countries from returning asylum-seekers to places where they fear persecution.

The resolution requested that Sudan actively collaborate with the international community and key international organizations in addressing severe humanitarian issues in the country.

It demanded that all parties to the crisis respect and protect civilians, particularly foreign nationals, international relief workers, staff of the UN and related organizations, and diplomats.

The resolution called upon the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk to prioritize further engagement with all parties to the conflict in Sudan.

On April 15, fighting erupted between the Sudanese army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Khartoum and its surroundings. More than 600 people have been killed and thousands injured.

A disagreement had been fomenting in recent months between the Sudanese army and RSF over RSF's integration into the armed forces, a key condition of Sudan's transition agreement with political groups.

Sudan has been without a functioning government since October 2021, when the military dismissed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok's transitional government and declared a state of emergency in a move decried by political forces as a "coup."

Sudan's transitional period, which started in August 2019 after the ouster of President Omar al-Bashir, had been scheduled to end with elections in early 2024.

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Sudanese Continue to Clash in Khartoum City


On Monday, clashes continued between the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), with eastern parts of the capital Khartoum witnessing intense bombardment.

"A large logistical supply of weapons, ammunition and fuel belonging to the rebel militia has been dealt with in a qualitative operation that targeted some areas in Sharq Al-Neel locality and bases around the East Nile Hospital," the Army said.

There were no civilian casualties during the operation, but the RSF said the bombardment resulted in the "death and injury of dozens of innocent citizens and the destruction of a large part of the hospital."

The RSF attacked the embassies of Jordan, South Sudan, Somalia, Uganda, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait, the Sudanese Foreign Ministry said, adding that the RSF damaged documents and furniture, and stole valuables, including computers and diplomatic vehicles.

Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission in Sudan condemned the use of air force and heavy weapons in the vicinity of residences, which resulted in civilian casualties.

It demanded the evacuation of all health and civilian facilities, urging the conflicting parties not to deal with these facilities for military purposes or as military targets.

Since April 15, the conflict between the Sudanese army and the rebels has left at least 676 dead and over 936,000 people displaced. It is estimated that about 15.8 million Sudanese, or about one-third of Sudan's population, will need humanitarian aid in 2023.

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Egypt's visa restrictions split up thousands of Sudanese families fleeing war

The ongoing war in Sudan has caused tens of thousands of civilians to flee to neighbouring countries. Most of them made their way to Egypt, which allowed women, children and the elderly to cross at a snail's pace, but many men were turned back for visas.

“I'm in a foreign country with my children and I know no one, while my husband has been trapped outside the Egyptian consulate in Halfa for 21 days,” said a 37-year-old Sudanese woman who arrived in Cairo with her three infants more than two weeks ago.

The woman, who preferred not to disclose her identity, told Middle East Eye that due to the closure of the Egyptian embassy in Khartoum and the raging war, she travelled with her husband and their children to the Egyptian border crossing, Argeen, 850km from Sudan’s capital, hoping to obtain a visa there, but her spouse was refused entry at the crossing.

“Our house was targeted by aircrafts, and we left it running. I did not even take my children's certificates with me. I don’t know when my husband’s visa will be issued and how we will settle in here without him,” she added.

Around 83,758 Sudanese nationals have so far crossed the border into Egypt since the conflict in Khartoum erupted on 15 April, according to the UNHCR.

Most of them are women, children and the elderly, who do not need visas to enter Egypt. But Sudanese men aged 16-49 do.

Lugain Mahmoud, 28, along with her husband, and his 19-year-old brother, are among thousands stranded outside the Egyptian consulate in Wadi Halfa, north of Sudan.

Since they fled Khartoum on 26 April, her brother-in-law has suffered many diabetic coma episodes, from “stress, exhaustion and the hard circumstances of the trip and staying in Halfa”, she told MEE.

“I am not planning to leave without my husband. What if they don't grant him a visa for one reason or another? We will be stuck on two different sides with no knowledge of how or when we will be reunited again,” Lugain said.

She added that while her mother and younger sisters have crossed the border to Egypt and they will need assistance in settling in, she cannot leave her husband behind.

Lugain and another Sudanese man waiting outside the Egyptian consulate told MEE that people in Halfa are sleeping on the ground, and many others have run out of money waiting to receive their visas.

“Halfa is a small city with about 5,000 residents. Around 15,000 people have arrived over the past few days, and there are no accommodations for all of us; we sleep in mosques, streets, and schools,” said the Sudanese man who preferred to remain anonymous.

