The Islamists war in Sudan (1-2)

“Time is the best lie detector.”
George Bernard Shaw.

One year after the war broke out between the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces, the question of who fired the first bullet on the 15th of April 2023 ? has disappeared, as all indicators, events, evidence, and even later statements and confessions of some Islamist leaders, confirm beyond the shadow of doubt that the Sudanese Islamic Movement is the one to blame for firing and thus igniting this accursed war; that as of yesterday has entered its thirteenth consecutive month.

But as the war continues that question becomes rather irrelevant to the Sudanese people, for their current concern has become the answer to: Who will stop this war? It is a question with an answer that leads back to the first question again. Because the Islamists who ignited this war didn’t do so in vain, but rather because they want to return to power once again, by force, utilizing the barrel of a gun, as they have done during their reign before (June 1989 until April 2019).

Therefore, they ignited the war of the 15th of April 2023 to hinder the path to the “Framework Agreement” between the civilians “the Forces of Freedom and Change” on one hand, and the two generals “Al-Burhan and Hemedti” on the other. The “Framework Agreement” is an agreement that would have restored this country’s path of democratic transition, which was interrupted by the generals’ coup on the 25th of October 2021.

However, just as the Islamists blocked the path to democratic transition through war, they are now desperately trying to block the path to any initiative that would lead to an agreement to stop the war and thus restore this country’s path of democratic transition, a goal they have worked long and hard to hider its achievement.

On last Wednesday, the 15th of May, the US Special Envoy for Sudan, Tom Perriello, stated before a gathering in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, that he was unable to obtain a visa to enter Sudan even though he applied for it two months ago. Of course, Mr. Perriello wishes to visit Port Sudan to meet the Commander-in-Chief of the Sudanese Army, 1st Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, who has made the city his capital since his departure from Khartoum in August of last year.

At such juncture, another question arises regarding who is preventing and obstructing Mr. Perriello’s meeting with Al-Burhan? The direct and effortlessly blatant answer is: The same party that has no interest in achieving any agreement that ends the war, restores stability, and subsequently the lead to the path of democratic transition again.

A Sudanese diplomat currently working in one of our embassies in a major European country -who i refrain from mentioning by name for reasons related to his job status and personal safety- told me: “The Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs following 25th of October 2021 has restored its pre-revolution state, where all Islamic cadres were granted their previous jobs and positions. Moreover, many of them were even promoted and financially compensated for the period in which they were dismissed by the Empowerment Removal Committee during the rule of the Civil Transitional Government, which was headed by Abdullah Hamdok in the period from August 2019 to October 2021.”

The diplomat added that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, since the first day of the coup, was not managed by “Ali Al-Sadiq,” who was assigned by Al-Burhan to manage it, neither is it currently being managed by the newly appointed “Hussein Awad,” but rather it has remained managed by Islamic cadres and under the direct supervision of “Ali Karti,” the Secretary-General of the Islamic Movement.

It is no longer a secret that the Sudanese Islamic Movement, with all its ranks and names, known and hidden, with all its militias and shadow military bridges, which are directly participating in the current war, such as: (Al-Bara’ Brigade, Strategic Bridge, Operations Authority), in addition to (Al-Mujahideen) who organized themselves under the guise of ( Popular Resistance), same as the Salafi Jihadism Movements, such as: (The Adherence to the Holy Book and Sunnah Association) and the Islamic (Hizb ut-Tahrir), as well as armed Salafi Jihadism groups allied with the terrorist organizations of (Al-Qaeda) and (ISIS), which have now united under the banner of the (Sudanese Union of Scholars and Preachers), a Salafi-Jihadism union that allied with the Islamic Movement following the 25th of October 2021 coup. Their alliance is based on two things: hostility towards democracy and the West, and the necessity of Islamic rule (Sharia).

The Islamic (Brotherhood) Movement is allied with these united Jihadist Movements. As an act of absolute necessity in what they consider to be an existential war, for in addition to the commonalities between them, these jihadist movements are undertaking what the Islamic movement is embarrassed to do or declare publicly, including adopting a hostile rhetoric towards America and the West in general, and threatening Western embassies and interests, as they have done in the past when they threatened the former US Ambassador, John Godfrey as well as Mr. Volker Perthes, the former Head of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS), during the period of discussion of the “Framework Agreement.”

The greatest common factor among all political Islam groups in Sudan, with their various sects and names, is their hostility towards democratic rule, and their complicity in obstructing the achievement of any agreement that would lead to ending the war and establishing a new path that would steer Sudan towards democratic transformation, which was expressed in the most blatant way by the retired Lt. Gen. Fatah Al-Rahman Mohieddin, an Islamic soldier who was commander of the Sudanese Navy during the era of former ousted President Omar al-Bashir, when he told Al Jazeera on the 26th of June 2023: “There will be no negotiations that brings these people on even if Sudan in its entirety burns,” by (these people) he is referring to; Advocates and supporters of the democratic transformation. This is what the Islamists have to say: Either we rule you or we kill you and destroy your country.

To be continued..