Analysis | Facts behind the Sudan crisis

By Awan Achiek

JUBA, MAY 2, 2023 (SUDANS POST) – Since a coup took place in Sudan on 25th October 2021, Sudan has been run by the army, with coup leader General Abdel-Fattah Burhan as de facto ruler.

In 2019, Omar al-Bashir made General Abdel-Fattah Burhan an Inspector General of the Sudanese army forces (SAF). He became the third-most senior general in the Sudanese army.

Former President, al-Bashir, knew that he will be deposed anytime the same way he ousted the democratically elected Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi in 1989.

So, he never trusted General Abdel-Fattah Burhan for reasons known best to him. He, however, started relying on General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), hoping that it will become very difficult for a single armed group to depose him.

After al-Burhan became chief of staff of the Sudanese army forces, he started working closely with the leader of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo – who is generally known by the name Hemedti.

Both powerful military leaders ouster longtime dictator, Omar al-Bashir in a military coup in April 2019 which ended his 30-year rule in Sudan.

In August 2019, Gen. Al-Burhan formed Transitional Security Council (TSC) after the coup which will serve as the Federal government.

The transitional Security Council was a multiparty body that comprised both civilian political groups and the military junta.

He, al-Burhan appointed himself as Chairman and General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo as his deputy and both promised to conduct Sudan’s first free election.

In same year, 2019, both civilians and the military signed the power-sharing agreement after the ouster of al-Bashire.

According to the agreement, the Transitional Security Council should last for 39 months and in these 39 months, the civilian was to rule Sudan for 18 months and military for 21 months. The 21 months of the military was to end on November 2021.

Few months before November 2021, General al-Burhan and his deputy Hamdan hijacked the government; they detained, Abdalla Hamdok, prime minister at the time, in his own house, blocked the internet, and seized power.

They also detained civilian officials, ministers, members of political parties, lawyers, and members of civil society organizations.

October 2021 Sudan’s coup d’etat was organized because the military does not want to hand over the government to civilian rule.

A move which members of civil political group called violation of 2019 power sharing agreement.

After the 2021 coup, General al-Burhan initiated a process of re-instating individuals who were previously associated with former President Omar Al-Bashire’s regime to their former positions and this is when his deputy Hamdan started having doubts.

Later both powerful military leaders had disagreements 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. But in reality, the violence has been brewing for a while in Sudan, with concern over the RSF seeking to control more of the country’s economic assets, notably its gold mines.

After ousting of al-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.

But it appears that neither Burhan nor Dagalo has any intention of relinquishing power. Moreover, they are locked in a power struggle that turned violent on April 15, 2023.

Since then, members of the RSF and the Sudanese army have engaged in gunfights in the capital, Khartoum, as well as elsewhere in the country and the violence has spiraled.

Around 530 people, including civilians and combatants, have been killed since, with another 4,500 wounded, the Sudanese Health Ministry said.

The author is a South Sudanese journalist and can be reached via: awanachiek1@gmail.com.

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