According to sources who spoke with MEE, about 5,000 to 7,000 passports have been submitted to the Egyptian consulate, which issues 70 to 100 visas daily. This means Lugain's husband and brother-in-law will have to wait at least a month and a half for their visas.

Thousands more people are expected to arrive in Halfa over the next few days, as the Sudanese army and paramilitary group the Rapid Support Forces escalate their hostilities.

UN urges ‘non-discriminatory access’

In an open letter, many Sudanese activists and writers have urged the Egyptian government and UN to ease the entry of Sudanese refugees fleeing war, including men aged 16-49, under the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol relating to the status of refugees.

The protocol, signed by Cairo, states that “no one shall expel or return a refugee against his or her will, in any manner whatsoever, to a territory where he or she fears threats to life or freedom”.

UNHCR's external relations officer in Egypt, Christine Beshay, told MEE that the UN emphasises the importance of access to territory and asylum to anyone fleeing violence and conflict, regardless of their age or gender. “[UNHCR]  has been urging all countries to allow civilians fleeing Sudan non-discriminatory access to their territories,” she said.

Egypt’s state-owned TV station Al-QAhera News quoted Egyptian officials saying that Sudanese men without visas are not likely to be allowed entry to Egypt, after many Egyptian activists called for visa-free borders for Sudanese fleeing conflict.

“Thousands of people are trying to obtain visas to enter Egypt and that resulted in a build-up, especially in Halfa where the Egyptian consulate is now. Processing all these people is taking time and causing delays in movement,” Beshay said.

“UNHCR is in constant dialogue with the authorities in Egypt and neighbouring countries, and advocates all states to ensure access to territory and protection for all those fleeing the conflict regardless of their age or gender."

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Sudan’s Darfur draws neighbours back into a war that never ended
Sources tell MEE that an array of local and regional actors, including the Wagner Group, Chad and CAR, are all involved as fighting gets worse in Darfur

Sudan’s warring factions are engaged in a fierce and complex battle for local and regional support in Darfur, as fighting intensifies in the country’s western region.

Sources in Darfur and the countries it borders have told Middle East Eye that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commonly known as Hemeti, is receiving support from eastern Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar, Russian military outfit Wagner and the government of the Central African Republic (CAR).

An Egyptian military source has told MEE that Egyptian pilots are flying Sudanese air force planes, with the relationship between the armies of Egypt and Sudan a longstanding one. The Sudanese military denies its planes are being used by Egyptian pilots.

The government of Chad is aligned with General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), but the RSF is drawing in fighters from Sudan's neighbours.

Adding to the tangled web of support and sabotage are powerful Sudanese leaders from Darfur, including Musa Hilal and Minni Minnawi, both of whom have joined the Sudanese army to form what analyst Kholood Khair called an “anti-Hemeti coalition”.

Another key figure is Sudanese Finance Minister Gibril Ibrahim, leader of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), whose home territory is Darfur and Kordofan.

Both the army and RSF accuse each other of getting external support while denying they receive any themselves.

This comes after at least 280 people died over the weekend in El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur, following an attack by an armed militia dressed in the uniform of the RSF.

Almost a thousand people have now died in Darfur since the conflict between the Sudanese army and RSF began on 15 April.

Last Thursday night’s Jeddah agreement, which was not a ceasefire and which activists told MEE was “meaningless”, has done nothing to quell the violence.

Within Geneina, an estimated 100,000 internally displaced people remain trapped, with settlements once again being reduced to ashes, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said.

After Khartoum, Darfur is currently the site of the war’s fiercest fighting. The homeland of the RSF, it is where the paramilitary has its strongholds and sources of supplies, logistics, weapons and fighters.

The region, which has been wracked by civil war for almost the whole of the 21st century, is vital strategically, as it shares a border with Libya, Chad, CAR and South Sudan, and is close to Egypt, Sudan’s largest and most influential neighbour.

“Darfur is going to be one of the biggest battlegrounds outside Khartoum and it is important to both sides, even though the SAF can concentrate the fighting in Darfur and leave it there, very much as we have seen over the last 20 years,” Khair, director of Khartoum-based think tank Confluence Advisory, told MEE.

“If they can get the RSF to leave Khartoum, which is by no means simple, I think the army would be happy to have most of the fighting take place in Darfur because, firstly, their main target is Khartoum, and secondly they have been able to work to get support from Arab tribes in Darfur,” Khair said.

