Wad Medani Massacres and the Fish-like Memory

Once upon a time, there was a saying: “Every experience that doesn’t invoke wisdom, eventually repeats itself.” As quickly forgetting bad experiences that should invoke a sense of wisdom and generally be a lesson, as well as forgetting said experiences when they should be remembered, is a rather common phenomenon amongst the people. Secret societies and cunning political systems, on both ends of the isle, from dictatorship to democracy, rely on that phenomenon when it comes to weaving plots, intrigues and conspiracies to control the minds of the public.

If a nation dares to revolt against a regime due to poor conditions, that regime -in response- creates a disaster serious enough to leave the public yearning for their previous conditions, the very same situation they once complained about. This -in particular- is the method security regimes adopt in order to control the minds of the commoners and herd them like livestock.

This plan often culminates in success, as the cunning of its planners is rarely apparent, they might even be relegated to heroes in the eyes of the public. In general, there are numerous methods for controlling the minds of the public as well as their reactions. Hundreds of books and thousands of scientific papers have been written about the subject.

From the Massacre of Officers to the Massacres of Wad Madani:

In its first year in power, the Islamist regime executed (28) officers who had attempted a coup against it. The regime negotiated with them to surrender and hand over their weapons, in exchange for their safety and promising them fair trials, hence, the officers believed in the Islamic regime’s promise and surrendered. However, as soon as they did, they were betrayed and taken without trials to West Omdurman where they were killed and their bodies thrown into a huge pit. Some of them weren’t fatally injured in that arbitrary act of killing, so they were -essentially- buried alive and groaning.

Moreover, they had heavy drilling machines running on their tracks over that pit. Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, former President Al-Bashir’s Vice-President, admitted to killing these officers in a televised statement.

On April 2nd, 1998, another massacre took place in the village of (Al-‘Aylafun), southeast of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. The victims of this massacre were young men who were forcibly brought to a Popular Defense Forces camp. These young men asked the camp administration to allow them a day or two off to celebrate Eid with their families. However, the camp administration refused their request, prompting these young men to attempt to escape. The camp administration responded with open fire, and dozens drowned in the waters of the Blue Nile, on the eastern bank of which the camp is located.

In (2003), the war in Darfur broke out, and the government of the National Congress Party hired the tribal leader, Musa Hilal, along with Ali Kushayb and others. They wreaked havoc amongst the people of Darfur, killing and displacing them. They also burned down villages and wiped them off the face of the earth.
According to International organizations’ estimates, (300,000) people were killed in these massacres. More than two million others are currently living in displacement camps. This overwhelming number of victims is merely a fraction of the larger number of casualties in the war in South Sudan first, and later in the Nuba Mountains and the Blue Nile state.

In (2013), a strong popular uprising erupted against the Islamist regime, which prompted the latter to respond with live ammunition aimed precisely at the heads and chests of the protesters, and the number of victims reached hundreds. The then-Vice President, Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, spoke about these incidents, stating: “The Security Forces were instructed to aim their guns to kill, incidentally, (shoot to kill).” as he stated in English at the time.

Additionally, throughout the period of the Islamist regime’s rule, which extended from (1989 to 2019), opponents of the regime, both men and women, were arrested, humiliated, tortured in the most vile and horrific ways, and even raped. Sometimes they were killed in cold blood while in detention, and their bodies were hidden or thrown away.

The Post-Revolution Massacres:

Following the outbreak of the December (2018) revolution, the Islamist regime implemented methods of excessive violence to confront it. Hence, all peaceful demonstration resulted in the killing of some of those who dared to carry it out. Then came the great massacre, represented in the dispersal of the sit-in in front of the Military’s General Command Headquarters. That massacre was planned by the Islamists and their Army, and it took place under their watchful eyes and listening ears. In that horrific massacre, hundreds of peaceful protesters were killed with live ammunition.

Some of these peaceful protesters were thrown into the Blue Nile waters while they were alive, with their hands and feet tied tightly, and their bodies held by concrete weights, so that these young men would drown and their bodies wouldn’t float to the surface after their death. However, the bodies floated and the horrendous crimes were exposed.

Following Al-Burhan’s coup against the Constitutional Declaration on October 25th, 2021, the killing of young men and women continued to be carried out by snipers from the rooftops, and by running them over with the vehicles of Police and Security Forces. The arrest, torture and rape campaigns also continued.

Al-Burhan and the Islamists’ purpose in igniting the ongoing war was to block the implementation of the Framework Agreement and crush the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that supported the agreement. More importantly, they wished to turn the tables on everyone. And to move people to a new space, relying on the short memory of the masses and the impact of the atrocities committed fading from their minds. The plan to eliminate the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) failed -however- in a remarkably short period of time.

Hence, Al-Burhan and the Islamists started to invest in the violations committed by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The huge Islamist media machine mobilized its efforts to demonize the Rapid Support Forces, until a notable segment of the public managed to forgot who the Islamists -truly- were and what they had done over the period of more than thirty years in power. In fact, they forgot that there was a revolution that sought to overthrow that regime.

Many bought into the image of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) painted forcibly and falsely by the Islamists, and forgot the earlier, bright image of the Rapid Support Forces that the Islamists themselves painted, when they were in agreement with the former. And the videos of Al-Kizan -both men and women- praising the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are available in abundance. After igniting the war and failing to resolve it, they resorted to mobilization and arming civilians. Al-Burhan and Al-Kizan raised the slogan of, “One Army, One People,” and the slogan claiming that this war is a “War of Dignity.” Many, including intellectuals, bought into this blatant lie.

Have we understood yet?

The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) regaining control over Wad Medani represented the confirmation necessary to convince individuals -who still needed further proof- of the brutal nature of Al-Kizan. No matter how civilized they pretend to be, by virtue of their upbringing, they have no choice but to return to their original predatory nature. Two or three days after the city was firmly under the control of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), social media was brimming with videos in which the sick extremist Islamists documented their atrocities. They filmed themselves raising heads separated from their bodies, while their Emir urged them to cut off more.

They also filmed themselves ripping open the stomach of a pregnant woman, and also, throwing a person into the Blue Nile from the (Hantoub) Bridge, then chasing him with a hail of bullets from their rifles until he fell dead in the Nile River waters. Additionally, they filmed themselves in a spacious courtyard filled with the corpses of those they had executed in an extrajudicial manner, perhaps for the amusement of these mentally ill people. Unfortunately, this is merely the tip of the iceberg.

The events that took place in Wad Medani are merely the prelude to the second rule of Al-Kizan, who will indulge in more killing, tyranny and corruption than ever before. And if, God forbid, Al-Burhan and Al-Kizan behind him managed to regain control, they might very well say to Omar al-Bashir: “What do you know, to begin with.”
The atrocities carried out in Wad Medani unveiled the true extent of the reality of our alleged (Army) and the truth about our alleged (people). It also went a long way in revealing the falsehood of the alleged bond that binds them together.

More importantly, these atrocities revealed a collective fish-like memory that has turned the majority of us into a herd of livestock. Following a revolution that captivated the world with its peacefulness, the atrocities of Wad Medani branded us as a nation; with apparent lack of beliefs, with savagery, baseness, lack of honor and chivalry, with minds and hearts devoid of compassion and mercy.
May Al-Kizan be accursed by Allah wherever they are, along with everyone who supported them, sided with them, and embellished for their exclusive benefit the emptiness of their minds and the ruin of their souls, or chose to remain silent in regards to their blatant falsehood, out of fear or greed.