The Army utilizes Ethiopian “Tigray”

The arrival of Russian “Wagner” again through Red Sea state

A dangerous development in the course of war…

The army is using mercenaries from “Tigray,” Ethiopia, in the states of El-Gedaref and Al-Jazeera… in addition to the arrival of the Russian “Wagner” group again through the Red Sea state.

Report: Abdul-Rahman Al-Kalas

Reliable sources close to the Security Committee in El-Gedaref state, which borders Ethiopia, as well as military and political sources in Port Sudan, revealed that there are foreign forces participating in the war alongside the Army led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, especially in the states of Al-Jazeera and El-Gedaref, in addition to the imminent arrival of Russian forces to the Red Sea state.

According to sources, the army used forces affiliated with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front “TPLF,” which remained engaged for two full years (2020-2022) in a fierce war against the Ethiopian National Defense Force “The Army,” in which between 385,000 and 600,000 people were killed. Before the war ended with a peace agreement signed in South Africa, in November 2022.

Inspection points

An informed police source in El-Gedaref state said: “The forces affiliated with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, popularly known in Ethiopia as “Weyane Tigray,” are present in the upper regions of Atbara and Setit rivers, 30 kilometers from the city of “Shawak,” within the borders of El-Gedaref state. Some of them recently moved to the “Harira” camp, located on the road between El-Gedaref and Al-Fau locality, which is considered a major center for their coordinated operations with the army. Some of their forces are also present in “Al-Mugrah” camp on the outskirts of Al-Fau region.

According to numerous sources, these forces are currently participating in the war in some areas in the villages of Al-Jazeera state, and some of them are now in the villages of “Al-Hareiz and Al-Baqasa” olong the road connecting Wad Madani and the city of El-Gedaref.

The participation of these foreign forces affiliated with “Tigray” reached a peak in the fight alongside the Sudanese army when they set up their own inspection points on a side street between “El-Gedaref and Harira”, searching cars and entering the homes of Sudanese citizens in the nearby villages as they see fit.
And according to the description of the source who spoke to us from El-Gedaref state: ” It’s as if these forces were operating in the Ethiopian Tigray region, or in its capital (Mekelle), not in a Sudanese state,”

Fatal Mistakes

It is noteworthy in such context that, according to many Sudanese and external parties; the army leadership is completely loyal to the Muslim Brotherhood organization in Sudan. The aforementioned accusation is confirmed by the participation of the Islamist brigades in the ongoing war and their blatant leadership of it, as well as their effective participation in the decision-making circles of Al-Burhan’s government in Port Sudan. General Yasser Al-Atta, has admitted as well that the Islamists and their militias have participated in this war.

A military expert stated that the current army leadership had taken advantage of the Ethiopian civil war and the Ethiopian army’s preoccupation with fighting the militias of the “Tigray” region between the years (2020-2022) and announced the liberation of the “Al-Fashaga” district on the 28th of June 2022, after seizing control of the town of (Barkhet), the last of what he called “the strongholds of the Ethiopian forces.”

It also provided logistical support to the rebel forces and protection for their leaders, and it still has some of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front army members inside Sudan, and is currently utilizing them to participate in the ongoing war between the Army and the Rapid Support Forces. According to political analysts; “It will create a new crisis and line of confrontation with Ethiopia, the largest and most important neighboring country.”

Observers state that the participation of forces from “Tigray” in Sudan incites the concern of the Ethiopian government, which has so far taken a neutral position on the war in Sudan. As the Ethiopian government was capable of exploiting the ongoing war to regain the villages and towns it lost in “Al-Fashaga” district in 2022, but chose not to take this path and preferred to postpone the matter of resolving differences with Sudan in this regard, without taking advantage of the Sudanese army’s preoccupation with the current war, as its commander-in-chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, did previously. However, the latter’s use of the forces of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front may change the Ethiopian position completely.

A long-term war

The participation of foreign forces with the Sudanese army is not limited to “Tigray” forces unfortunately. The participation of Ukrainian forces -before their departure- is a well known and witnessed fact, and the reports documenting the facts are widespread

The army, which kept reiterating that the Rapid Support Forces were using foreign mercenaries, creating and promoting accusations regarding the participation of the Russian “Wagner” forces alongside the Rapid Support Forces, has concluded an agreement last week with Russia -the owner and founder of the “Wagner” group- during the visit of its Deputy Foreign Minister to Port Sudan. Even though the terms of the agreement have yet to be revealed, multiple sources and leaks confirmed that they include the army’s approval -in terms of hosting- the Russian military base on the Red Sea. The naval base was approved originally by the former regime of the ousted President Omar al-Bashir and the Muslim Brotherhood, as they concluded an agreement with Russia in this regard, but it was stopped during the era of the Revolution Government and former Sudanese Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok, just for Al-Burhan and his group of the ousted regime’s holdouts to reinstate it again, in addition to granting Russia, in a monopolistic manner, the largest areas in the history of gold mining in Sudan. Al-Burhan has mobilized for this matter, the leaders of the Civil Administrations, led by the Hadandawa tribal leader, who is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood organization “Mohammad Al-Amin Terik.” He held a meeting with Mikhail Bogdanov, the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, during his visit last week, during which they discussed the issue of gold mining in the Beja lands in the Red Sea state and in its highlands. They obtained the consent of the local communities to grant monopolistic Russian mining rights in the region, although they certainly did not officially announce this matter.

The arrival of “Wagner” again

A source from Port Sudan, close to the negotiations conducted by the Russians in Port Sudan, confirmed that the agreement touched on the matter of Wagner forces’ return to Sudan again, and the resumption of their work with the Military Intelligence of the Sudanese army, which had stopped following the revolution and formation of the Transitional Government in August 2019.

The source confirmed that the Russian delegation visiting Port Sudan and signed the agreement included two military personnel from the office of Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, the Russian Deputy Minister of Defense, who is the second to President Putin in the chain of command of the Wagner forces after they were restructured again.

It is rather noteworthy that following the rebellion of the former “Wagner” leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, and his subsequent death in mysterious circumstances last year, a massive restructuring and formation of the “Wagner” forces took place, according to which their name was changed from (Wagner) to (Africa Legion), through which President Putin tightened his grip, assuming full control of the forces, and the task of supervising them was entrusted to Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, Deputy Minister of Defense.

An engineering expert currently working in the mining sector in Port Sudan, and specializing in mining in the Red Sea state, shared: “There is no doubt that granting Russia vast areas for gold exploration in Sudan, in these critical circumstances, requires providing special protection for the exploration fields, and this is what the Russian company (Wagner) will provide, working to protect and secure the operations of mining and transportation of gold to their country, which will, in turn, require fighting or participating in the fight alongside the army in the ongoing war and providing weapons, medicine, and wheat.”

Al-Rakoba (newspaper) points out that the presence of a Russian base on the Red Sea raises greater concerns for the most powerful regional force in the region, which is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, that is mediating to put an end to the ongoing war in Sudan by activating the Jeddah platform. It also raises the ire of the United States, the West in general, and France in particular, with these actions, Sudan will lose numerous friends and allies, gaining more enemies, exasperating the conflict from an internal one to regional and international proportions, which portends a prolonged war period that may continue for additional decades.