WORLD WORLDWIDE FRANCE SUDAN News Journal Update - (en) France, Organisation Communiste Libertarie (OCL) - CA #331: Sudan: "We will rebuild the country!» Despite the ravages of war (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 On April 15, 2023, an armed conflict broke out between the Sudanese army and the

Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia. This war takes the form of violent military
clashes in cities, aerial bombardments, and fires that ravage the country's
infrastructure. This conflict threatens to collapse state authority and the unity
of the country, with the resurgence of extreme violence between different ethnic
groups in the eastern and western regions. ---- After more than a month of war,
the Sudanese Doctors Syndicate has about 850 people killed and 8,600 injured, but
the toll could be much higher. Rape was also used as a weapon of war in the
capital by RSF soldiers, according to the Organization to Combat Violence Against
Women.
The war in Sudan has several fronts that have spread from the capital, Khartoum,
to neighboring cities Bahri and Omdurman, and then to other regions, including
Darfur.
In two towns in Darfur, Nyala and Al-Geneina, the Sudanese denounce an ongoing
genocide: 18 civilians were killed during a day of clashes in Nyala, and 280
people killed during a massacre of several days in Al-Geneina. In Al-Geneina, the
attacks have put all hospitals, doctors' surgeries and NGO care centers out of
service, completely prohibiting access to care for the wounded. In the combat
zones, the widespread looting of abandoned houses and the free circulation of
weapons has paved the way for the creation of dozens of informal militias, which
portends the worst: that the war between two factions will become the war of all
against all.
To date, at least 75,000 people have fled the areas of fighting to safer areas
and tens of thousands of others have taken refuge in neighboring countries such
as Egypt, Chad, South Sudan or the Ethiopia.

Residents fleeing the Al-Geneina massacre at the end of April 2023
Beyond the direct violence against the civilian population, the destruction is
increasing, undermining all the efforts made in recent years to restore the
economic and cultural sectors. The presidential palace, Khartoum airport,
Khartoum central bank, market places, hospitals, as well as important factories
in Bahri were set on fire and then looted by the RSF or other militias.
Residential neighborhoods have also suffered significant destruction, as well as
water and electricity networks. The war also began to irreparably attack the
country's cultural heritage and memory with the burning of the Muhammad Omar
Bashir Center for Sudanese Studies at the National University of Omdurman, which
is one of the most important archive centers in Sudan.

The origin of the conflict
The origin of the war dates back to the formation of the Council of Sovereignty
after the overthrow of the regime of President Omar al-Bashir during the
revolution of April 2019. The head of the army, Al-Burhan, took the presidency of
the council , while the commander of the RSF, Hemedti, held the position of
vice-president. In October 2021, Al-Burhan overthrew this transitional government
with a military coup: from then on, the two generals began to show their
disagreements in the media. Both sides forged their own alliances with the
civilian forces, themselves divided.
The RSF accuse the army of being controlled by Islamists and supporters of the
former regime of Omar Al-Bashir. But this political posture hides a conflict over
state power and control of resources between these two military parties and their
allies abroad. Indeed, the RSF seek to maintain their autonomy vis-à-vis the
Sudanese army in order to increase their power. They who control the country's
gold mines, which they operate with the support of the Russian Wagner militia.
The Sudanese army, for its part, seeks to put an end to the rapid development of
the RSF which is overtaking it in terms of equipment, wealth and soldiers.
Just before the outbreak of the war, negotiations were underway on the
establishment of a new transitional government towards a civil democracy. The
question of the integration of the RSF into the army was a central subject of the
debate. The representatives of the civil revolution demanded this integration,
precisely in order to avoid war. The army wanted this integration to be completed
within two years, while the RSF asked for a delay of ten years in order to
continue to increase their power.
As soon as the armed conflict broke out, the position of the majority of the
Sudanese population and of all the civilian political forces made itself heard:
neither of these two armies represents the interests of the population. The two
generals each collaborated with the former regime to massacre protesters during
the mobilizations against the military dictatorship in 2018 and 2021. This war is
a pretext to divert Sudan from the path of civil revolution that the population
had hard-wrung after four years of peaceful revolution.
Sudanese activists also denounce an imperialist war, with the involvement of
neighboring powers. First, Egypt, which for years has been the main support of
the Sudanese army, which it seeks to keep in power to guarantee military control
of the region. The RSF, for their part, have long been supported by General
Haftar in Libya, and Russia with which they control the gold mines.
Under fire, solidarity
Amid the attacks and destruction devastating the country, solidarity networks
have formed, offering practical and emotional help to those affected by the war.
Neighbors support each other by sharing limited resources, sheltering each other
and creating safe spaces. This solidarity is a collective strength in the face of
adversity, which has saved lives and mitigated the devastating effects of the
conflict on the civilian population. It shows that the Sudanese population, which
calls for peace and social change, is already working to implement it on a daily
basis despite the mortal risks to which the population is exposed.
Despite the security situation, the neighborhood committees (also known as:
resistance committees), collectives which were the spearheads of the revolution,
continue to fight to help families in difficulty and meet the basic necessities
in their homes. neighborhoods, as well as repairing public services. We have thus
seen circulating photos of neighborhood committees organizing days of solidarity
to clean and repair the broken walls of hospitals in Al-Fasher, or even
rebuilding the electricity networks, or going to sweep up the rubble after the
fires. They also help families with the burial of corpses, and provide food for
the poorest families.

Port Sudan Resistance Committee anti-war rally, April 2023
In each neighborhood, these committees ensure the safety of their neighbours, by
occupying abandoned houses and public buildings to prevent the RSF from settling
there and thus advancing their front line. They also helped residents build sand
barricades to prevent the RSF from entering their neighborhoods.
Finally, in some cities less exposed to the fire of the fighting, such as Port
Sudan, Wad Madani and Kassala, resistance committees have organized rallies to
protest against the war.
With the flight of tens of thousands of people from Khartoum to calmer areas or
to border regions, many displaced people expressed their gratitude for the
generous hospitality of the inhabitants, who sheltered thousands of people in
secure areas. However, they themselves live in very difficult conditions, due to
the economic crisis in the country.
These small acts, by opposing peaceful solidarity to the violence of arms,
illustrate the immense courage and great determination of the Sudanese civilian
population. They show that the revolutionary force is still present in the
country, whether in the form of concrete actions or in the speeches on social
networks, where everyone affirms that: "The revolution continues! ", and that, no
matter the destruction: "We will rebuild the country! ".

Article written by the "Sudfa" collective

Sudfa ("Coincidence" in Arabic) is a participatory media created by a group of
Sudanese and French friends and activists to bring the voices of the Sudanese
revolution to the French-speaking world. . Our goal is to share or translate
articles written by Sudanese people, or co-written by Sudanese and French people,
on the political, social and cultural news and history of Sudan and the Sudanese
community in France. If you want to contact us, you can write to us at
sudfamedia@gmail.com, or via our social networks (Facebook and Instagram). To
read our other articles, you can see our Mediapart blog:
https://blogs.mediapart.fr/sudfa or our website: http://www.sudfa-media.com. See
you soon!

Reply to this article

http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article3829
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca