The Harvest of the Janjaweed War in Sudan

Report – Nadeen Abbas

The first year of the forgotten and silent war in Sudan has passed, between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), headed by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti), and the army led by the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, Abdul Fattah Al-Burhan. It was one of the most violent and brutal African wars, leaving more than 17,000 dead, causing economic devastation whose losses were estimated at billions of dollars, and creating a humanitarian situation described as one of the most tragic in the world.
How did the war start?
This war is not the result of today, but rather the accumulations and challenges that Sudan has faced since its independence on January 1, 1956. These accumulations have cast a shadow over its past, and present, and today they cast a shadow over its future. The war that broke out on April 15 last year was not a sudden event, but rather a new entry into a dark tunnel.
The war did not only surprise the Sudanese, but also it shocked them. The war was an alternative plan to a master plan, preparation for which began with the beginning of the transitional period in 2019. During this period, the numbers of the RSF were increased from 17,000 soldiers to more than 140,000 soldiers, and their combat capabilities were raised through training provided by foreign countries and companies. And by significantly developing its armament through Western-Israeli sponsorship, as pointed out by Sudanese politicians and writers, and with Emirati funding and supervision, as the Sudanese government said through its permanent representative to the United Nations and through Lieutenant General Yasser Al-Atta, Assistant Commander-in-Chief and member of the Sovereign Council.
The war practically began when the West, represented by the head of the UN mission to Sudan, the German Volker Peretz, and the Quartet mechanism consisting of America, Britain, the Emirates and Saudi Arabia, sought to impose a new transitional constitution and a partnership agreement between the Forces Freedom and Change Alliance known as “FFC” and the army leaders, known as the framework agreement, and it failed. Sudanese society, represented by its political and social systems, refused to impose this agreement and the transitional constitution. The army, as an institution, rejected these two documents as well, because – like Sudanese society – it saw in them an enablement for outsiders to dominate and control Sudan, and to return it once again to the grip of Western colonialism through a partnership. A locality represented by RSF and the FFC alliance”.
The military establishment was aroused by texts in the two documents (the new transitional constitution and the framework agreement) that undermine Sudan’s unity, identity, sovereignty and national independence, and other texts that make the Rapid Support an independent army parallel to the military institution and outside the scope of its command.
After the army commander failed to subject the army and society to the rule of the new transitional constitution and the framework agreement, the leaders of the Freedom and Change Alliance “insolently” threatened the Sudanese people with war, and gave them a choice between agreeing to these two documents and war.
When the head of the UN mission and the American-led Quartet mechanism were unable to impose the two documents as governing documents, and they failed to impose the Freedom and Change Alliance as rulers of Sudan without a popular mandate and election, the outside world resorted to war as an alternative to the constitutional political option, and here the Rapid Support Forces moved from Darfur to the Merowe base. The military base located in northern Sudan occupied it on April 13, 2023, and captured a number of Egyptian army officers who were in this base, which is considered a center for Sudanese-Egyptian military cooperation. This was preceded by the entry of large RSF into Khartoum, equipped with their military equipment.
The entry of these forces into Khartoum and Meroe without the permission of the military establishment angered the army and the national political systems, which realized the dangers of this matter and sought to calm things down and work to find a peaceful solution to it, but they were surprised, as were the Sudanese people, on the morning of April 15, by the siege of the RSF. The residence of the Army Commander, Chairman of the Sovereign Council, and the headquarters of the Army Command, and those forces sought to arrest or kill these leaders. The second surprise was the RSF’ occupation of many of the sovereign headquarters that they were guarding, such as the Republican Palace, the Council of Ministers, and the Ministries of Interior, Foreign Affairs, Finance, and Information. It occupied Khartoum Airport, which it began burning and destroying as soon as it entered it.
War objectives
In his first appearance on the morning of Saturday, April 15, the RSF Commander, Mohamed Hamdan Hemedti, announced that the goal of the military operation was to arrest the army leaders and impose the framework agreement and the new transitional constitution. At the end of the first month of the war, the RSF announced that the goal of the war was The president is putting an end to the 1956 state, which was established after the independence of Sudan through national consensus among all the people of Sudan, which clearly means that the war aims to turn the page on national independence and end Sudan’s sovereignty over its land. It also clearly means that the geography of Sudan that was consecrated by the state of independence In 1956, it was vulnerable to division, which was revealed during the last months of the war, especially after the RSF took control of 4 states of the Darfur region out of 5 states.
The role of “FFC” in the war and its relationship with the RSF. With a detailed explanation, the politician and economist, Dr. Abdul-Wahab Ahmed Saad, spoke to Al-Mayadeen Net about the “FFC” relationship with the RSF. He said, “There are political interests between the two parties, which made the Freedom and Change Alliance a political incubator for the RSF, and coordination between the two parties is at the highest levels before and during the war,” noting that “the two parties are linked by one external reference, and they are united by coordination and conformity of viewpoints.” And one way of thinking, and this is what brought Sudan to the stage of war.” Saad pointed out that the tight coordination between FFC and RSF made the former fully aware of the details of the war that the second intends to start, and that FFC had contributions to the war before and during its outbreak.
