SUDANESE CRISIS AMIDST REUNIFICATION OF SUDANESE AFTER THE OVERTHROWN OF BUSHIR FROM POWER

 

The sudden outbreak of violence over the weekend between the nation’s two top generals, each backed by tens of thousands of heavily armed fighters, trapped millions of people in their homes or wherever they could find shelter, with supplies running low in many areas.

The power struggle pits General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the commander of the armed forces, against General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the head of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group. The former allies jointly orchestrated an October 2021 military coup.

The former Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir was  removed from power after six months of peaceful protest earlier in 2019. The military council took over that includes Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, generally called Hemedti, the leader of a paramilitary unit called the Rapid Support Forces that has its roots in the "Janjaweed". 

Janjaweed played a big role in the Darfur conflict. When the Darfur rebels – made up of the Sudan Liberation Army and Justice and Equality Movement – escalated their attacks on government positions in April 2003, the government unleashed the Janjaweed to target the Fur, Zaghawa, and Masalit villages.

The al-Bashir government intensified recruitment of machineries of Janjaweed helped mobilise for its counter-insurgency war against the rebels. This included signing up criminals, convicts and prisoners, as well as appointing new village chiefs.