A key figure in this strategy is Musa Hilal, a former Janjaweed militia leader who is an enemy of Hemeti, who together with Minnawi and Gibril Ibrahim can create an anti-Hemeti coalition in Darfur, the Sudanese analyst said.

"Hemeti cannot rely in the same way on his ethnic mobilisation among Arab troops, as he could before.”

Libya, Wagner and Haftar

On the borders with Libya, the Sudanese army has engaged in an aggressive battle against the RSF, capturing a military base called Chevrolet in the early days of the conflict.

Located in the triangle between Sudan, Libya and Egypt in the Gabal El Uweinat mountain range, the base is strategically located on the migration route north through Libya to the Mediterranean, with the RSF using it to target refugees and human trafficking operations.

Sources from rebel factions in Darfur that maintain a presence in southern Libya told MEE that the Libyan general Khalifa Haftar pushed his forces towards Sudan, promising the RSF that he would provide them with advanced anti-aircraft cannons.

The SAF bombed Haftar’s convoys and closed the border from Chevrolet, the sources said.

The same sources said Haftar is being supported by the Wagner Group in order to send weapons to the RSF near the border between Sudan and Libya.

“We have the right to defend our country from any external interference,” an army source said when asked by MEE to comment on the allegations.

“In Libya, there’s some support in the form of fuel and arms coming in from Haftar’s troops,” Khair said on the connection between the groups.

RSF spokesperson Musab Mohamed Ahmed has denied the claims, saying that the paramilitary does not get any external support.

Accusations of external support have been thrown around on all sides. The RSF said its base in the Red Sea state was bombed by the Egyptian air force. While the SAF denies the claim, an Egyptian military source has told MEE that Egyptian pilots are flying Sudanese air force planes.

Another element in Libya, Khair said, was the return to Sudan of troops loyal to Darfuri politician and military leader Minnawi. Those men had been fighting in Libya for Haftar and are “coming back to Darfur to support Minnawi, not Hemeti,” Khair told MEE.

Minnawi, head of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), said in March that he would not disarm his combatants, as was meant to happen under the Juba peace agreement signed in 2020. He pointed to what he called “ongoing recruitment campaigns” in Darfur by other groups, including the RSF, as the reason for this decision.

Minnawi has positioned himself as a potential peacekeeper, though he is thought by many to be supporting Burhan, who was instrumental to his return to Darfur.

Border support from Bangui

The border between Sudan and the Central African Republic is currently more active, with the CAR army, which is backed by Wagner, sending weapons and munitions across the border to support the RSF, according to opposition sources in CAR.

The Wagner Group supports both Haftar and the government of President Faustin-Archange Touadera in Bangui, the capital of CAR.

“Wagner has sent weapons and reinforcements to RSF across the border. RSF, Wagner and the CAR army has met on the border and agreed that the support can enter Sudan through Um Dafuq, which is already controlled by the RSF,” two sources from the Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC), a collection of rebel groups in the Central African Republic, told MEE.

“Our forces as CAR opposition are fighting Wagner and the CAR army forces, so we are also seeking coordination with the Sudanese army in order to stop the mutual support that CAR government, Wagner and RSF are providing to each other,” the CPC sources said.

“In Central African Republic, the situation is more straightforward. They are on the side of Hemeti, who we are told has been able to recruit some Arab fighters there and to get some support from the border regions, which the RSF has been closely monitoring and shutting and opening when it is politically convenient for them,” Khair told MEE.

Musaab Mohamed Ahmed, the Rapid Support Forces spokesperson, dismissed the allegations, adding that the RSF has no ties with Wagner and hasn’t received weapons from the neighbouring countries including Libya or CAR.

“We have nothing to fight with apart from our guns and military vehicles, in addition to our fighters. This is the truth and everything that you’ve heard is rumours spread by our enemy,” he told MEE.

Chad and Hemeti

At the beginning of the conflict, Chad closed its 1,403km-long border with Sudan and called for calm.

The border has proved to be porous though, with fighters crossing it and clashes taking place close to it.

Chadian forces, including those government troops that have participated in joint Sudanese-Chadian forces on the border, support the SAF, leading the RSF to bring in more reinforcements from neighbouring countries.

Hemeti, whose family’s origins lie in Chad, has a cousin who is a Chadian general. But the RSF leader is feared by the Chadian government of Mahamat Idriss Deby, which does not want to see the Sudanese paramilitary leader extend his influence across the border and help enact regime change.

