By Ezra Otieno
The Sudanese counterinsurrection has engaged in open combat, which has sparked widespread bloodshed that has already claimed the lives of almost 100 people and injured hundreds more. This much anticipated conflict over which group of deadly criminals will rule Sudan is a terrible result of the 2018–9 insurrection’s inability to give the people power.
Fighting broke out on Saturday, April 15 between members of the regular Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the de facto ruler of the nation, and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary organization made up of vicious Janjaweed militiamen and under the command of General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (better known as Hemedti).
They are the two key leaders of Sudan’s counterinsurrection. Since the revolutionary removal of General Omar al-Bashir in 2018, the RSF has acted as the primary repressive force, putting down the 2019 Khartoum mass uprising.
Burhan and Hemedti then collaborated in a coup against the civilian Prime Minister, the liberal Abdalla Hamdok, in 2021, thereby removing the puppet transitional government and reinstalling military control. The partnership with the liberals was always only a cover for the counter-revolutionary generals’ authority.
Since the coup, the two generals have been vying for dominance, relying on various imperialist powers to strengthen up their positions. Both have taken part in the discussions for a transition to civilian control monitored by the ‘Quad’ (the United States, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia).
These negotiations, which regrettably include the Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC) – a coalition of so-called pro-democracy organizations created after the insurrection – are a pure fraud. The populace have no illusions that the generals will relinquish control, and any ‘civilian administration’ formed with their approval would be a fig leaf for military tyranny.
The SAF redeploying personnel and erecting new high barriers around the army headquarters in Khartoum, as well as establishing additional security checkpoints and inspecting all passengers arriving to the airport, foreshadowed an approaching conflict.
A verbal spat erupted between Burhan and Hemedti, with the latter declaring that the 2021 coup had “failed” and (incredibly) condemning Burhan for obstructing the transition to democracy – this from the guy who led the troops that drowned the 2018-9 insurrection in blood! Burhan, on his part, wanted to establish a Higher Army Council in order to depose Hemedti as deputy chairman of the governing Sovereign Council.
The RSF claimed to have seized key places in Khartoum on Saturday, including the presidential residence, the army chief’s residence, the state television station, and the airport, as well as other sites in Omdurman, the western region of Darfur, and Merowe Airport in the north.
The SAF retaliated with ground troops, airstrikes, and artillery, destroying RSF outposts, many of which are located in or near metropolitan areas. A temporary truce arranged on Sunday to transport the wounded was quickly broken. Burhan has now made many contradicting remarks calling for the disbandment of the RSF while also asking its members to join the regular military.
The former RSF spokesman released a statement announcing that he had lost influence within the unit and speaks solely for himself when he says he is following SAF instructions. The RSF’s Intelligence Command has also joined the ranks of the SAF, according to the SAF.
At the point of writing, determining which side controls what region is quite difficult. What is certain is that people are getting caught in the crossfire around the country.
Given the severity of some of the fighting, the SAF’s recommendation to “stay indoors” has afforded little protection.
Air strikes have been reported in Khartoum, Bahri, Burri, Riyad, and Omdurman thus far, while gun skirmishes have erupted in a number of other cities, including Karari, Port Sudan, and El’Obeid. Significant violence has also occurred in the western provinces, where the majority of RSF militiamen are recruited, notably in Darfur, Kordofan, and the White Nile region.
People are being held hostage in their homes, schools, and hospitals in an attempt to prevent attacks. There are extensive power and water outages across Khartoum, and many people are without food or medicine (during Ramadan, when most people are already fasting). There have also been allegations of market and residential theft, mainly by the RSF.
The imperialists have, inevitably, shed crocodile tears over Sudan’s ‘transition to democracy.’ Antony Blinken, US Secretary of State, urged for an urgent ceasefire and a return to “talks that were very promising in putting Sudan on a path to a full transition to civilian-led government.”
Of course, no such thing would ever come out of backroom bargaining with the same homicidal army generals who have already massacred thousands innocent people in their deliberate attack on the Sudanese Insurrection in 2019 and since then against any kind of democratic authority.
The same folly was echoed by UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, who stated that “ultimately, the present moment lies in the hands of the generals engaged in this fight.”
Putting any hope in the better natures of Burhan and Hemedti is foolish, and it stinks of cynicism coming from the imperialists’ mouths.
Western nations participating in the ostensibly peaceful transition to civilian administration have made no secret of their underlying motives: retaining a tight hold on Sudan, controlling the revolutionary movement that began in 2018, and limiting the impact of its geopolitical competitors.
A thing they all have in common is a need for “stability.” Of course, the stability they speak of is based on protecting the capitalist system and preventing the revolutionary struggle of the people from igniting a wave of insurgency across the area. They work with thugs like Burhan and Hemedti particularly for this purpose.
The Sudanese Uprising has been betrayed at every stage by its leaders, who have always hesitated to endorse a decisive, military confrontation between the masses and the ruling class. Instead, they chose to strike a deal with capitalist gangsters.
The most unscrupulous forces, like the FFC, have engaged in direct negotiations with the counter insurrection, losing their legitimacy in the eyes of the masses and laying the path for the movement’s terrible defeat.
Once again, we see the Resistance Committees Coordination’s bankrupt pacifism. Leading strata have often invoked the threat of civil war to explain their unwillingness to arm the masses for a final showdown with the generals.
As a result, the people have been victims of a one-sided conflict at the hands of the counter-insurrection, which now threatens to plunge Sudan into a civil war between opposing butcher cliques, both of which are mortal enemies of workers and the poor.
The 2018-9 uprising could have cleared a path for the socialist transformation of society, the only way for the people of the country to live a good and dignified life. With such a scheme, any revolutionary party, no matter how little, might have played a major role in these events. Unfortunately, no such party exists.
And right now, the masses are paying a horrible price for their leaders’ failure. Despite extreme tiredness and demoralization, the people have continued to march and battle to this day.
Nothing will improve for the Sudanese masses regardless of who wins this internecine war inside the counter-insurrection.
Nor can any faith be placed in the ‘international community’ to settle this new outbreak of bloodshed, which the imperialists exacerbated. The only way out of this nightmare is for the Sudanese Insurrection to be revitalized, which must learn from past setbacks, defend itself against all reactionary forces via its own bodies of struggle, and eliminate any factors holding it back.