Earthworm 🐌After Sudan's people staged larged protests against the autocrat Omar al Bashir in 2019, the military saw their moment to do a coup and seize power in 2021.
Now, two generals: Burhan, leader of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), and Hemedti, the head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are fighting for power, with at least 200 dead civilians.
If you recall, Hemedti and his RSF are the former Janjaweed militia, involved in the first genocide of the 21st century in Darfur.
Sudan's population struggled very hard to bring the society forward after decades of autocracy. Networks of neighbourhood-groups that were formed in relation to the Arab Spring, were key for the protests.
As always, there is a lot of geopolitics and interests involved: Gold mines, Wagner mercenaries, Egypt (a dictatorship heavily supported by the US and recognized by Europe) is supporting Sudan's military, Saudi recruited Sudanese mercenaries in their war in Yemen, Israel sold drones and Western governments that still trust military governments as partners for stability 🤮
Excellent articles for background info:
https://todon.eu/@CrimethInc/110218489096758164
https://newlinesmag.com/reportage/in-sudan-a-deadly-reckoning-for-rival-forces/
If anybody is aware of Sudanese/African/Arab accounts here, please share!
#NeverTrustTheMilitary #Military
#Sudan #coup #crisis #war #Hemedti #Hemeti #Burhan
CrimethInc. Ex-Workers (@[email protected])
Attached: 1 image Who are the Rapid Support Forces, the paramilitary forces who have provoked an escalating civil war with the Sudanese government? Known as the Janjawids, these mercenaries accumulated arms, funds, and recruits as shock troops in conflicts throughout the region. Sudanese dictator Omar Al-Bashir was one of their chief funders. They began by crushing a rebellion in the western region of Darfur and went on to play a role in violence in Yemen and elsewhere. In 2019, after demonstrators successfully toppled Al-Bashir, the Rapid Support Forces carried out a massacre to regain control of the capital, Khartoum. We documented their rise in this text: https://crimethinc.com/2019/06/14/sudan-behind-the-massacre-in-khartoum-the-perpetrators-and-the-backstory Now the Rapid Support Forces are fighting against the Sudanese military, at great cost to ordinary people in Sudan. The militarization of a society does not benefit anyone in the long run, not even the rulers. #Sudan