The deadly fighting in El Geneina, which is less than 30km from Sudan’s border with Chad, has seen Chadian fighters who are part of Arab militias taking arms against the Sudanese army.

Minnawi, Musa Hilal and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) are all old enemies of Hemeti and the RSF.

Sources close to the rebel movements in Darfur said that the army was looking to gather the support of these local groups in order to counter the RSF in western Sudan.

The sources said that the signatories of October 2020’s Juba peace agreement, including Minnawi’s Sudan Liberation Movement, JEM and the Sudan Liberation Movement-Transitional Council, have joined forces in order to be deployed in North Darfur to separate the army and the RSF.

Minnawi, as a governor of the region, said that the peacekeeping forces would also be deployed to the other five capitals of the region, including El Geneina, El Fasher and Nyala.

As the homeland of Hemeti and the RSF, Darfur is a natural place for the paramilitary force to withdraw to if they are overwhelmed in Khartoum. It is also a source of fighters and supplies, including from Libya and Chad. Khartoum, in the centre of Sudan, is harder to supply.

“I don’t think the RSF is controlling Darfur. I don’t think they can,” Khair said.

“I think it has spread itself thinly across the country but will come back to regroup in Darfur because it can still recruit from there and from near there,” she said, referring to Arab tribes in North and South Kordofan, but adding that the RSF did not have as much support there as previously.

“This makes the situation in Darfur very likely to escalate,” Khair told MEE.

“It’s already difficult now, it’s one of the first places we are seeing ethnic mobilisation take place and we are seeing much more of a civil war scenario [there] compared to Khartoum, where it is two armed actors fighting it out in a civilian setting rather than a civil war.”

Sources in Darfur echoed the analyst, saying that if the RSF withdraws from Khartoum to the western region, the dynamics of the war will change and other rebel movements will be drawn fully into the conflict.

In Darfur, where war never really ended, the stakes could not be higher.

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Protests in Port Sudan target UN envoy and back the military

Hundreds of people in Port Sudan protested on Wednesday in support of the Sudanese military’s battle against the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary, and called for the expulsion of the UN special envoy to Sudan, Volker Perthes.

The demonstration was not welcomed, however, by pro-civilian rule activists and political leaders, who regard the protesters as lending support and legitimacy to a military that has committed abuses, including the 2021 coup.

Residents of the city, meanwhile, urged all sides to calm the situation in Port Sudan, which has become an important haven for hundreds of thousands of people in the war-torn country, not to mention a commercial lifeline.

Led by the same people who have previously shut down Sudan’s chief port to place political pressure on opponents, there are fears that the rally could escalate at a time when stability and prosperity in Port Sudan are needed more than ever.

Sudanese of Beja ethnicity gathered in front of the offices of the Red Sea state local authority, which is also just a few metres from the Coral Hotel where Perthes is staying.
The Beja, many of whom follow the prominent traditional leader, Mohamed al-Amin Tirik, described Perthes as representative of “new colonialism” and an enemy to the Sudanese people.

They demanded that he leave the country within 72 hours, accusing him of malignly intervening in domestic issues and politics.

Perthes was a key player in negotiations for the framework agreement to bring a transitional political system in place following the October 2021 military coup, which was led by the military and RSF and removed Sudan’s civilian government.

Beja leaders contributed to the instability ahead of the coup by shutting down the port, where 90 percent of Sudan’s foreign trade passes through.

The framework agreement negotiated this year to resume a civilian and democratic path for Sudanese rule was then rejected by Beja leaders, who felt their community’s concerns were not met. Meanwhile, the agreement’s plans to fold the RSF into the army broke into violence on 15 April, which a month later has claimed over 800 lives.

The Beja crowd chanted for Tirik, as well as shouting "Volker get out" and "Sudan is a free country".

Tirik addressed the crowd from the Red Sea state municipality building, saying no one will leave unless the special envoy is expelled soon.

“We can rule our country without these interventions. This is our priority and political path, then we can sit as an army, national political parties and communities to solve our problems and see how we can support the transitional path and the civilian democratic ruling,” Tirik told the rally.

“We have submitted a memo to the head of the army including our demands and we will see. If they adopt it that’s OK, but if not we will be back here to stay,” he added, claiming the UN envoy’s continuing presence would only bring instability to eastern Sudan.

