The Rapid Support Forces Dance on the Skulls and Corpses

By: Rakabi Hassan Yaqub
The deadly killing machine of the Rapid Support Forces militia is claiming the lives of innocent civilians and simple villagers in the villages of White Nile state in central Sudan. Their blood is being spilled by random gunfire and anti-tank shells fired by Rapid Support Forces soldiers without mercy, indiscriminately targeting the elderly, women, children, the sick, and people with disabilities.
A statement issued by the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday, February 18, stated that 433 civilians, including infants, were killed in attacks by the Rapid Support Forces militia on villages in White Nile state. The statement described the militia’s usual method of retaliating against defenseless civilians in villages and small towns.
While these tragic, horrific, and violent scenes unfold, a contrasting scene plays out on a different stage outside the borders of Sudan, a country already deeply wounded by a brutal war that has caused tens of thousands of deaths, hundreds of thousands of injuries, and millions of displaced people within Sudan and abroad.
The other scene, which coincides with the bloody events in White Nile state, features a group of Sudanese politicians and party leaders in their voluntary exiles abroad. These individuals, loyal to the Rapid Support Forces and politically supporting them under the leadership of Hamdok, are seen dancing in a stylish conference hall in Kenya. They cheerfully chant slogans and songs praising the leader of the Rapid Support Forces, known as Hemetti, whose forces committed these heinous massacres and caused Sudan’s worst war in modern history, all for the sake of seizing power.
These individuals dance and sway to the tunes and songs emanating from the hall’s corners, celebrating what they see as an achievement that crowns 23 months of killing, bloodshed, sexual violence, forced displacement, and destruction of infrastructure, all committed by their military ally—the Rapid Support Forces—against their own people.
It is the “political pact” being celebrated, a so-called achievement sealed with tens of thousands of skulls and corpses, rivers of blood unjustly spilled, and compounded sorrows felt by the grieving families of the victims—widows, orphans, and women who lost their loved ones at the hands of monsters disguised as humans. These individuals came, as they falsely claimed, to bring democracy and civilian rule.
The political pact, which was delayed for signing, will become the foundation and reference point for forming a parallel government to the current government that they failed to overthrow with military force during the months of war. This is the source of their joy and celebration.
After their goal was to rule all of Sudan, from east to west, and from north to south, this goal has now shrunk and transformed into a mere virtual government with all of its ministers residing outside Sudan’s borders. A “wandering” government without land or public support, with ministers who have no real duties, whose hands are stained with the blood of victims, and whose feet cannot step on Sudanese soil out of fear and trepidation.
A parallel government without seats in regional or international forums, without identity, history, or culture, with policies manufactured and packaged to serve the interests of its creators, with no concern for Sudan or its people.
It is the syndrome of power hunger, even if it comes at the cost of skulls, corpses, and the moans of victims. It does not matter as long as power is attained, even if it comes at the hands of foreign forces that have long been skilled in spreading destruction, death, and devastation wherever they go. This has become their sole preoccupation and profession, for which they invest vast sums of money that could have been used for reconstruction, development, and prosperity, strengthening family bonds and nurturing good neighborly relations.
The most pressing and persistent question in the minds of Sudanese people, who are burdened with tragedies and calamities caused by this war instigated from beyond the borders, without finding any answer, is: Why all of this? And there is no answer.
What crime did they commit against those who bring them death, destruction, and ruin?
Is it possible that all of this is for amusement?
Is it possible that all of this is for “nothing”?
And still, there is no answer…
Perhaps even the perpetrator does not know the answer.
Excerpted from Al Jazeera Net