2023-09-22 13:22:34
The war in Sudan is still raging five months after it began. And Khartoum is ground zero. For five uninterrupted months, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the regular army have clashed in the Sudanese capital, paying in blood for every apple recovered and lost in the smoke of the fighting, forcing hundreds of thousands of civilians to abandon their homes. to escape the hell that Khartoum has become. At least two million people have had to seek safety far from the capital, either as internally displaced people in their own country or taking refuge in one of the neighboring nations.
A capital in ruins. The Al-Mogran development project launched in 2004 to build a business district in Khartoum and a modernized residential area, costing around $4 billion, the symbol of Sudanese progress, is now ruined. The Greater Nile Petroleum Oil Company tower, an 18-story spearhead that outlined the city’s silhouette on the horizon, was engulfed in flames in September. Areas whose land before the war had an approximate value of 3,500 dollars per square meter, areas destined for wealth and the construction of a nation, today translate into twisted iron, burned desert, retreat. The Presidential Palace, the Ministry of Justice building, the Sudan Standards and Metrology Organization Tower, the Sahil and Sahra Tower, the Khartoum International Airport, the Sudan National Museum… everything is falling apart in Khartoum.
Rebuilding the city after the war will take years, but the leader of the regular army, Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, still does not worry about tomorrow. In recent weeks he has explored the possibility of moving the capital to Port Sudan, located in the east of the country, on the shores of the Red Sea, after the RSF has controlled most of Khartoum and the Al Burhan administration can barely stay without bombings and attacks. This would imply the formation of a functional government since Port Sudan has hardly been affected by the fighting, has the only operational civilian airport in the country (as well as an important shipping port) and is located in the zone of influence that it still maintains. the regular army.
A few weeks ago, a member of the Council chaired by Al Burhan said that “a transitional government is needed” to restore the balance of the country as much as possible while its future is decided, even though Al Burhan himself was forced to flee from Khartoum to Port Sudan at the end of August, when their situation in the capital became unsustainable in the face of successive offensives by the RSF led by General Hemedti. Since then, Al Burhan has sought to create the desired government in his new capital, in a way reminiscent of how the Government of the Second Republic had to move to Valencia during the Spanish Civil War. Al Burhan has thus traveled in recent weeks to Qatar, South Sudan and Egypt in the hope of establishing alliances and appointing dialogue agents to serve as mediators in the conflict, but also seeking to reinforce the legitimacy of his image among the Sudanese and facing the waiting world.
Create a new capital, a new government, a new authority; a new image, in short. These are the challenges ahead for a man who is currently believed to be losing the war, but who seems to hope for a turn of the tide. Hemedti, for his part, reacted to the possibility of al-Burhan forming a new government by stating that “if the army forms the government, we will immediately begin broad consultations to establish genuine civilian authority in areas under our extensive control with Khartoum as the capital.” Under these circumstances, Sudan would become a nation with two states, multiplying a chaos that is already indescribable and devastating.
The Beja militia, opposed to a capital in its territory
But Al Burhan keeps finding obstacles in his way. Immersed in this process of his government’s readjustment to the circumstances, he barely had time to react when a local militia attacked regular army forces in Port Sudan this Tuesday. This was the first time violence broke out since the start of the conflict in the coastal city. Local witnesses told AFP that the attackers were tribal militiamen loyal to Sheba Darar, leader of the Beja tribe. Although most of the tribes have sided with Al Burhan, including the Beja, it seems that their elders did not like that the leader of the regular army had moved his base to Port Sudan, bordering his territories. .
They don’t want the general to bring war to their homes and no one can blame them for that. They are afraid. They see Khartoum in ruins and do not wish the same for their children. Following the clash between the Beja militia and the army, “soldiers deployed to the area after eliminating checkpoints established by the militia,” while others reported a “return to calm” before the end of the clash. day.
Al Burhan looks for a way out that will allow him to continue the fight. From Port Sudan he has made six trips abroad, including his recent visit to the United Nations for the summit on September 18 and 19, where he warned that “the conflict in Sudan could spread to other countries in the area.” . Cornered and with his back protected by the Red Sea, he thus feels safe against his opponent. Time will tell if he chose the right option for his interests.
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