{"id":62133,"date":"2026-10-24T00:34:40","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T21:34:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/?p=62133"},"modified":"2026-10-24T00:34:40","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T21:34:40","slug":"the-government-is-off-tending-the-devils-sheep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/24\/the-government-is-off-tending-the-devils-sheep\/","title":{"rendered":"The Government Is Off Tending the Devil\u2019s Sheep!"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I See <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Adel El-Baz<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

1<\/strong><\/p>\n

It seems to me that President Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has finally decided, after a long period of patience, to send the government off to tend the Devil\u2019s sheep. Yet I have no idea whether the Devil actually owns any sheep, or whether he has ever tended sheep in the first place. I have found no mention of these so-called \u201cDevil\u2019s sheep\u201d in the traditional sources. Those familiar with the proverb, however, have interpreted it on three levels:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The first level: The government is tending a flock that does not exist\u2014in other words, it is carrying out work without any real purpose or objective.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  2. The second level: It occupies itself with matters that bring no benefit to the people, as though it were working in a vacuum.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  3. The third level: The government appears to be performing a function, but its work produces no tangible results.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    All right, then. What makes you think the president has decided to do this? That is a fair question.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Look, may God guide you, not all decisions are issued through formal decrees. Some consequential decisions are made behind the scenes, and the public learns of them only after a long time, sometimes years later. Other decisions are never formally announced at all, yet are implemented in practice.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    For example, when the president personally takes charge of spending on electricity repairs and agriculture, issues directives on matters that fall within the responsibilities of the Ministries of Trade and Finance, appoints a supervisor for agriculture in Ibrahim Jaber and another for the oil sector in Lieutenant General Yasser al-Atta? No\u2014Lieutenant General Shams al-Din Kabbashi\u2014and assumes personal responsibility for managing the oil portfolio, all these actions suggest that he has decided to send the government off to tend the Devil\u2019s sheep.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    2<\/strong><\/p>\n

    My friend Al-Tahir Sati has spared me the trouble of delving into the details of the president\u2019s decisions that demonstrate how he has sent the government off to tend the Devil\u2019s sheep.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    What concerns me, however, is this: What happens after the government is sent there? Can the president run the state on his own? Can he single-handedly manage the affairs of the war, the complexities of the economy, and the intrigues of domestic and foreign politics, while making the right decisions on all these matters?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    If he believes, even for a moment, that this is possible, he must understand that he is laboring under an illusion from which he needs to free himself immediately. There is not a single example in history to suggest that any president, no matter how powerful, wise, or beloved by his people, can govern a country as complex as Sudan alone, or even with a small team.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    3<\/strong><\/p>\n

    The Salvation regime failed to govern the state when President Omar al-Bashir emptied the circle around him and imagined that he could rule alone. The outcome was exactly what you witnessed.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Despite the regime\u2019s internal disintegration, a functioning state still existed, supported by dedicated people who worked day and night to serve the public through offices and operations rooms that never slept.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Yet misguided policies concerning the price and availability of bread ignited a fire in the body of the nation, just as Mohamed Bouazizi\u2019s body was set ablaze in Tunisia, sparking a revolution.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    4<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Today, citizens look around and find no bread, no fuel, no public transportation, and no electricity. In short, they can find no life worth living. They cannot even find hope in this makeshift government, dishonestly branded the \u201cGovernment of Hope.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Does President al-Burhan need any further proof of this government\u2019s failure beyond what is happening right now? What worse calamity is the president waiting for before sending this government to the place it deserves?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Reality has already delivered its verdict on this government. Every passing day, the people confirm that nothing good can be expected from it, and it has become an object of public ridicule. The international community has also continued to mock it, from the moment it was formed to the present day, regarding it as nothing more than a \u201cpuppet government.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

    For more than a year, it has failed to convince the people of its competence in any field.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    5<\/strong><\/p>\n

    If President al-Burhan believes that this decrepit government can serve as a shield to protect him from criticism, he is mistaken once again. This government conceals nothing. On the contrary, it leaves even the military establishment completely exposed and vulnerable to criticism, despite the fact that the military is fighting a war and enjoys popular support.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Mr. President, this government serves no useful purpose for you, the army, or the people. Everyone will pay the price if it is allowed to remain in place any longer.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    What is needed is not a reshuffling of faces while preserving the same approach. What is needed is a government with clearly defined powers and responsibilities, a publicly announced program, measurable priorities, and ministers who are held accountable for what they accomplish.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    6<\/strong><\/p>\n

    There is no point in sending the government off to tend the Devil\u2019s sheep\u2014to sit idle and do nothing. It would be better to send it to the place it deserves immediately, as soon as possible.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Mr. President, keeping a corpse in the hope that it will awaken will not bring it back to life. You cannot raise the dead, sir, and the people can no longer afford to wait for miracles. They have completely lost hope. And more often than not, Mr. President, despair wins battles.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Can you hear me?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    We have continued to offer our advice to presidents out of genuine concern and affection for them and for the country. Sadly, however, they do not heed our advice until the morning after it is too late.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    God\u2019s will prevails.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    As I See Adel El-Baz 1 It seems to me that President Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has finally decided, after a long period of patience, to send the government off to tend the Devil\u2019s sheep. Yet I have no idea whether the Devil actually owns any sheep, or whether he has ever tended sheep in the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58017,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62133"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62134,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62133\/revisions\/62134"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}