“Flight to the death” of the Sudanese army and a “fight for power”: NPR’s Leila Fadel

Jeffrey Feltman, a former U.S. special envoy for the Horn of Africa, tells NPR’s Leila Fadel that the days-long bloody struggle is the result of a “lust for power.” It has now become what he calls a “fight to the death” between leaders of the Sudanese army and the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

At least 97 people have been killed according to the Preliminary Committee of Sudanese Doctors trade union. Earlier on Sunday, the World Health Organization estimated more than 1,126 were injured.

The pair had worked together to topple ousted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in 2019, and played a pivotal role in the military coup in 2021, which ended a power-sharing agreement between the military and civilian groups.

In the Kafouri area, north of Khartoum, clashes and street fights broke out at dawn Monday, prompting residents to begin evacuating women and children from the area, Sudanese journalist Fathi Al-Ardi wrote on Facebook. In the Kalakla area, south of the capital, residents reported the walls of their houses shaking from explosions.

The battles did not stop, she said from her family home. They are shooting in the street. It’s an all-out war in residential areas.”

Abass said her family spent the night huddling on the ground floor of their home. “No one was able to sleep and the kids were crying and screaming with every explosion,” she said. Sounds of gunfire were heard while she was speaking to The Associated Press.

The Sudanese anti-government, pro-democracy seat-in, rebellious since the coup in April 2019

The military and the RSF claimed to be in charge of strategic locations in the county. Their claims weren’t verified.

The country formed its intelligence service in 2007, and later in the same year, its soldiers became part of it. After that, Bashir formed the RSF, a paramilitary group that was led by him. The man turned against the man in 2019.

Top diplomats, including the U.S. Secretary of State, the U.N. secretary-general, the EU foreign policy chief, the head of the Arab League and the head of the African Union Commission urged the sides to stop fighting. Members of the U.N. Security Council, at odds over other crises around the world, called for an immediate end of the hostilities and a return to dialogue.

Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, said that he consulted with the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirate. He said they agreed it was necessary to end hostilities without preconditions.

Months before the coup that unseated Bashir in April 2019, Dagalo’s forces opened fire on an anti-Bashir, pro-democracy sit-in in Khartoum, killing at least 118 people.

Residents in the Sudanese capital Khartoum woke up Monday to the sounds of artillery and bombardment by warplanes, as intense fighting continued for a third day and the death toll neared 100, with hundreds more injured.

Residents in neighborhoods east of the airport told CNN they saw warplanes bombing sites east of the command. An eye witness reported that they heard explosions and smoke rises from Obaid Khatim Street and then anti-aircraft missiles fired toward the planes.

The Sudan crisis is in his hands: the WHO, the WFP, the BBC, and the ABC radio broadcast media report on the clashes

The WHO said hospitals were suffering shortages of specialized medical personnel, including anesthesiologists. “Water and power cuts are affecting the functionality of health facilities, and shortages of fuel for hospital generators are also being reported,” the WHO said on Sunday.

He speculated that the army chief and his rival, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, had lost control of the military. When asked if his endgame was to rule Sudan, Dagalo said he had “no such intentions,” and that there should be a civilian government.

Amid the fighting, civilians have been warned to stay indoors. One local resident said they were trapped inside of their own homes with little to no protection.

The only thing that can be heard is blast after blast. They wrote that it felt like it was over their heads because they don’t know what is happening.

The national TV channel is no longer on the air and this limits access to information. Television employees told CNN it is in the RSF’s hands.

The conflict has put other countries and organizations on high alert, with the United Nations’ World Food Program temporarily halting all operations in Sudan after three employees were killed in clashes on Saturday.

The UN in Sudan has been looted, as well as the WFP’s aircraft being damaged by gunfire in Khartoum, which prevented it from transporting aid and workers within the country.

Observation of the Eleventh-day Fighting in Sudan, with an Emphasis on Resolution of the “Conflicts”

Mexico is trying to evacuate its citizens from Sudan with the country’s foreign minister saying they want to “expedite” their exit.

There are no plans to evacuate US citizens from Sudan at this time because of the closed airport, according to the United States embassy in Sudan. It advised US citizens to stay indoors and shelter in place, adding that it would make an announcement “if evacuation of private US citizens becomes necessary.”

The fresh clashes have prompted widespread calls for peace and negotiations. The head of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki, is scheduled to arrive in Khartoum on Monday, in an attempt to stop the fighting.

Four years ago, almost to the day, the people of Sudan were celebrating a revolution after overthrowing longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir. Yemen and Libya are examples of the kind of chaos we can see in the East African country.

Although it is unclear what that entails the UN political mission in Sudan has said the two warring groups in Sudan have agreed to a proposal.

The War is Coming: Military Power and the War on the Rise of Political Power: A Report on Sudan at the end of the 2021 September riots

“There’s heavy gunfire all over the city. All the time, jets are flying over us. There’s a small market nearby but there’s a shortage in food. “You can’t leave,” she told Up First on Monday.

The partnership didn’t determine who would be on top. There is a fight to the death for who is going to win, and who should military rule in Sudan.

