There is a saying – “Where there is honey, there are flies”. Unfortunately, Sudan – the land of gold and oil is the latest example of ‘how nations suffer’ when foreign powers compete for dominating the natural resources in other lands. Sudan is Africa’s fifth-largest producer of gold, the world’s 16th. It extracts nearly 100 tonnes of the precious metal annually. Sudan supplies nearly 80% of “gum Arabic” – the natural resin that binds everything from M&M’s chocolate and Coca-Cola to L’Oréal cosmetics.
Sudan’s Red Sea coastline is a critical path for global shipping lines feeding billions of dollars of business and trade with China, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE competing for port control and military installations. Sudan has 80 million arable land along the fertile Nile river producing an enormous amount of groundnut and sesame. Knowing this background is essential to understanding why the conflict in Sudan has been so bloody and prolonged.
The Seeds of Conflict
If we go back to the 1990s – Sudan’s military dictator, Omar al-Bashir backed an Arab militia called the Janjaweed (Spirit of the Horse). Originally supported by the then Libyan strongman Muammar Qaddafi, it is alleged that the Janjaweed massacred Africans (non-Arab) belonging to the Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa communities. Rising among the Janjaweed was a man called Mohamed Hamdan Dagolo, popularly known as Hemedti or “Little Mohamed”. He now heads what is known as the UAE-backed Rapid Support Forces (RSF). It is said that Omar al-Bashir started RSF in 2013 and put Hemedti in charge.
Omar always retained the RSF as his private army despite calls for integrating it into Sudan’s regular armed forces. In 2019, when there was a popular uprising in Sudan against the military rule of Omar al-Bashir, he turned to the RSF to back his three-decade regime. It is alleged that Hemedti’sRSF attacked peaceful protestors in Khartoum (Sudan’s capital city) killing hundreds. However, the protests continued and the situation became untenable for Bashir.
A False Dawn
Sensing the dire state of affairs, the Sudanese army chief, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the RSF head, Mohamed Hamdan Dagolo (Hemedti) joined hands and ousted Omar al-Bashir. They allowed a transitional government with civilian participation. Hemedti became the country’s second most powerful man (after Burhan) and transformed himself from a warlord to a statesman. The two again joined hands in 2021. This time to oust Sudan’s democratic transition. They staged a coup and pulled down the civilian-led government.
But the internal contradictions between the two military men surfaced quickly. To cut Hemedti to size, Burhan gave the RSF two years to merge into the regular Sudanese army. The RSF demanded a 10-year timeline. So, what began as a bureaucratic dispute over integration timelines, turned into a full-blown military conflict between warring factions with the people of Sudan paying the price. By April 2023, UAE-backed RSF were roaming the streets of Khartoum. Within days, civil war erupted that has devastated the nation since the past 30 months.
The Unfolding Catastrophe
Statistics somehow fail to capture the full scale of the tragedy in Sudan. Nearly 25% of Sudan’s population or more than 12 million people have been forcibly displaced from their homes. The death toll due to the conflict exceeds 100,000. Over 30 million Sudanese need urgent humanitarian aid. The RSF has targeted Darfur again as it is ethnically non-Arab (African). Particularly hard-hit is the city of El Fasher in Western Sudan that serves as the capital of North Darfur State in Darfur region.
El Fasher served as the last stronghold of the Sudanese Army, but fell to the RSF after a 500-day siege. It is reported that thousands of people were reduced to eating leaves and animal feed as the RSF blocked all aid and bombed the city relentlessly. RSF are accused of carrying house-to-house searches, carrying out summary executions and raping women. Around 82,000 fled El Fasher by foot reaching the town of Tawila after walking 60 kilometres and carrying with them tales of children desperately searching for parents or siblings and arriving with nothing but their lives.
According to Sediq Rashid, Chief of UNMAS (United Nations Mine Action Service) Sudan, “There are many other countries that are affected by explosive remnants of war and landmines… Sudan is very different. Why? Because, war is mainly happening in urban areas. The people of Khartoum face risks from unexploded and abandoned ammunitions, anti-vehicle mines, and anti-personnel mines. Displaced families are particularly at risk, often settling in unfamiliar locations without any awareness of past conflicts or contamination. Meanwhile, civilian casualties from mines and other unexploded ordnance continue to rise and we know that the cases that are being reported represent only a fraction of the true scale of the harm”.
The Shadow Backers
Sudan has now become the proxy battleground for regional powers jostling for their own interests. There is irrefutable evidence that the UAE backs the RSF both financially and militarily. Its primary motive is to control the gold-rich regions of Sudan. Meanwhile, Egypt backs the Sudanese Armed Forces. It has close military ties with it along with strategic interests through a shared Nile River border and Red Sea shipping lines. Saudi Arabia and Türkiye also back the Sudanese Army.
With both the RSF and Sudanese Army being backed by powerful foreign powers, the military stalemate continues with no side able to achieve a decisive victory. The main losers are the people of Sudan who continue to face war, bloodshed and a sinking economy despite such an abundance of natural resources.
The Way Forward and the Silence of the Ummah
There are attempts by a US-led Quad consisting of the UAE, KSA and Egypt to secure peace by starting a 3-month ceasefire followed by a 9-month political process. The RSF has agreed in principle but the Sudanese Army wants the RSF to vacate all civilian areas, a demand it has not accepted.
The shadow players are reluctant to end their deadly game of violence and bloodshed. Western powers do not want to antagonize their close Middle East partners. The OIC and other Muslim countries can’t do much besides paying lip service and oral condemnations. It seems that strategic interests, economic opportunities, and political calculations precede religious brotherhood and the concept of the Ummah.
It is time to remind the Muslims about the Hadith, Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said, “The parable of the believers in their affection, mercy, and compassion for each other is that of a body. When any limb aches, the whole body reacts with sleeplessness and fever.” (Narrated by Al-Nu’man ibn Bashir and Grade – MuttafaqunAlayhi (authenticity agreed upon) by Bukhari and Muslim).