Violent confrontations broke out in Sudan between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces, which have claimed dozens of lives so far, and the confrontations almost include all parts of Sudan, making it the most dangerous battle that took place on Sudanese soil. Perhaps trying to understand what is happening takes us back to the year 2013 when former President Omar Hassan al-Bashir issued his decision to form the Rapid Support Forces, and the man was motivated by two obsessions; The first is the conflict in Darfur, where the Janjaweed militias have proven a great military ability in confronting the rebellion there, and these militias will form the basis for building these forces. As for the second concern, Al-Bashir was afraid of a coup that the army could launch against him after the state of dissatisfaction among the officers due to the secession of southern Sudan, so he wanted to form parallel military forces. Hence, the Rapid Support Forces were not military formations affiliated with the army and the armed forces, but were and still are a parallel army. Before the year 2019, Al-Bashir represented the link between the army and the Rapid Support Forces, but the man was overthrown as a result of the military’s bias against him, represented by the army led by Abdel-Fattah Al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces led by Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo (Hamidti). Between Al-Burhan and Hamidti.
Al-Burhan and Hamidti’s alliance over the past four years in the face of political parties and civil forces, and both men represented the title of the previous stage, but those who know the inside of things and observers of the situation in Sudan were aware that the stage of disagreement between the army and the Rapid Support is inevitably coming, as the existence of two armies and two leaderships cannot be correct With the existence of the state itself. More than that, leaders in the army expressed openly and without equivocation that the survival of the rapid support formations cannot continue, and these forces must become subject to the army. What the Sudanese called the transitional phase witnessed a lot of tension and political differences until the political forces compatible with the military establishment reached what was called the framework agreement last December. This agreement provided for the integration of the Rapid Support Forces into the Sudanese army, in a compatible timetable. on him. Hamidti understood that the integration of the Rapid Support Forces means the elimination of him and his political future, so he stipulated that the integration takes place over a period of ten years, the continuation of recruitment in the ranks of his forces, and the non-return of the officers seconded from the army to their sectors, and this is what Al-Burhan and the army behind him understood that he refused the merger and insisted on the existence of Parallel army, the month of April was the date for the start of implementation, and therefore the painful conflict erupted, whose painful and unfortunate chapters we are following.
The conflict now is a bone-breaking conflict, and therefore middle solutions seem excluded, but what is worrisome is the nature of the conflict and its parties, which make the possibility of a settlement for one of the two parties seem unlikely, at least in the foreseeable future. They fight as small, light and easy-to-move groups, are good at urban warfare, and have their own funding and tribal incubators. This is a war in which no one will win, but everyone will lose, and the biggest and most important loser is the brotherly Sudanese people, but in front of the rumble of weapons, the role of reason and logic recedes. We pray to God in these blessed days to inspire the Sudanese leaders with prudence to sit at the dialogue table and spare the country and the people a dark tunnel.
Rami al-Khalifa al-Ali
