From “All of Us Darfur” to “Farewell, Abbakar”: Has the Liberation of El Fasher Stimulated the Appetite for Secession?

 Abdul Hafeez Maryoud

 Do you wish to simply get rid of the “troublesome region”—according to Al-Tahir Hassan Al-Toum’s expression— and move towards development, establishment, and joining the ranks of progress? Does the crushing defeat suffered by the Sudanese Armed Forces and Joint Force militias in El-Fasher loom before you like a flagpole in your dark, turbulent sea, driving you to pursue the secession of Darfur, so that you can blissfully take a deep breath and drift off into the realm of Almighty?

Well then…

The most common descriptions since the beginning of the war have followed a clear path: They are hateful towards us… They suffer from an inferiority complex… They are not human… They’re bastards… The children of another “an unknown father”… Even someone who seemed respectable, like Dr. Amin Hassan Omar uses the term “sons of guests/foreigners,” -i.e born out of wedlock, without hesitation… and so on. However, the most common description is “malicious.” Everyone affiliated with the region, the forces, and the allied forces is labeled spiteful. At best, they suffer from an “inferiority complex.” Even a female journalist —a colleague— described Dr. Al-Waleed Adam Madibou as suffering from said complex. Another described him as burdened by a “severe inferiority complex,” since he -Dr. Al-Waleed- has always boasted that his mother has Shayqiyan roots.

Do you see?

Nevertheless, in the midst of your arduous search for peace of mind, you fail to ask: Why do they hate us? Assuming it’s a proven fact, like the American question: Why do they hate us?

The aforementioned is a question that could possibly make you reconsider your position if approached objectively, free from your anxieties. South Sudan harbored resentment against you. The Nuba Mountains harbored resentment against you. Darfur –after 2023– harbored resentment against you. Eastern Sudan –prior to the Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement signed in Asmara in (2006). The (April 2023) war revealed that the majority of West and North Kordofan harbored resentment against you. Darfur (with very few exceptions) harbored resentment against you. The Rufa’a tribes in Sennar and Blue Nile states harbored resentment against you. Which certainly begs the question, who are you to deserve all this resentment, assuming it is, indeed, resentment?

What did you do to earn all this enmity?

You must have committed a grave sin.

The Sudanese Communist Party (SCP) will inevitably realize that it has become closer than ever to the National Congress Party (NCP) and the Islamists. Has Marxism changed, for example? The Communist Manifesto? Socialism? Or is it “a very radical,” change that drove the (SCP) to embrace the “Blabsa”? (honey that guides the female to the male), as Mahmoud Darwish says.

What did you do to deserve all this hatred?

Will history exact its revenge?

Are the consequences inevitable?

Is karma an unavoidable reality ?

Did you think you would be left to your own devices?

Of course not…

You will cry out in distress —as Ammar al-Sajjad does— (The original tribes, the Fur, Masalit, Zaghawa, will not allow the Arabs of Darfur to rule over them). And you will promptly think of getting rid of the “troublesome region.” as it has always cost us dearly.

Nevertheless, the reality is that Darfur will not secede. This is a given. There is no room for manipulation. You have no room for that extravagant dream…that Darfur will simply “meet its fated doom,” as our esteemed professor, Abdullah Shabo, may Allah have mercy on his soul, used to say.

Therefore, you ought to think carefully before squandering your energies and the country’s resources on purchasing modern military equipment.

Think carefully before establishing recruitment camps and calling for mobilization, before making deals with Iran, Egypt, Türkiye, or even Washington, selling them ports and underground resources in an effort to get rid of the “resentful individuals,” the “Arab diaspora,” the “children of the guests/foreigners,” the “foundlings,” the “lice-ridden,” and so on.

Because if you attempt that, you will inevitably be faced with loss…

Because the war will continue to its conclusion. A historical inevitability…

Because the countries you believe will protect you, for being a “Muslim brother,” which translates to being bound to you by a firm, bright bond, that will bow to the passing storm without breaking, as said storm is a cause of “great displacements,” in the words of Hassan al-Turabi.

Maybe because Egypt will find itself besieged by bills…by bank deposits.

Or because the “Arab of the diaspora” will see no harm in fighting against you for the next hundred years, without declaring a general mobilization.

And without selling an inch of Sudan’s ports.

In that case, will you accept “death and destruction”?

You will, of course.

Why?

Because you believe you’re unique…that no one is like you…that you’re divinely chosen, doing as you please, without accountability…

And that you deserve everything…whilst everyone else is just “envious.”

Do you see?