What’s happening in Sudan and why? - BBC News

fighting broke out in Sudan in mid-april we've seen it on the streets and in the sky hundreds have died thousands have been evacuated Millions remain caught in the conflict and a watching world is asking what's happening in Sudan and why well let's start with the country itself Sudan's here in Northeast Africa is the third largest country on the continent with a population of around 48 million go back to the first half of the 20th century and Sudan was under joint British Egyptian rule it was effectively administered as a British colony then in 1956 it declared independence and from there a number of military coups would follow in fact since Independence the military's been in power much more than civilian governments turmoil has been frequent for example in the early 2000s there was a war in the western region of Darfur there were also two Civil Wars between the Muslim North and the Christian South these led to a new country being created in 2011 South Sudan and one man straddled all of these moments and more because in 1989 Omar al-Bashir seized power in a coup he'd hold on to it for 30 years his involvement in Darfur led to the international criminal court bringing charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity but it wasn't that that took him from power it was an uprising that culminated in 2019. thousands took to the streets and then the Army intervened and made this commitment we believe that giving power to a body that is not elected by the Sudanese people should not happen the aim the Army said was to restore civilian rule but to do that it wanted to stay involved it established the transitional military Council which was a mix of military and civilian leaders there seemed to be a limit to what the protesters could achieve the revolution in in 2018-19 was something that people were very proud of the civilians were finally able to push you know Bashir and the the old military regime out but I think the focus was always you know we might have been able to get Bashir out but we weren't able to fully get the military regime out and despite whatever promises were made the transitional military Council didn't deliver civilian Rule and some Sudanese lost patients in October 2021 they went back on the streets and the military had seen enough it Arrested the civilian prime minister and took full power and in the 18 months since that is how things have stayed with two men now Central to Sudan's Story the same two men whose Fighters are clashing now we just saw General Abdul fatah al-burhan he's here on the right and his Deputy is Muhammad hamdan dagalo on the left albertan is the head of the army he Sudan's de facto president dagelo is also known as hermeti he's the leader of Sudan's biggest paramilitary group the rapid support forces or the rsf and in theory both men want to relinquish power this is hermeti in late 2021 we affirm to our people our firm commitment to the transition to democracy and holding elections in due time in 2023 and here they both are last December agreeing a framework to give power to civilians but details of exactly how that would be done were never agreed which some argue is simply because they don't want it to happen both have huge uh investments in continuity if you like what they are most resistant to is handing over power to a civilian government instead of Civilian government then Sudan has conflict with both men playing for the highest Stakes this is about two men who know each other very well the two generals who I met they hate each other passionately this will go on until one side wins until one of the generals is killed and each side has substantial numbers General Al burhan has the army some estimates put it at over 200 000 strong hametti's rsf is estimated to have around a hundred thousand troops and both men may have specific reasons that they don't want to relinquish power first remember I was talking about the region of Darfur earlier the militia Accused by the UN of carrying out atrocities was called the janjiweed and hermeti's rsf has its origins in the janjaweed militia hametti's Darfur roots are also relevant here and he really views his role as to be a protector of his tribe he believes that his tribe has been treated as second-class Citizens throughout Sudanese history for his part al-buhan is accused of involvement in the atrocities in Darfur a conflict the ICC continues to investigate next we have hemeti's considerable Financial interests which are protected by his network of Fighters not least the mining of gold this article picks up on this arguing he hermeti stated that he went to war to preserve the democratic transition however retaining large Armed Forces with an economic Empire independent of the state threatened any possibility of a democratic transition in Sudan there's an international Dimension to this too hametti has links to the Russian paramilitary Force the Wagner group BBC reporting is documented how Wagner Fighters have been in Sudan and here's a meti in Moscow last year with Russia's foreign minister we also know hermeti sells gold into Russia all of which is relevant to the current conflict Russia does have um a lot of influence with the rsf and we have interests um in a stable Sudan because their interests are making sure that they can export gold and minerals out of Sudan stability may be attractive to Russia maintaining the status quo may be attractive to hermeti whose power and wealth will be challenged if civilian rule arrives al-burhan too appears motivated to secure rather than hand over power in 2022 he dismissed five civilian members of the ruling Council all of which brings us to the 15th of April the BBC website reports the shooting began following days of tension as members of the rsf were redeployed around the country in a move that the Army saw as a thread and whoever fired the first shot fighting quickly escalated including in the capital Khartoum as Jasmine Abdul maheed describes Sudan is no stranger to your Revolution and to military coup but at no point has this ever reached the capital in the way that it has and so as the Rivalry between these two men started to claim hundreds of lives both offered their perspectives hametti told the Ft the battlefield will Define everything we must do our best and leave the rest to the almighty for his part al-burhan says in this war everybody loses this war has to stop Fighters need to go to their bases that though is not what's happened in different parts of Sudan fighting goes on there's a humanitarian emergency too and many countries including the UK the US and France have evacuated their Nationals what they leave behind is a conflict which has the potential to do further harm this is the UN Sudan could become increasingly fragmented which would have a devastating impact on the region and even if one side wins Sudan or Loops The Hope remains that the fighting will stop maybe civilian rule will follow but Sudan's history teaches us that neither are certain

Channel: BBC News

Views: 728,231

Keywords: bbc, bbc news, news

Id: YxxsS05thhY

Length: 8min 6sec (486 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 28 2023