According to Saad, “The war is a failed political coup, and this coup was supported by 140,000 fighters, tens of thousands of whom were gathered from West African countries. He stressed that the war’s logistical needs were completely provided from the outside, and the outside divided the roles between insolence and support.” The RSF will assume the task of seizing power by force of arms.”
According to Saad, “The slogan that (FFC) raises whenever the armed forces advance and besiege the RSF is (No to war). Therefore, FFC is making great efforts to stop the war when the army makes progress on the field in order to save what remains of the RSF, which are besieged.” Today, before the armed forces and before the Sudanese people’s outburst in what is known as the popular resistance, which was formed by Sudanese society to contribute to defeating the RSF, which in turn entered people’s homes, violated their honor, stole property, and looted government departments. In the context of his speech, Abdul Wahab said, “The destruction was primarily of the Sudanese identity with the aim of rebuilding a new identity.” According to Saad’s words, the “FFC” Alliance hopes to return to power through the RSF Rifle.
In developing the existing relationship between it and RSF, “Taqadum” (the new name of the Forces of Freedom and Change Alliance – FFC) signed an agreement with “RSF” in Addis Ababa, on January 3, which strengthened the relations of the two parties and expressed their common orientations, and confirmed It is necessary to form civilian administrations to assume authority in the areas controlled by the “RSF”. This was implemented in Darfur and the state of Gezira and some employees of (FFC / Taqadum) were appointed in these administrations, which indicates a growing trend on both sides to replicate the Libyan situation. In Sudan, by dedicating the isolation of those areas from Sudan, which paves the way for their separation from it.
External interventions
External interference began to appear on the surface of the Sudanese scene in a blatant manner prior to the change that overthrew the regime of President Omar al-Bashir on April 11, 2019. This was evident in the open sponsorship of Western countries and their Gulf allies in the intense media campaigns carried out by Gulf satellite channels and media centers in Western capitals and cities that adopted… A mobilization speech that greatly helped in mobilizing public opinion against the Bashir regime, and the presence and exposure of external interference developed during the demonstrators’ sit-in in front of the army command in the capital, Khartoum, as the sit-in square remained a destination for Western ambassadors and diplomats.
Erfan Siddiq, the British ambassador to Sudan, was very present in this field. He even led some of the young people in their prayers inside the sit-in square. Parties, political forces, and media figures reflected the size of the Western diplomatic presence among the youth during the sit-in period, and this was accompanied by the hesitation of the leaders of the FFC Alliance. “FFC” on the Western embassies and the embassies of the Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Jaafar Hassan, the leader of this coalition, acknowledged in a televised seminar the “FFC” relationship with the embassies, stressing his alliance’s keenness on this connection and that relationship.
According to political researcher Dr. Ahmed Al-Mubarak, the residences of the Emirati and Saudi ambassadors have become declared headquarters for the political administration of the political process in Sudan, since the beginning of the change in April 2019, and they have become a permanent shrine for the leaders of “Shahed” and some of their military partners. According to Al-Mubarak, external interference has reached the highest levels of exposure and danger. When the Western and Gulf embassies imposed a political agreement between Qaht and the military leaders, and imposed with it a transitional constitution from which the Arabic language was removed as the official language of the state, in a precedent that symbolizes the fundamental changes to be imposed on Sudan.
Al-Mubarak says that, under the Political Partnership Agreement and the Constitutional Document of 2019, a partnership was established between Qaht and the military leaders, monopolizing the transitional authority, and this partnership continued for about 3 years, interrupted by the measures of October 25 that broke up this partnership, which the West, with the help of the UAE and Saudi Arabia, tried to restore. Once again through the framework agreement and the new transitional constitution.
The United Nations mission to Sudan was one of the most prominent representations of external intervention in Sudan. Irfan Siddiq, the British ambassador to Sudan, announced that he had prepared a memorandum in the name of the transitional Prime Minister, Abdullah Hamdok, sent to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, requesting the establishment of a special United Nations mission to Sudan that would cover its mandate. The entire geography of Sudan, and its duration extends until achieving the sustainable development goals in 2030, and that this mission will undertake the main tasks of dismantling state institutions and rebuilding them in a new way, including the army, police, security, judiciary, prosecution and other civil service institutions, and that it will prepare a permanent constitution for the country and to re-shape the cultural, value and identity foundations on new foundations, and to lay the foundations for creating a new future for Sudan away from its historical starting points and trends.
