Sudan: power struggle between two generals, former friends, plunges the country into civil war

The former represents the military power of Sudan, while the latter leads a militia group formed in Darfur. Once friends, generals Abdul Fatah al Burhan And Mohamed Hamdan Daglo Now they are fighting for control of the country.

Al Burhan is the de facto leader Sudan after the October 2021 coup. Born in Gandatu, a city located in the north KhartoumThe 62-year-old general became one of the few figures who formed a consensus and led the country.

Former army commander under deposed dictator Omar al-BashirAl Burhan believed that his deputy, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagloalso known as “Hemedti”.

Both staged a coup that ended the transition Sudan to civil government. But both sides are currently fighting fierce battles that have already killed more than 100 civilians, and blame each other for the violence.

Al-Burhan is accused by his opponents of being a Trojan horse for the Islamists and leaders of the time of al-Bashir, who ruled the country with an iron fist for 30 years.

After the fall of Bashir in 2019, al-Burhan took over sovereign council together with civil political parties to lead the country to democracy.

But before the coup, the general who passed the military academies Sudan, Egypt And Jordanalmost all ministers and civil officials were arrested.

His people describe him as “a commander who knows how to lead his troops,” an AFP officer told AFP during the coup.

The general, the father of three, coordinated the dispatch of Sudanese troops to Yemenreported by local media. He also contributed to the normalization of relations with Israel and maintains good relations with neighbors Egypt.

From Darfur to Khartoum

However, in the Persian Gulf, many observers note that Daglo, his current enemy, managed to win better.

Born in 1975 in an Arab tribe on the border with ChadDaglo managed to create allies in United Arab Emirates And Saudi Arabia after sending his men to fight in Libya or as part of a military coalition led by Riyadh in Yemen.

Now he has a weight advantage. Their Operational support forces (RSF, English abbreviation), created in 2013 and integrated into the regular army, they control numerous gold mines, recalls the European Council on Foreign Relations. And the United States assures that they have the support of the Russian paramilitaries of the Wagner group.

Over the years, Hemedty has established himself as a key player in the country. In the early 2000s, he was just the head of a small Western militia.

But after numerous battles, raids and other atrocities that deserved to be accused of war crimes by the dictator al-Bashir, the general managed to establish himself at the pinnacle of power.

Daglo led the Janjaweed militias, who were ordered by al-Bashir to carry out a scorched-earth policy against non-Arab ethnic minorities in Darfur in 2003.

At the time, “he was considered by the Khartoum elite to be an illiterate upstart criminal who was only armed to do dirty work during the war in Darfur,” International Crisis Group researcher Alan Boswell told AFP.

After hundreds of thousands of deaths, Hemedti managed to expand his sphere of influence from this region, where his headquarters is still located, to Khartoum. His people, integrated into the RSF, are now trying to wrest power from the army.

But during the 2021 coup, Daglo offered his help to al-Burhan. Now this man claims to have changed and joins the civilians in denouncing the army.

For months, he’s been using social media to target the youngest people in the country, where two-thirds of the population is under 30.

(AFP)