Sudan crisis explained: What's behind the latest fighting and how it fits nation's troubled past
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Monday, April 17, 2023
Violence, General officer, Conversation, University, Democracy, Face, Turkish coup d'état, History, Elephant, Government, ICC, Death, Man, Intention, Gold, International, Rapid Support Forces, Risk, Genocide, RSF, Crime, Chad, International Criminal Court, Janjaweed, Corrosion engineering, Corruption, Nursing, Gum arabic, Drug, Cryptocurrency, Silk, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo
Days of violence in Sudan have resulted in the deaths of at least 180 people, with many more left wounded.
Key Points:
- Days of violence in Sudan have resulted in the deaths of at least 180 people, with many more left wounded.
- The fighting represents the latest crisis in the North African nation, which has contended with numerous coups and periods of civil strife since becoming independent in 1956.
What is going on in Sudan?
- Following Bashir’s ouster, the political transition was supposed to result in elections by the end of 2023, with Burhan promising a transition to civilian rule.
- The recent background to the violence was a disagreement over how RSF paramilitaries should be incorporated into the Sudanese army.
- Tensions boiled over after the RSF started deploying members around the country and in Khartoum without the expressed permission of the army.
Who are the two men at the center of the dispute?
- As head of the RSF, Dagalo has faced accusations of overseeing the bloody crackdown of pro-democracy activists, including the massacre of 120 protesters in 2019.
- The actions of Burhan, similarly, have seen the military leader heavily criticized by human rights groups.
- One can certainly interpret both men to be obstacles to any chance of Sudan transitioning to civilian democracy.
So this is about power rather than ideology?
- We are not talking about two men, or factions, with ideological differences over the future direction of the country.
- And it isn’t racialized violence in the same way that the Darfur conflict was, with the self-identified Arab Janajaweed killing Black people.
How does the violence fit Sudan’s troubled past?
- Since gaining independence from the U.K. in 1956, there have been coups in 1958, 1969, 1985, 1989, 2019 and 2021.
- As striking as the recent violence is now, in many ways what is playing out is not unusual in the context of Sudan’s history.
- And resistance to civilian rule has been more than less the norm since independence in 1956.
Is there a danger the violence will escalate?
- A coalition of civilian groups in the country has called for an immediate halt to the violence – as has the U.S. and other international observers.
- Similarly, the prospect of free and fair elections in Sudan seems some ways off.
- Meanwhile, a couple of Egyptian soldiers were captured in northern Sudan while violence was happening in Khartoum.