Hamdok was on the cusp of beginning to turn the economy around when Burhan and the SAF intervened. In the book “Sudan’s Unfinished Democracy” we said that Burhan felt the potential success of a civilian government was too much for him. Hamdok was removed in October of 2021, by military coup.

Sudan has a pattern of shutting down internet access in the midst of civilian protests. Akinwotu’s reporting suggests that this time there’s a propaganda war going on and both sides need the internet.

A cease- fire should not lead to another process in which the enemies are able to split the spoils of power under the guise of stability, according to aVisiting Fellow in International Diplomacy in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution.

The military leader from Sudan and his former deputy have traded blame for inciting the fighting that has engulfed the country.

The shelling at the Al-Moallem hospital: a case study in the Sudanese-British conflict

Witnesses have little doubt about what happened at Al-Moallem hospital, where intense shelling forced staffers to evacuate, leaving some patients behind.

It’s unclear whether the RSF has taken control of the hospital as it attempts to take over the nearby army headquarters, a flashpoint in Khartoum’s violence.

A medic said that a child died in the building. Two other children were seriously wounded. Medics and patients prayed while huddled together in the corridor.

At first we were praying for salvation,” the medic said. “Then when the shelling got worse, we started to discuss what would be the most painless part of the body to be shot in and began to pray instead to die painlessly.”

“There was no electricity, no water there inside the hospital,” said a third medic. The equipment we had was not functioning and a woman with a baby was in the middle of it. I don’t even know what happened to her.”

“Food in the fridge and freezers have gone bad,” Eman Abu Garjah, a Sudanese-British doctor based in Khartoum, told CNN. “We don’t have any supplies at the moment, that’s why we’re trying to go somewhere where the shops are open.”

It is during this time that you get up for morning prayers and then you have a little bit of a nap and wake up for the afternoon prayers. But sleep was just not possible. The windows were shaking and the house was rattling.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/17/africa/sudan-clashes-intl-afr/index.html

A Moment of Probability during the Sudanese Warfare and the Fate of the Stand-In by the Sudan Professionals Association

They were allies until recently. They played a big part in the military coup that removed the Sudanese President in 2019.

“Yesterday and today a humanitarian ceasefire proposal was put forward and agreed upon,” said Burhan from army headquarters, as gunshots rang out in the background.

“Sadly, he did not abide by (the ceasefire),” he added. There are attempts to storm the Army headquarters, and indiscriminate mortar attacks. He’s using the humanitarian pause to continue the fight.”

“We’re under attack from all directions,” Dagalo told CNN’s Larry Madowo in a telephone interview on Sunday. He stated that the other side stopped fighting and that he had to continue to fight to defend himself.

During Sudan’s Darfur conflict, starting in the early 2000s, he was the leader of Sudan’s notorious Janjaweed forces, implicated in human rights violations and atrocities.

The current violence in Sudan has alarmed the international powers. Apart from concerns over civilians there are likely other motivations at play, the country is resource-rich and strategically located. CNN has previously reported on how Russia has colluded with its military leaders to smuggle gold out of Sudan.

Some activists stopped partnering with US because of the UN mission’s policies. When I talk to diplomats from foreign countries who understand the international policy in Sudan isn’t working, I feel bad. They saw the flaws but felt powerless to dissent and were forced to carry out decisions made many levels above them.

It was a moment of promise because there was hope for democracy. I remember walking around the “sit-in” — a giant carnival of freedom in the middle of Khartoum that protesters had blocked off to demand change. It was powered on by electricity.

But social movements such as the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) — the union behind the protest — often struggle to translate the momentum of their demonstrations into real political power.

The reason for this is, in part, structural. Social movements such as the SPA are often based on grassroots activism. A dictator can arrest one or two leaders of an organization but not an entire country.

There was no renewed pro-democracy efforts in June when RSF soldiers violently dispersed the sit-in. At least 100 people were killed.

I often was told by Hamdok that revolutions come in cycles. The 2019 removal of Bashir was a high point of revolution, and he saw his job as making as many reforms as possible before the low tide of counterrevolution swept him away.

Revolutions in the Sudanese Dialogue: What do they really tell us about the past and the future of the struggle for democracy?

Soldiers did not deny the brutality they committed against civilians. I remember drinking tea with a soldier aligned with the RSF at his house in Darfur as he explained why he had recently participated in the burning down of a village from another ethnic group.

The RSF-aligned soldiers took revenge for the death of a tribe member by setting a village ablaze. There were at least 163 deaths.

Tensions between the SAF and RSF grew. Hemeti was viewed by Burhan as an upstart who was undisciplined. Hemeti on the other hand believed that it was time for Darfur to lead Sudan.

The idea was to restart the transitional period, but I and many others argued it was shortsighted and wouldn’t work. Returning to a government led by Burhan was clearly not going to usher in democracy. Why would it work the second time, if it ended in a coup the first time?

It can be easy to look at the recent history of “revolutions” in countries such as Myanmar, Tunisia, Egypt and Sudan and conclude that they eventually backfire. I don’t think so. Sudan’s political fortune is an active battle according to Sudanese activists.