Calls for calm

Activists from the Resistance Committees pro-democracy network and leading members of the Forces for Freedom and Change political alliance (FFC) from the Red Sea state denounced the Beja rally as “propaganda”, and suggested they had ties to the government under former autocrat, Omar al-Bashir.

“This is a part of the army’s propaganda that we know very well. These groups were part of the old regime and they are basically supporting the army and they previously closed the port and made a lot of economic troubles and paved the way for the military to make the coup and hinder the transition,” one activist told MEE, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

“Instead of playing these politics and adopting the agenda of the old regime, it’s better for those leaders to at least stand against the violations that are being committed by the two warring parties,” another said.

For Port Sudan’s civilian residents, the priority is keeping the country’s conflict and divisive politics out of the city.

With Sudan’s already threadbare infrastructure shredded by the war, Port Sudan has become a lifeline for everything from aid to commerce to evacuations.

Most Sudanese ministries and international organisations are currently operating out of the city after Khartoum was engulfed in fighting.

“We are not with the RSF or SAF [Sudanese armed forces]. We want peace and we want Port Sudan to continue helping those who fled the war from different parts of the country, including Khartoum,” Isam Hassan, a 34-year-old resident, told MEE in Port Sudan’s market.

“We don’t like this polarisation reaching here. We thank god that the activities of the RSF and the war in the Red Sea state stopped after one or two days of the war,” Fatima Gad al-Moula, another resident, added.

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https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/un-appeals-for-3b-in-aid-for-sudanese-refugees/2899825

UN appeals for $3B in aid for Sudanese refugees

ISTANBUL

The UN on Wednesday announced a humanitarian plan worth $3 billion in assistance to people affected by the ongoing conflict in Sudan.

The plan was jointly announced by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) during the launch of a humanitarian response plan for Sudan and neighboring countries.

"With the conflict in Sudan entering its second month, the United Nations and its partners today called for $3 billion to help millions of people in the country and hundreds of thousands fleeing to neighboring countries," the two organizations said in a joint statement.

At least 822 civilians have been killed and thousands injured in clashes between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group since April 15, according to local medics.

"This conflict is a cruel blow for the people of Sudan, already staggering under the weight of a desperate humanitarian situation," said UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths.

"The desire, willingness and impatience of humanitarian agencies to deliver remains as strong as ever,” he added.

The UN estimates that over one million Sudanese people may flee from Sudan during the year.

A disagreement had been fomenting in recent months between the army and the RSF over the paramilitary group’s integration into the armed forces, a key condition of Sudan's transition agreement with political groups.

Sudan has been without a functioning government since October 2021, when the military dismissed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok's transitional government and declared a state of emergency in a move decried by political forces as a "coup."

Sudan's transitional period, which started in August 2019 after the ouster of President Omar al-Bashir, had been scheduled to end with elections in early 2024.

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The death of 13 babies on Friday in the capital Khartoum has taken the total fatalities at an orphanage to at least 50 since the war broke out in mid-April, medical staff have said.

A doctor and an official at the state-run Mygoma orphanage told the main causes of death were malnourishment, dehydration and infections, as the centre suffered from depleted resources amid the ongoing fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary .

The deaths were reportedly mostly newborns and others under a year old.

Heba Abdullah, an orphan-turned-carer, told Reuters the scene of dead babies has been "terrifying" and "painful".

Deaths had been mounting for weeks.

On 16 May, the NGO, Hadhreen, sent a plea for donations on Facebook to help the centre, which was already stretched thin before fighting broke out.

"We are losing babies daily. Between 6 and 18 months old. Same symptoms. High fever. After four hours, innocent souls go to God who is more generous than any of us," the organisation said.

Frequent power outages caused by the fighting have accelerated the depletion of resources at the centre, which employs 20 people caring for 400 children.

Lack of air conditioning amid soaring temperatures has caused rooms to overheat and prevented staff from sterilising equipment. There have also been staff shortages due to the fighting.

Reuters said more deaths were reported over the weekend, at least seven of them reviewed by the agency.

Centrally located in Khartoum, the orphanage has also been caught in the crosshairs of the conflict, rocked by air strikes and artillery fire.

Following an explosion at a neighbouring building, the staff were forced to evacuate children from one of the rooms to another part of the already overcrowded building.

Threat of humanitarian crisis

The conflict erupted on 15 April and fighting has continued in major cities despite repeated ceasefire agreements.

Mygoma’s dead babies form part of the mounting death toll in the war, which has killed at least 700 people and displaced 1.3 million others, according to the United Nations.

