Pray for your brother Al-Burhan’s recovery

I was shocked when I woke up and started browsing the news and my eyes fell on the following title: “Under the auspices of Al-Burhan.. A workshop to rebuild Khartoum State”? I said the war must have stopped while I was (asleep) -how long did we stay asleep ?- I then quickly read the details of the article that stated: “Khartoum State announced holding a workshop to rebuild the capital Khartoum on Tuesday, in the city of Port Sudan, under the auspices of (the Chairman of the Transitional Sovereignty Council), Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan. (The Governor of Khartoum) Ahmed Osman Hamza invited ministries, agencies, departments and experts to attend the workshop.”

There is no doubt that any sane, mature person will think after reading this news that the Army has settled the war and has taken full control of Khartoum State, that the war has come to an end, and the capital of the country is now free of combatants and weapons.

It is time to rebuild it, organize workshops, and mobilize ministries and agencies to develop a vision for reconstruction in preparation for its implementation on the ground, but when you return with your mind (absent in this imaginary news) back to reality, you will be frustrated and overcome with the calamity.

You would take a look at the city of Khartoum, and you wouldn’t see the Army, while all strategic areas are still under the control of the Rapid Support Forces, including the Presidential Palace (a symbol of Sovereignty and rule), its international airport, all ministries, government institutions, banks, and even the Army Command headquarters, which is under complete siege.

Returning to Khartoum/Bahri, you wouldn’t notice any presence for the Army except in remote corners besieged by the Rapid Support Forces, such as the Weapons Corps, the Signal Corps, Kadro, and a small part of El-Halfaya neighborhoods, and perhaps Al-Samrab.

Then Sharg Alneel, where you’d be moved to pity the state of the Army battalions and Al-Kizan militia besieged in the (Hattab) Military Camp, which -for all intents and purposes- is considered (fallen) under RSF control, while the the latter controls the rest of Sharg Alneel territory.

In the city of Omdurman, which the Army claims to control completely, you would find the Rapid Support Forces in the neighborhoods of Salha, 13, as well as in a number of different neighborhoods in Ombada, from the headquarters of the Islamic University to Al-Jumueya, while its artillery shells the places where the Army is located in the Karari locality!

You would look back twice, and calculate the percentage of control of the Rapid Support Forces over the capital and its three major cities, and you would be able to confirm that approximately (80%) of the capital’s territory and the state in general is under the control of the Rapid Support Forces, hence you return to the news item, and wonder: “Why was the workshop organized in Port Sudan?”, and you can provide yourself with the instantaneous answer: “Because Khartoum isn’t safe.” You would then wonder: “Why is it not safe?”, and the answer would be: “Because the war is still raging, and the Rapid Support Forces still control at least (80%) of the capital.”

Which invokes the big question of: “How then can the Army’s kizan rebuild the capital under these difficult and complex circumstances ? Wasn’t it the duty of the Army Commander to impose his military control over it first, and then talk about rebuilding ?” At this juncture, you can rest assured that such workshops have nothing to do with rebuilding, but rather with psychological compensation for the significant and crushing defeats suffered by the Army Commander, so he wants to replace them with imaginary victories in the media, social media, workshops, and “Nada Al-Qalaa” songs about the nonexistent (Lion) !!

As I contemplated this miserable psychological state that the Army Commander seems to be going through, I recalled an article entitled: “Military Psychology: Concept and Objectives”, which I had read a while ago, discussing the psychological characteristics of the military individual during wars and battles.

The article confirms that the leaders and military personnel defeated in the war face various psychological disorders, most notably what is known in psychology as (Battle Fatigue), a psychological illness that causes major imbalances and serious damage to thoughts and behavior in general, weakening the ability to control emotions, causing defeat to be portrayed as a victory, and exacerbates the state of denial of simple reality.

It seems to me that this is exactly what the leadership of the defeated Army -as a whole- suffers from, headed by Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan -may God heal him- who is still unable to visit Khartoum after he fled to Port Sudan, and from his forced exile there still recalls old memories of his years of work, his office and his Command headquarters, and dreams of returning to the General Command of the Army and the Presidential Palace.

However, he also remembers that this has become impossible, as he sees the Rapid Support Forces soldiers imposing their complete control over the Palace, besieging the General Command of the Army, and here he realizes his helplessness and disappointment, so he asks his agent in Khartoum (Ahmed Osman Hamza) -who also resides in Port Sudan- to organize a workshop dedicated to rebuild Khartoum, because the mere fact of holding the workshop provides him with a false sense of hope that the dream of returning to the General Command and Presidential Palace is close to becoming a reality, or has already been achieved.

It is a psychological compensation workshop.. Pray for your brother Al-Burhan’s recovery and steadfastness.