Then the external penetration into Sudan was evident in the competition of the Transitional Authority’s civilian and military partners over the issue of normalization with “Israel”. Lieutenant General Al-Burhan, Chairman of the Sovereign Council and Commander of the Army, preceded his civilian partners in the first round of the normalization race and held a meeting with Netanyahu in Uganda, and the civilians outperformed Al-Burhan in the round. The second was when the Freedom and Change Council of Ministers, headed by Abdullah Hamdouk, took the initiative to repeal the Israel Boycott Law of 1958. Then the Minister of Justice signed the Abrahamic Agreement with the authorization of the Civilian Council of Ministers, and the Council consolidated its progress by amending the school curricula to be consistent with the normalization project. Then Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok participated in the quadripartite summit that brought him and Al-Burhan together with US President Trump and with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, then he opened the Sudanese Military Industrialization Authority, which manufactures planes, drones, tanks, smart missiles, cannons, and all types of light weapons and ammunition, to Israeli experts, and then responded to the request. The Israeli-American decision to stop the production of Sudanese factories that achieved Sudan’s self-sufficiency in weapons and military equipment and enabled it to achieve a financial return estimated at about $2 billion annually from the revenue from the sale of military products, which placed Sudan in second place on the African level after South Africa, and first in the Arab world.
Results and repercussions of the war
The war left comprehensive devastation in Sudan, and took Sudan back decades. The effects of the war included all areas of life, and caused great destruction of infrastructure, and displaced millions of Sudanese from their homes, villages, and cities, and exposed them to the most horrific types of violations, and impoverished a very large segment of the population of the center, south, north, and east. Sudan, deprived them of all services such as medical care and education, and even affected their right to freedom and human dignity.
The RSF displaced about 8 million citizens from Khartoum State, 5 million from Gezira State, and the same from the Darfur states. 40% of Sudan’s population became displaced inside Sudan or refugees outside it. This displacement process was accompanied by the settlement of displaced persons brought by the RSF from West African countries to settle in Sudan in the context of a demographic change process like the one that occurred in Palestine since the Haganah and Irgun groups forced the Palestinians to leave their homes and lands and brought in settlers from a number of countries around the world.
The displacement of the indigenous population was also accompanied by systematic killings and ethnic cleansing, such as what happened to the men and youth of the Masalit tribe, from which the great poet Muhammad Muftah al-Fitouri descends. It was also accompanied by plundering of all citizens’ property, including money and movables. The displacement was accompanied by rapes of women, in addition to the plundering of markets and areas. Industrial and shops inside the neighborhoods, then burning markets and destroying factories, which made it difficult for the RSF to transport them to Darfur and from there to Chad, Central Africa, and South Sudan. However, the largest criminal operations committed by the RSF was burying alive the youth of the Masalit tribe in Darfur because of their classification as a non-African tribe. Arabic.
This operation was accompanied by large-scale arrests, as the number of detainees in RSF prisons reached more than 50,000 detainees, and human rights organizations monitored more than 1,100 cases of forced disappearance, and hundreds of kidnapped women, some of whom were offered for sale in markets in Darfur and West African countries, in a summons. Strange to slave markets and human selling.
In terms of services, the RSF occupied about 95% of the health institutions in Khartoum State (about 624 hospitals, health centers and treatment units), and converted most of them into headquarters for their forces, and kept some of them exclusively to treat their wounded, which deprived citizens who were unable to leave. From Khartoum State, medical services, and this was repeated in Gezira State, and in 4 states in Darfur.
The RSF also took control of water production stations in Khartoum State, destroyed most of these stations, deprived people of access to drinking water, and repeated the same thing in electricity production and distribution stations, and the exchanges of mobile and fixed telephone companies, so water, electricity, and communication services were absent in Khartoum and Gezira and Darfur, which is what the Zionists did in Gaza.
The destruction affected educational institutions in all the states controlled by the RSF. They destroyed about 100 universities out of 130, and destroyed the laboratories of these universities, their libraries, and their academic data centers. The intended destruction also affected offices and study halls, and this destruction was repeated in schools as well, so it was forbidden. About 3 million university students are out of school, and more than 10 million male and female students are deprived of studying at all levels of education that precede university studies.
The deliberate destruction operations by the RSF affected all research centers related to agricultural and industrial research, energy and oil research centers, and other scientific research centers. The destruction also affected 8 museums containing antiquities dating back to the Kush civilization in its various eras, which is considered one of the first human civilizations. The destruction also included the National Archives House, which holds historical documents related to Sudan and neighboring countries, some of which date back thousands of years as well. The library and archives of official and private radio and television were not spared from destruction in an act aimed at erasing the national memory, noting that the destruction also affected land and real estate records, the civil registry, and other government records. .
The devastation affected the entire economic sector, as the RSF plundered all the banks in Khartoum, Gezira, and Darfur, looted the funds of the Central Bank and Sudan’s gold reserves, destroyed oil wells and pipelines, and the Al-Jaili refinery in Khartoum, destroyed 10 industrial areas in Khartoum, and destroyed industrial areas in the states they controlled and they put 85% of the factories out of service, and destroyed the infrastructure of Gezira Agricultural Scheme, which is considered the mainstay of food security in Sudan. These forces also destroyed Khartoum Airport and burned 28 planes, which had a negative and significant impact on the aviation sector. They destroyed the gold refinery and looted 2 tons of gold. Ready for export, the state and the private sector lost the resources that were generated by various economic institutions and projects, and all of this affected people’s lives and the price of the national currency, which fell from 600 pounds against the dollar to 1,400 pounds. Economic life stopped and people’s lives became a form of torment, misery and deprivation.