With an already fragile public health system collapsing under the weight of war, doctors and aid workers warn that a humanitarian disaster is imminent.

According to the UN, before the fighting erupted, a third of the Sudanese population was already in need of aid.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said an estimated two-thirds of hospitals in Khartoum have been forced to close since the fighting started. The few remaining have been beset by raids and looting, leaving chronically-ill patients without medication.

According to the New York Times, maternal care networks have suffered the most, causing premature births to skyrocket.

In late April, an evacuation of Sudan’s largest maternity hospital left nine babies dead due to a lack of adequately equipped ambulances.

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https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Sudanese-Army-Suspends-Ceasefire-Talks-With-Rebel-Forces-20230531-0012.html?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=socialnetwork

Sudanese Army Suspends Ceasefire Talks With Rebel Forces

On Wednesday, the Sudanese army delegation suspended its participation in ongoing negotiations with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the port city of Jeddah.

The suspension was not a withdrawal from the negotiations, but an expression of the army's rejection of the continued violations by the RSF of the short-term ceasefire agreement.

According to the Sudanese authorities, the RSF has not fulfilled its commitments to withdrawing from civilian areas, including hospitals and neighborhoods.

The Sudanese army and the RSF agreed to extend a week-long ceasefire agreement by five days before it was due to expire on Monday.

Nevertheless, eyewitnesses reported clashes on Wednesday morning in the Al-Mohandiseen district in Omdurman, west of the capital Khartoum. The army closed the Al-Fatihab bridge linking Khartoum and Omdurman, while warplanes were flying over the area.

The RSF accused the Sudanese army of violating the truce, saying that "the army bombarded our positions in Khartoum."

Sudan has been witnessing deadly armed clashes between the army and the RSF in the capital Khartoum and other areas since April 15. Over 800 people have been killed, and nearly 1.4 million people have been forced to leave their homes since the conflict began.

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🇸🇩Africa News:
Sudan: UN warns on possible ethnic conflict amid war

"The conflict in Sudan is taking an ethnic turn in Darfur, the UN said on Tuesday, at a time when the number of people who have fled the fighting abroad exceeds 560,000 and the number of displaced persons in the country is close to two million.

"560,000 people in just over two months is a huge number," Raouf Mazou, UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Operations, told reporters in Geneva.

The war that broke out on April 15th between the Sudanese Armed Forces led by General Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman Al-Burhane and the Rapid Support Forces of General Mohammed Hamdan Daglo, aka "Hemetti," soon spilled over into Darfur, where the latter comes from."

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🇸🇩 Sudan wants UN envoy Perthes to step down

Sudanese Ambassador to the UN Al-Harith Idriss Al-Harith Mohamed condemned the words of UN Special Representative for Sudan Volker Perthes during the recent briefing.

Previously, Perthes publicly stated on television that the Sudanese government was unable to maintain the unity of the country and that it had lost the trust of regional countries and actors.

"I wrote to the UN Secretary-General that this is real ‘politicking’ and please, use your good offices to salvage the legacy of Sudan," ambassador said

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🇷🇺 🇸🇩Russia ready to help Sudanese gov’t resolve crisis, Russian ambassador says

"Russia is always ready to come to the aid of its [Sudanese] friends if they ask for it, but, unlike Western countries, it [Russia] never imposes such ‘good offices," Russian Ambassador to Sudan Andrey Chernovol told Sputnik.

He added that from the very beginning of the conflict in Sudan, Russia advocated an internal political resolution of the crisis without outside interference.

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https://news.sky.com/story/sudan-could-be-weeks-away-from-a-catastrophic-hunger-crisis-13096901?dcmp=snt-sf-twitter

Sudan could be weeks away from a 'catastrophic hunger crisis'
Conflict has spread to large parts of the country, with the security response crippling aid delivery efforts and exposing volunteers to arrest and harassment by warring parties.

Sudan could be just weeks away from a catastrophic hunger crisis, aid workers have warned, as community volunteers struggle to feed the hungry amid security restrictions and armed violence.

War between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and its former security partners the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted in Sudan's capital Khartoum during the final days of Ramadan in April 2023.

It has since spread to large parts of the country, with a violently paranoid security response crippling efforts to deliver aid and exposing local volunteers to arrest and harassment by warring parties.

This year, Ramadan has exposed the severity of the situation, with many people searching for a single meal and clean water to break their fast in the evening.

