Khartoum changes hands and marks a new phase in the Civil War of Sudan | Mint

Almost two years after he was forced to fall back to Port Sudan on the coast, the Sudanese Army (SAF) under General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan is triumphant back in control of Khartoum, the capital. They still have resistance in areas south of the city and in the district Omdurman on the West Bank of the Nile. But the recycling of the city is a turning point in a war that killed tens of thousands of people, moved 12 m and caused one of the world’s worst famine for decades. The question now is whether the SAF stops or pushes its progress. This will partly depend on the pressure of the general of the general. The SAF has progressed on the battlefield in recent months, largely thanks to a broad and diverse coalition that has been met since the early months of the war, when it lost the country’s stripes, including most of Khartoum, to the fast support forces (RSF), a descendant of the Janjaweed, an ethnic Arab militia that terrorizes the outstretched Western region. The RSF is ordered by Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti, which is apparently determined to fight. On the SAF’s side are foreign supporters such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the neighboring Egypt, which have reportedly provided air support. Looser co -workers include Russia, Turkey and Iran, who sold the army weapons and drones. Some of these countries can now negotiate General Burhan, who refused peace talks, with the RSF. To sweeten the agreement, outsiders can provide possible to recognize a SAF-led government in Khartoum and help rebuild the battered city. Yet competing interests among the domestic allies of the army can impede such an agreement. The SAF has enabled voluntary local defense units, consisting of civilians annoyed by the looting and terrorization of population under his control of the RSF, and militia of Darfur. It also fought with Jihadist Brigades with links with the Islamic government of Omar al-Bashir discharged in 2019. Faced with the dilemma to go west to the RSF’s base in Darfur, or to consolidate in Khartoum, this Shaky Alliance can haunt well. Prominent votes insist on insisting. “Darfur is part of Sudan,” said Amjed Farid, a former government official. “The SAF should not surrender it to the RSF.” Many Darfuris, not the least the ethnic African groups that have experienced atrocities, including possible genocide among the RSF, probably feel the same. But such a pressure can easily end badly. The military achieved the biggest recent profits in its traditional strongholds in Central -Sudan. A ground offensive in Darfur would involve fighting on the RSF’s home field and stretched supply lines. As commander during the First Darfur War, in the 2000s, General Burhan trapped in the region. Even with the support of local allies, his powers could find themselves in a Quagmire again. “The Sudanese army has never really won in Darfur,” says Kholood Khair of Confluence Advisory, a Sudanese thinking tank. At least in public there is little talk of a ceasefire or negotiations, at least in public. The SAF Bombaters Civilists: A strike on a market in Darfur on March 24 reportedly killed at least 54 people and injured more dozens. In Khartoum there are alarming reports of lawlessness. The heinous videos have spread over the past few days to show beheading of suspected RSF co -workers by groups attached to the army. There are equally few signs that, despite its defeat in Khartoum and his recent insistence, the RSF is ready to sue for peace. In February, he announced the formation of a parallel government in the areas under his control. The head of the foreign supporter, the United Arab Emirates, does not seem to have stopped sending them weapons. Almost all the immediate neighbors of Sudan, except Egypt and Eritrea, now fall within the sphere of the Emiratis. This means that the RSF must continue to resubmit itself. “I would be surprised if the RSF lay down this one,” said Alex Rondos, a former EU special representative of the Horn of Africa. In Khartoum and its environment, the SAF’s victory should at least make it easier for help agencies to provide food and other emergency supplies. It can give up famine and temporarily reduce the misery for Sudanese in these areas. “But does it actually bring the war closer to the end?” Ask Payton Knopf, a former US diplomat. “Probably not.”