$ 280 BILLION US TAXPAYER DOLLARS INVESTED since 1948 in US/Israeli Ethnic Cleansing and Occupation Operation; $ 150B direct “aid” and $ 130B in “Offense” contracts
Source: Embassy of Israel, Washington, D.C. and US Department of State.
Little has been reported by the Western media on the genocide in Sudan, where the US and Russia are playing out a superpower rivalry.
A year ago in April, fighting erupted between Sudan’s army chief, General Abdel Fattah Burhan, of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo of the rebel Rapid Support Forces (RSF.)
The crisis continues to escalate with no end in sight.
Both sides have been accused of committing human rights violations and ethnic cleansing.
A genocide is being carried out against the Black African tribal groups including the Dinka, Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa in Darfur, the Western region of Sudan.
Families describe hiding in the scrubland, hunted by paramilitaries and scavenging for food.
An estimated 66.3 million people have been displaced, half of them children. An estimated 554,000 have crossed the border into Chad, one of the world’s five poorest countries, which now has more refugees per capita than anywhere else in Africa.
Food, fuel and power shortages, lack of cash, murder, torture and looting are endemic.
International aid has collapsed. United Nations (UN) humanitarian agencies left Darfur when conflict broke out. Many of their facilities were looted and destroyed. Some have returned when the security situation has allowed.
The UN reports that babies are dying in hospitals, children and mothers are suffering from severe malnutrition and camps for displaced people have been burned to the ground.
The UN’s Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee told the Security Council, that “sexual and gender-based violence continues, with accusations of sexual violence by Rapid Support Forces personnel, and rape and sexual harassment implicating the Sudanese Armed Forces.”
The overall death toll is unknown but believed to be in the thousands.
Women fleeing war zones.Source: Sudanese Women Are Facing Difficult Conditions After Nearly a Year of Conflict (aawsat.com)
.Women in Sudan seek relief amid spiraling displacement crisis | UN Women – Headquarters
Brief history
Sudan is the ancient land of the Kushite and Nubian civilizations. The Sudanese were a population of self-governing tribes up until the late 19th Century.
When Arabs arrived in the 7th century, they saw ‘the nation of the Blacks,’ or Bilad Al-Sudan as source of slaves. Sudan has a long and unique history of racism, exacerbated by 58 years of British colonialism.
From 1898 to 1956, the United Kingdom (UK) ruled the African country, with Egypt as its proxy, and turned it into a European-style single country. Britain gained access to the Nile and trading markets for its manufactured goods including textiles, alcohol and guns.
Britain implemented a “divide-and-rule” policy which gave preferential treatment to Arab elites in the north of Sudan. Western regions such as Darfur and the southern provinces were cut off from economic and social development. These were the areas largely inhabited by Black African tribes such as the Dinka.
The British made slavery illegal in Sudan in 1929. However, it didn’t stop the slave trade.
After Sudan gained independence in 1956, the northern Arab elites became the country’s rulers, and instituted discriminatory policies against the Black African south. Black tribespeople continue to be captured today particularly in times of civil war, and sold as domestic servants, farm labourers, soldiers and prostitutes.
Sudan’s post-colonial trajectory has been a never-ending series of uprisings, civil wars, military rivalries, and ethnic cleansing campaigns.
What’s at stake today
Today, Sudan is the second largest producer of gold in Africa, largely through artisanal methods, and the ninth in the world. Its proven crude oil reserves rank fifth in Africa. More than 120 Chinese companies operate in Sudan, most of them focused on gold and oil exports.
Sudan has a prime location on the Red Sea. Approximately 12% of world trade passes through the Suez Canal and 10% through the Bab El-Mandeb.
Source: What’s the difference between Sudan and South Sudan? | Oxfam | Oxfam (oxfamamerica.org)
Sudan has livestock and fertile soil. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait and Qatar are the regional countries most dependent on Sudan for food security and have invested heavily in the country since the 1970s. Both Turkey and Qatar seek to build a military presence at the Suakin port, south of Port Sudan.
Sudan is the third-largest country in Africa with a population of 43 million people.
Its wealth goes mainly to a small Arab Sudanese elite while a third of the population relies on humanitarian aid, with many of its young men serving as cannon fodder for Western-backed wars in the Middle East.
Both Russia and the United States are major players in Sudan.
Russia-Sudan Bilateral Relations
During the Cold War, Sudan was part of the Non-Aligned Movement.
The Soviet Union established strong and consistent bilateral relations with Sudan, and after 1992, so did the Russian Federation. Sudan is one of the few countries to recognize the referendum for Crimea to become a part of Russia and has not condemned Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Suffering a paucity of maritime outlets, the Kremlin wants to establish a naval base on the Red Sea. In 2017, it struck several military cooperation agreements that included the construction of a Russian base in Port Sudan that could house 300 military personnel, as well as nuclear-powered warships. The Western-based media claims that Russia is supporting the rebel Rapid Support Forces, which the RSF denies. The accusation is puzzling, given that Russia wants a United Nations arms embargo lifted from the RSF’s rival, the Sudanese Armed Forces. The West also claims that Russia is funding its war with Ukraine with Sudanese gold.