Anthony Neal, the coordinator for International Non-Governmental Organisations in Sudan, told Sky News: "We are potentially weeks away from a catastrophic hunger crisis in the Darfurs, Kordofans and Khartoum.

"In many ways, we are in the situation where we are confronted with the possibility of famine because of the level of bureaucratic restrictions we have faced over the last 11 months."

Four out of five Darfur states are controlled by the RSF, as well as large areas of Khartoum. Fighting is ongoing in West Kordofan and South Kordofan, southern states that have been cut off from the rest of the country for months.

"Since December, we haven't been able to move any supplies from Port Sudan to any areas under the control of the RSF," said Mr Neal.

"To some extent due to conflict insecurity but also because we haven't been able to receive the necessary permissions from SAF - mostly military intelligence and national security."

Across Sudan, there are 17.7 million people facing acute food insecurity, according to the IPC Acute Food Insecurity classification. Close to five million of them are experiencing emergency levels of hunger and the World Food Programme (WFP) says they are largely in places where humanitarian access is limited due to heavy fighting and restrictions.

SAF has pledged to allow some level of cross border assistance into North Darfur from the Tina crossing in Chad and 60 trucks into Al-Geneina in RSF-held West Darfur from the Adre crossing but that is yet to materialise.

Volunteers from Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs) are working in impossible conditions to fill the gap in these areas. Community initiatives borne out of the neighbourhood resistance committees that led protests against military rule in the 2019 revolution are now providing life-saving support in the absence of a state preoccupied by war.

Navigating shelling and airstrikes to buy food

In the residential area Burri in Khartoum, ERR volunteers are navigating shelling and airstrikes to go to markets and buy food to feed 170 families in their area. But market vendors only accept cash and funds are extremely limited.

"Our community kitchen is only able to offer a meal of ful - mashed fava beans - and even that is by the grace of God," says an ERR volunteer there.

"The community kitchens in the tri-city capital have mostly ceased functioning and even those that are still operating have extremely limited output."

Earlier this month, Khartoum State Emergency Room confirmed 221 of 300 community kitchens in the state had been suspended due to the continued interruption of telecommunications. This news came just as Ramadan was about to begin.

In North Darfur's state capital Al-Fashir, where hunger levels are already deadly and thousands have been displaced from other Darfur states, the efforts of ERR volunteers are now paralysed.

Their widespread distribution of clean water, supplies and food to displacement camps, shelters and health centres has ceased with the end of grant assistance.

"The situation during Ramadan is much more difficult as the emergency room has stopped providing any service due to the lack of a grant for any services," Mohamed told us from Al-Fashir.

"We are now struggling to offer a single meal for people to break their fast."

State authorities actively restricting volunteers

Mohamed and other ERR volunteers work hard to provide a plate of pasta or rice with meat for people to break their fast at the end of the day.

ERR volunteers are also working with great difficulty in army-held areas.

In another displacement hub, River Nile state capital Atbara, they are providing support to 400 families living in shelters.

"We are doing everything that is possible and everything that is impossible as an individual, group or charitable effort to fill the gap - fighting to provide the displaced with the simplest of necessities for living," Abeer told us from there.

But not only are state authorities not helping, they are actively restricting volunteer response.

Mr Neal said: "In River Nile state, we have seen a crackdown on local civil society which has restricted a local response at scale to fill gaps in state services.

"They have essentially banned the change in service committees and there has basically been a restriction on the civil society space which does not make it easy for local responders to step up and provide assistance."

William Carter, the country director for the Norwegian Refugee Council in Sudan, said: "We have been alarmed by increasing probabilities that millions in Sudan would be facing catastrophic hunger for many months now.

"None of the trend lines that would change this default have materialised - improved macroeconomic situation, reduced fighting and displacement, improved humanitarian access."

"We've been surprised that other parts of the international system have downplayed the famine risks for so long."

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🇸🇩 Over 100 people killed in 2 weeks of fighting in a Sudanese city

More than two weeks of fighting between Sudan's military and a notorious paramilitary group over a major city in the western Darfur region killed at least 123 people, an international aid group said Sunday.

The fighting in el-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur province, also wounded more than 930 people in the same period, Doctors Without Borders said.

"This is a sign of the violent intensity of the fighting," the group said. "We urge the warring parties to do more to protect civilians."

Clashes between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces escalated earlier this month in the city, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes, according to the United Nations.

