Nugud: Defeats and the Muslim Brotherhood exacerbated rifts within Al Burhan’s camp

 Dr. Alaa El-Din Nugud, the official spokesperson for the Sudan Founding Alliance (Tasis), stated that the Commander-in-Chief of the Port Sudan forces, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, is seeking to reorganize his ranks after mounting internal and external pressures, in addition to the exposure of his connections to the Islamists and their role in the war.

In an interview with (Erem News), Nugudindicated that the rifts within the Port Sudan camp and the escalation of disagreements between its components came after the declaration of the Peace and Unity Government by the Sudan Founding Alliance, compound with the military victories in Kordofan, and the imminent liberation of El-Fasher, which exposed the fragility of the alliances led by Al-Burhan.

The spokesperson for (Tasis) went on to add that the declaration of the Peace and Unity Government by the Alliance, along with the victories achieved by Sudan Founding Alliance forces in Kordofan, the imminent liberation of El-Fasher, as well as the exposure of the Islamists’ role in this war and their control of the Sudanese Army were all factors that contributed to exacerbating the rift within the Port Sudan camp. He pointed out that numerous reports in the international press revealed the Islamists’ involvement in supporting regional and international terrorism and linked Al-Burhan and his allies to the Iranian axis, leading to growing fears of a direct threat to the security in the Red Sea.

He explained that the aforementioned rift became clear when members of the Democratic Bloc in the Port Sudan camp began to openly express their rejection of the roadmap proposal secretly submitted by Al-Burhan to the United Nations afew months prior, reflecting the rift within the alliances he had -painstakingly- forged.

According to Dr. Alaa El-Din Nugud, Minnawi, one of the camp’s most prominent allies, publicly attacked the Sudanese Army on more than one occasion, accusing it of failing to provide support in El-Fasher, before leaving in anger. He added that internal disagreements over the formation of the so-called “Government of Hope” were early indicators of a rift within the camp.

Nugud pointed out that Al-Burhan’s meeting with the US President Donald Trump’s African Affairs Advisor was a pivotal moment, as the latter apparently revealed to Al-Burhan the extent of the Islamists’ involvement and exposed their true colors. Whuch prompted Al-Burhan and his Islamist allies to attempt to reorganize their ranks through a series of political maneuvers, including the referral of a number of Islamist officers from the Sudanese Army to retirement, in an attempt to appease the international community and ease the pressure on him.

He explained that these steps are merely performative attempts. In truth, he added, the Port Sudan forces are not under the control of Islamist officers within the military establishment, but rather under the hegemony of the political faction of the National Congress, which he described as “terrorist.” Furthermore, Nugud shared that the Sudanese Army has become a battalion of the Islamic Movement, alongside other groups such as Al-Baraa Ibn Malik, Al-Qaqaa, Al-Barq Al-Khathif, in addition to other “extremist jihadist” battalions.

“The jihadist battalions, led by Al-Baraa Ibn Malik, have repeatedly declared —through the mouth of an individual known as “Almusbah”— that they didn’t bear arms by order of anyone, and wouldn’t lay them down by order of anyone. Rather, they challenged anyone who wanted to disarm them to confront them in the field. On other occasions, the same individual glorified Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, the deputy of the ousted Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir, describing him as a symbol of the dissolved National Congress Party (NCP),” according to Nugud.

He added that Ahmed Haroun’s statements to (Reuters) were crystal clear, when he acknowledged that they were supporting the Port Sudan forces to ensure their survival, even offering them a continuation in power. This clearly indicates their power to “give and take” and reinforces the conviction that actual control of the Sudanese Army lies with the political wing of the Islamists, not with the military personnel affiliated with them.

The spokesperson for the Sudan Founding Alliance believed that the internal reconstruction process currently being carried out by Al-Burhan cannot be separated from the role-sharing policy adopted at the beginning of the war, when Al-Kabbashi was presented as a peace-seeking figure, while al-Atta appeared as a hardliner supporting the Islamists, and Al-Burhan took a middle ground between the two, in an attempt to deceive the people on a domestic level and buy time until the Army could forge new alliances, import weapons, and disrupt the negotiating process.

He noted that the officers who were referred to retirement will not actually be removed, but will instead be recycled within the “terrorist” Islamic Movement’s civilian sector. They will be replaced by new elements who may not be well-known in the media, but who share the same loyalty or at least don’t object to the continued control of the Sudanese Army by political Islamists.

Nugud concluded his interview with (Erem News) by saying, “The crisis plaguing the Army in Sudan isn’t temporary or related solely to the current situation. Rather, its a structural crisis that has extended since the State’s independence, as the Army has remained a political party in military garb, seeking power through coups throughout all democratic periods.”

Following the Islamist coup in (1989) and their complete hegemony over the military establishment, this trend intensified, as the Army’s desire to rule combined with the terrorist Islamists’ aspiration to control. From this perspective, Nugud shared that anyone who believes that severing the ties between Al-Burhan and the Islamists is possible should reconsider their assessment, because Al-Burhan’s decision, as he put it, is entirely dependent on the terrorist National Congress Party.