China and Russia tend to follow the same policy line towards Sudan. They don’t want the country to be placed under sanctions, and they don’t want its territory broken up further. Through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) China has invested substantially in Sudan, as well as bilateral trade, making Beijing Sudan’s primary trade partner.
Exclusive: Evidence emerges of Russia’s Wagner arming militia leader battling Sudan’s army | CNN
US-Sudan Bilateral Relations
The US is spooked by peer rival Russia’s plans for a maritime base in the Red Sea. The US ambassador to Khartoum, John Godfrey, warns this ‘would be detrimental to the country’s interests’ and lead to its international isolation.
Sudan has refused to recognize Israel and as a result US relations have been patchy. But after 9/11 both countries began cooperating on counter-terrorism, despite mass killings in Darfur.
Washington began taking a central role in Sudanese affairs. It was instrumental in creating the Republic of South Sudan in 2011, where the Black African tribes predominate. Russia considers the split a blow to Sudan’s territorial integrity.
In 2019, civilian protestors demanded an end to President Omar Al Bashir’s government, which has been accused of genocide in Darfur.
The United States (US) and other Western nations, while avowing support for democracy, insisted that the military be part of a transitional government, against the wishes of pro-democracy groups.
This placed the military in the mainframe of Sudan’s putative democracy, which ultimately led to a power struggle between two rival generals, and the current civil war.
The new administration applied the usual ‘market reforms’ in exchange for International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans such as removing gasoline and diesel subsidies and moving to a floating currency exchange rate, after which the inflation rate shot up 400%. Sudan’s debt to the IMF is $28 billion.
The US wants Sudan to normalise relations with Israel, which the majority of Sudanese are against. ‘Israel is deeply committed to ensuring that the military, whether its Hemedti or Burhan [the two rival generals] or some combination of the two – dominate the politics of Sudan,’ says Dr Hashemi, Dr Nader Hashemi, the director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Denver’s Josef Korbel School of International Studies.
In 2021, the military launched a coup against the government.
How Failed Armed Forces-Paramilitary Reforms Sparked 2023 Sudan Clashes (foreignpolicy.com)
How can the revolution win in Sudan? – Socialist Worker
The US and Israeli role in Sudan’s path to war (newarab.com)
Diplomatic action has come to a standstill. Underneath the stalling lies clash of Big Powers Russia and the US
The US wants a peace negotiated with external powers, whereas Russia advocates an intra-Sudanese resolution to the crisis. Both powers want an immediate end to the fighting.
Opposing views of how to resolve the crisis were exposed on 8 March 2024 during pre-vote remarks before the United Nations (UN) Security Council.
A United Kingdom-drafted resolution called for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Sudan during the month of Ramadan.
Resolution 2724 (2024) is mild. It ‘calls,’ but does not ‘demand’ a ceasefire, which means that measures such as sanctions or military action cannot be taken by the UN if a resolution is not complied with.
The US and UK supported the Resolution. But the Russian delegate voted to abstain. She and the Chinese delegate both stated that the Sudanese should be allowed to resolve their own problems without outside interference.
Res 2024 called for ‘regional peace efforts.’
There have been attempts at such efforts, but facilitators such as Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are suspected of backing opposite sides. Other negotiators have offered their services including the United States (US,) Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, all of whom have their own agendas.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said ‘Russia reiterated its fundamental position about the need to end hostilities as soon as possible and build a sustainable intra-Sudanese negotiation process in order to overcome the existing differences for the sake of preserving the unity, territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Republic of Sudan.’
It should be noted that most peace talks are between military and political leaders, who are mostly male elites.
Progressive grassroots organisations, trade unions and women’s groups have played a huge role in Sudanese politics including Sudan Revolutionary Front Sudan Liberation Movement/ArmyLiberation and Justice Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM.) None are invited to the negotiating table.
Review of Arms Embargo
A United Nations (UN) Security Council met on the 19th March to review the arms embargo on Sudan imposed by the UN Security Council on Darfur in 2005.
The US, France and UK delegates wanted to maintain the embargo, citing the dire humanitarian situation and war crimes perpetuated by both sides of the conflict.
The Russian delegate said that arms flow into the country regardless of punitive sanctions, and that socio-economic restrictions imposed by Western countries are counter-productive. Sudan should resolve its own problems as a matter of national sovereignty.
The Sudanese envoy said he wanted the embargo lifted to be better armed against rebel forces (the RSF.) He said the weak flow of humanitarian aid was because donors had not fulfilled their pledges.
The embargo will receive another review.
Sudan is a major consumer of weapons. It is estimated up 40 countries have supplied Khartoum with arms, despite embargos. Shipments can come through third parties to avoid detection.
For example, during the South Sudanese Civil War, (2013-2018) which claimed nearly 400,000 lives, the US helped the main belligerent in the war continually acquire arms through Uganda, a close US ally in the region.
The US and Israeli role in Sudan’s path to war (newarab.com)