El-Fasher has become the centre of the conflict between the military and the RSF, which is aided by Arab militias commonly known as janjaweed. The city is the last stronghold that is still held by the military in the sprawling Darfur region.

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🇸🇩 25 people drowned in the Nile River in Sudan's Sennar state, local media reported, adding that most were women and children. The people were trying to escape Rapid Support Forces (RSF) fighters by boat. Sputnik brings you up-to-the-minute footage from the scene.

Clashes between the Sudanese regular army and the RSF broke out in April in the capital of Khartoum and elsewhere in the country. Government forces accused the RSF of mutiny and launched airstrikes against their bases. The RSF claimed control of the presidential palace in Khartoum and the airports in Khartoum and Merowe, but the national army denied the presidential headquarters' takeover and said it was bombing RSF bases near Khartoum.

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https://en.sputniknews.africa/20240704/cairo-conference-on-sudan-is-glimmer-of-hope-national-salvation-forces-alliance-head-says-1067367560.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Cairo Conference on Sudan is 'Glimmer of Hope', National Salvation Forces Alliance Head Says

The upcoming Cairo conference on Sudan's conflict promises "a glimmer of hope" to end the ongoing clashes between the warring parties, Lieutenant General Osman Mousa Bauneen, the head of the Sudanese National Salvation Forces Alliance, told Sputnik.

He added that this conference, which will take place in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, next week, comes at a very crucial time for the future of the country.
Bauneen pointed out that Sudan's geographical location is politically linked to many neighboring countries, which means that the continuation of this conflict will directly affect neighboring countries as well as the Horn of Africa. He added that the fact that a neighboring country like Egypt is hosting this conference is a clear indication of Cairo's interest in Sudan's stability.

"Egypt called for this conference in order to bring together Sudanese brothers across the spectrum, in addition to inviting brotherly and friendly countries and the international community interested in Sudanese affairs to discuss the current situation and how to end this conflict, which has spread to neighboring countries," Bauneen told Sputnik.

Asked about the participants and their readiness to reach a consensus on the conclusions, Bauneen said that alongside with political keys figures from neighboring countries and from the international community, Sudanese warring parties will be represented in the conference; therefore, the conclusions will be based on purely Sudanese-Sudanese visions.

"The parties to the conflict will have a presence and participation in the conference, and therefore any recommendations will be listened to, God willing, in order to address the issue within the framework of preserving the Sudanese state entity," the Lieutenant General noted.

Battles between the Sudanese Army and the RSF have been ongoing since mid-April 2023, killing about 15,000 people. According to the United Nations statement, about 8.5 million people are now internally displaced or refugees, which is significantly impacting neighboring countries.

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🇸🇸South Sudan peace talks, which have nearly reached a conclusion, are in danger of collapsing as opposition groups oppose a recently passed bill that would allow people to be detained without an arrest warrant.

“This law violates the fundamental rights and freedoms of the citizens of South Sudan, it eliminates civil and political space. Under such a law there can be neither peace nor democracy,” said Pagan Amum, a representative of the Alliance of Opposition Movements of South Sudan.

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🇧🇾🇰🇿🇰🇬🇷🇺🇹🇯🇺🇿
🎙️ Joint statement at #HRC58:

❗ The monstrous crimes committed by Nazis in WWII should be regarded as genocide against the peoples of the Soviet Union.

🕯️ Attempts to equate the USSR with Nazi Germany in starting WWII are immoral & offensive to the memory of 27 million Soviet people who died in the war.

🏅 Our duty is to preserve the truth, honor the shared Victory & prevent the return of hateful ideologies.

🔗 FULL: https://tinyurl.com/d4fye7f2

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Following two years of a deadly war, Sudan's army chief and de facto leader, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, chose veteran UN official Kamil Idris as the country's new prime minister on Monday.

Idris, a career diplomat and former presidential contender, formerly served as director general of the UN World Intellectual Property Organization and as Sudan's permanent representative to the United Nations.

"The chairman of the sovereignty council issued a constitutional decree appointing Kamil El-Tayeb Idris Abdelhafiz as prime minister," a statement from Sudan's ruling Transitional Sovereignty Council said.

In 2010, Idris campaigned for president against Omar al-Bashir, who was overthrown in April 2019.

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The AU Commission welcomed the appointment of Kamil Eltayeb Idris as Sudan’s new PM, calling it a step toward inclusive governance.

Idris is a seasoned diplomat, former WIPO chief, and UN veteran.


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