By PENGlobal.

Did you know that since independence in 1956, Sudan has had more than 15 military coups and has been ruled by the military for the majority of the republic’s existence, with only brief periods of democratic civilian parliamentary rule?

Sudanese woke up on Saturday, 15 April 2023, to clashes that broke out across the country, mainly in the capital city of Khartoum and the Darfur region. As of Friday, 21 April, just a week after the conflict began, not lower than 413 people have been killed and more than 3,500 injured.

The 2023 Sudan conflict is an ongoing armed conflict between rival factions of the military government of Sudan. The fighting began with attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on key government sites. Airstrikes, artillery and heavy gunfire were reported across Sudan including in Khartoum.

The RSF is a paramilitary organization with roots in Janjaweed militias that operated during the Darfur War. It was formally created by President Omar al-Bashir in 2013 and was led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. They gained notoriety for their crackdown on pro-democracy protestors during the Khartoum massacre in June 2019. The Bashir regime allowed several armed groups, including the RSF, to proliferate to prevent threats to its security from within the armed forces, a practice known as “coup-proofing”.

Both the RSF and the army have benefitted from security training and arms shipments from Russia in exchange for gold. The RSF and Dagalo’s consolidation of power went hand in hand with a rapid accumulation of wealth, with the paramilitary chief seizing key gold mining locations in Darfur, intervening as part of the Saudi-led coalition forces during the Yemeni Civil War, and colluding with the Russian private military outfit, Wagner Group. This led to RSF forces growing rapidly into the tens of thousands, including thousands of armed pickup trucks, which regularly patrolled the streets of Khartoum. However, Sudan has consistently denied the presence of the Russian outfit, Wagner, on its territory.

On 11 April 2023, RSF forces deployed near the city of Merowe and in Khartoum. Government forces ordered them to leave, but they refused, leading to clashes when RSF forces took control of the Soba military base south of Khartoum. The RSF began their mobilization on 13 April 2023, raising fears of a rebellion against the junta. The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) said the mobilization was illegal.

As at when the conflict began on 15 April 2023, both RSF leader Dagalo and Sudan’s de facto leader and army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan claimed control of several key government sites, including the general military headquarters, the Presidential Palace, Khartoum International Airport, Burhan’s official residence and the SNBC headquarters.

The history of conflicts in Sudan has consisted of ethnic tensions, religious disputes, and competition over resources. In its modern history, two civil wars between the central government and the southern regions killed 1.5 million people, and a continuing conflict in the western region of Darfur has displaced two million people and killed more than 200,000 people.

Former president and military strongman al-Bashir presided over a war in the west of the country and oversaw state-sponsored violence in the region of Darfur, leading to charges of war crimes and genocide. In 2019, a coup d’état ousted al-Bashir in the context of massive civil disobedience that was often described as the first stage of the Sudanese Revolution. An interim joint civilian-military unity government headed by Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok was established.

However, in October 2021, the military seized power in a coup which was led by SAF leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF leader Dagalo. Al-Burhan became the effective leader of the subsequent junta, monopolizing power. The junta later agreed to hand over authority to a civilian-led government, with a formal agreement scheduled to be signed on 6 April 2023.

However, it was delayed due to tensions between generals Burhan and Dagalo, who serve as chairman and deputy chairman of the Transitional Sovereignty Council, respectively. Chief among their political disputes is the integration of the RSF into the military. One issue of contention is the RSF’s insistence on a ten-year timetable for its integration into the regular army, while the latter demands it be done in two years.

Other contested issues included the status given to RSF officers in the future hierarchy, and whether RSF forces should be under the command of the army chief – rather than Sudan’s commander-in-chief – who is currently Burhan. They have also clashed over authority over sectors of Sudan’s economy that are controlled by the two factions. As a sign of their rift, Dagalo expressed regret over the October 2021 coup.

Image Description/Credit: Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo and Abdel Fattah al-Burhan © FT Montage/Getty/AFP/Dreamstime

Source:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Sudan_conflict

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