From the outside looking in the two generals at the heart of Sudan’s current leadership crisis shared an undeniable chemistry which saw them working closely together in the past.
Abdel Fatta al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo known as Hamdedti joined forces in operations to render the Darfur insurgency largely quiet and worked in unison to stage the April 2019 coup which deposed Omar al-Bashir after 30 years in power.
Burhan as head of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) became leader of the military junta while Hamedti was content being his deputy and head of the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group which had grown in power and stature since the Darfur insurgency and Bashir’s own drive to remain in power by pitting it as a bulwark against insurrection.
However fast forward to 2023, this chemistry which had bonded them together seemed to have tapered off and in its place surfaced a barely concealed mutual distrust thanks to competing ambitions for the ultimate leadership position in Sudan.
The sudden outbreak of fighting provided an indication of how badly the political temperature in Africa’s third largest country had plummeted and threatened to drop deeper into the abys of the chaos that had caused hundreds to be killed including civilians and tens of thousands to flee Khartoum and outlying areas.
Burhan and Dagalo were at dagger’s drawn.
Many Sudanese observers say the current strife in Sudan was always waiting to happen given the two men’s different worldviews on the nature of a supposed transition to democratic civilian rule and the future of the RSF within this political patrimony.
Burhan a career soldier had shown he was no different from past military leaders like Bashir who had ruled Sudan with a combination of militocracy and Islamist fervour.
Appointing former Bashir cronies into key government positions had done little to mollify the resentment of Hamedti and his allies who fear that the fundamentalist brand of militant theocracy was returning to Sudanese statecraft by the backdoor.
The RSF leader believes that Burhan was calculatedly bringing back the Bashir years and therefore stifling any chance of returning the country to constitutional democracy as promised when they banded together to sweep Bashir aside and agreed to share power with civilians.
Burhan on the other hand entertains misgivings about Hamedti and his ambitions especially after entering into alliances with former Darfuri rebels against whom the two men had once fought and won.
Part of the RSF consists of the former janjaweed militias who were created by Bashir to help his army suppress the Darfur rebels and offer a balance of military power to keep him relatively safe from the odd insurrection against his regime.
Hamedti himself is Darfuri and his move was bound to arouse suspicion that he could use these complex web of alliances with his Darfuri brethrens to topple the upper echelons of Khartoum’s privileged class who had come to regard political power in Sudan as their exclusive preserve.
Sources say Burhan also deeply resents Hamedti’s growing influence especially after his role in facilitating Sudanese troops active participation in the conflict in Yemen on the side of the military coalition spearheaded by Saudi Arabia.
While Burhan had over the years built a formidable power base using his preeminent position in the Sudanese military his ally-cum foe has not only the RSF under his wraps but also a growing reputation as a business tycoon involved in a plethora of business ventures and boasts of owning mines mining gold.
Despite several truces, both men have dug their heels in the sand, apparently deaf to repeated international calls for restraint.
Their men seemed locked in a bloody stalemate in the streets of Khartoum and Omdurman where they are hell bent on finding a militaristic outcome to the hostilities which had claimed upwards of 500 vicitms mostly civilians many of them trapped in their homes.
Hamedti insists that Burhan fighters using military jets to pound the positions of his RSF forces in Khartoum and other cities must stop before total hostilities will cease.
Burhan meanwhile maintains his demand that Hamedti renounce his ‘traitorship role’ that has set Sudan afire and turned back its development trajectory.
No side appears to be gaining the upper hand.
WN/as/APA