What’s happening in Sudan and why? - BBC News

fighting broke out in Sudan in mid-april

we've seen it on the streets and in the

sky hundreds have died thousands have

been evacuated Millions remain caught in

the conflict and a watching world is

asking what's happening in Sudan and why

well let's start with the country itself

Sudan's here in Northeast Africa is the

third largest country on the continent

with a population of around 48 million

go back to the first half of the 20th

century and Sudan was under joint

British Egyptian rule it was effectively

administered as a British colony

then in 1956 it declared independence

and from there a number of military

coups would follow in fact since

Independence the military's been in

power much more than civilian

governments turmoil has been frequent

for example in the early 2000s there was

a war in the western region of Darfur

there were also two Civil Wars between

the Muslim North and the Christian South

these led to a new country being created

in 2011 South Sudan

and one man straddled all of these

moments and more because in 1989 Omar

al-Bashir seized power in a coup he'd

hold on to it for 30 years his

involvement in Darfur led to the

international criminal court bringing

charges of war crimes and crimes against

humanity but it wasn't that that took

him from power it was an uprising that

culminated in 2019. thousands took to

the streets and then the Army intervened

and made this commitment

we believe that giving power to a body

that is not elected by the Sudanese

people should not happen the aim the

Army said was to restore civilian rule

but to do that it wanted to stay

involved it established the transitional

military Council which was a mix of

military and civilian leaders there

seemed to be a limit to what the

protesters could achieve the revolution

in in 2018-19 was something that people

were very proud of the civilians were

finally able to push you know Bashir and

the the old military regime out but I

think the focus was always you know we

might have been able to get Bashir out

but we weren't able to fully get the

military regime out and despite whatever

promises were made the transitional

military Council didn't deliver civilian

Rule and some Sudanese lost patients in

October 2021 they went back on the

streets and the military had seen enough

it Arrested the civilian prime minister

and took full power and in the 18 months

since that is how things have stayed

with two men now Central to Sudan's

Story the same two men whose Fighters

are clashing now we just saw General

Abdul fatah al-burhan he's here on the

right and his Deputy is Muhammad hamdan

dagalo on the left albertan is the head

of the army he Sudan's de facto

president dagelo is also known as

hermeti he's the leader of Sudan's

biggest paramilitary group the rapid

support forces or the rsf and in theory

both men want to relinquish power this

is hermeti in late 2021

we affirm to our people our firm

commitment to the transition to

democracy and holding elections in due

time in 2023 and here they both are last

December agreeing a framework to give

power to civilians but details of

exactly how that would be done were

never agreed which some argue is simply

because they don't want it to happen

both have huge uh investments in

continuity if you like what they are

most resistant to is handing over power

to a civilian government instead of

Civilian government then Sudan has

conflict with both men playing for the

highest Stakes this is about two men who

know each other very well the two

generals who I met they hate each other

passionately this will go on until one

side wins until one of the generals is

killed and each side has substantial

numbers General Al burhan has the army

some estimates put it at over 200 000

strong hametti's rsf is estimated to

have around a hundred thousand troops

and both men may have specific reasons

that they don't want to relinquish power

first remember I was talking about the

region of Darfur earlier the militia

Accused by the UN of carrying out

atrocities was called the janjiweed and

hermeti's rsf has its origins in the

janjaweed militia hametti's Darfur roots

are also relevant here and he really

views his role as to be a protector of

his tribe he believes that his tribe has

been treated as second-class Citizens

throughout Sudanese history for his part

al-buhan is accused of involvement in

the atrocities in Darfur a conflict the

ICC continues to investigate next we

have hemeti's considerable Financial

interests which are protected by his

network of Fighters not least the mining

of gold this article picks up on this

arguing he hermeti stated that he went

to war to preserve the democratic

transition however retaining large Armed

Forces with an economic Empire

independent of the state threatened any

possibility of a democratic transition

in Sudan

there's an international Dimension to

this too hametti has links to the

Russian paramilitary Force the Wagner

group BBC reporting is documented how

Wagner Fighters have been in Sudan and

here's a meti in Moscow last year with

Russia's foreign minister we also know

hermeti sells gold into Russia all of

which is relevant to the current

conflict Russia does have

um a lot of influence with the rsf and

we have interests um in a stable Sudan

because their interests are making sure

that they can export gold and minerals

out of Sudan stability may be attractive

to Russia maintaining the status quo may

be attractive to hermeti whose power and

wealth will be challenged if civilian

rule arrives al-burhan too appears

motivated to secure rather than hand

over power in 2022 he dismissed five

civilian members of the ruling Council

all of which brings us to the 15th of

April the BBC website reports the

shooting began following days of tension

as members of the rsf were redeployed

around the country in a move that the

Army saw as a thread and whoever fired

the first shot fighting quickly

escalated including in the capital

Khartoum as Jasmine Abdul maheed

describes Sudan is no stranger to your

Revolution and to military coup but at

no point has this ever reached the

capital in the way that it has and so as

the Rivalry between these two men

started to claim hundreds of lives both

offered their perspectives hametti told

the Ft the battlefield will Define

everything we must do our best and leave

the rest to the almighty for his part

al-burhan says in this war everybody

loses this war has to stop Fighters need

to go to their bases that though is not

what's happened in different parts of

Sudan fighting goes on there's a

humanitarian emergency too and many

countries including the UK the US and

France have evacuated their Nationals

what they leave behind is a conflict

which has the potential to do further

harm this is the UN Sudan could become

increasingly fragmented which would have

a devastating impact on the region and

even if one side wins Sudan or Loops The

Hope remains that the fighting will stop

maybe civilian rule will follow but

Sudan's history teaches us that neither

are certain