Jump to navigation

Published 25th April 2024

Vol 65 No 9

Sudan

Facing no pressure, the generals escalate their war again

Copyright © Africa Confidential 2024
Copyright © Africa Confidential 2024

After a year of fighting that has all but destroyed the country, outsiders either ignore or sponsor the rival military factions

It was a cruelly surreal moment after a year of what has become the world's most destructive war, with over 8 million people driven from their homes and 17m now facing the threat of a military-induced famine. Commander of the Sudan Armed Forces General Abdel Fattah al Burhan announced on Eid el Fitr (10 April in Sudan) that his aim was not to return to any civilian regime like the radical reforming one of 2019-2021 or the oppressive rule of Gen Omer Hassan Ahmed el Beshir's National Islamic Front (then National Congress Party) from 1989 to 2019.

Funds raised but no political progress at the Paris conference

Pic: @Elysee
Pic: @Elysee

Obsessed by Gaza and Ukraine, delegates couldn’t agree on a path to restart ceasefire negotiations

On 15 April, a year after war between the rival military factions broke out in Sudan, France's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the European Union hosted an international conference...

President Mahamat considers the Russian bear hug

Pic: @presidencetd
Pic: @presidencetd

A letter to Washington has put relations in the cooler, as overtures to the Kremlin increase and the president ponders a change of allegiance

On 4 April the Chadian government threatened to cancel the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with the United States, the law that regulates the conditions under which the 100 or so...

READ FOR FREE

BLUE LINES
THE INSIDE VIEW

The alarming volume of human rights abuses and the impunity enjoyed by many governments and their armed forces was underscored in the latest Amnesty International global report. The Sudan Armed Forces and its rival, the Rapid Support Forces, have repeatedly flouted international humanitarian law, killing and starving civilians while they and their sponsors such as Egypt, Turkey, Iran and the United Arab Emirates face no accountability for war crimes.

Instead of cooperating with reg...

The alarming volume of human rights abuses and the impunity enjoyed by many governments and their armed forces was underscored in the latest Amnesty International global report. The Sudan Armed Forces and its rival, the Rapid Support Forces, have repeatedly flouted international humanitarian law, killing and starving civilians while they and their sponsors such as Egypt, Turkey, Iran and the United Arab Emirates face no accountability for war crimes.

Instead of cooperating with regional efforts to convene talks for a ceasefire, Sudan's rival generals are intensifying fighting around El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur. The UN is warning of ethnic violence and humanitarian catastrophe as refugees flood into Chad.

Amnesty also describes how Facebook's algorithms were weaponised to pit communities against each other, contributing to ethnic violence in Ethiopia in recent months.

In a separate report published this week, Human Rights Watch reported that Burkina Faso's military massacred at least 223 civilians, including at least 56 children, in two villages on 25 February in the northern Yatenga province. HRW urged Burkinabè authorities to investigate, with support from the AU and the UN. But Colonel Ibrahim Traoré has flatly ignored previous reports documenting abuses by the army, including kidnappings and indiscriminate drone strikes. His junta faces little prospect of being held accountable.

Read more

Zuma challenges the ANC in his base

With the ex-president as a figurehead, the uMkhonto we Sizwe party threatens the ruling party’s national prospects

The complex arithmetic between provincial and national votes means that former President Jacob Zuma's new party could wreck the ruling African National Congress's (ANC) chances of ...

After the pandemic panic, Big Pharma exits Africa

Moderna's mothballing of a $200m vaccine plant has prompted a backlash from politicians and health professionals

When United States' pharmaceutical giant Moderna halted plans for a US$200 million vaccine factory near Nairobi it dealt a double-blow: to Kenya's ambitions as a healthcare manufa...

After the general crashes, a reshuffle

Francis Ogolla was an unlikely pick as military chief by President Ruto. His untimely death could allow Ruto to handpick his own securocrats

The death of General Francis Ogolla, the Commander of the Kenya Defence Forces, on 18 April, prompted an outpouring of eulogies across party lines that was exceptional even by Keny...

Pointers

Polls fail to brighten outlook

The world's newest state still awaits its first post-independence elections – now scheduled for December – which are supposed to end almost a decade of civil war. But p...

Chakwera furious at US visa ban

The United States government has slapped a visa ban on four former senior Malawi government officials, including the former Head of the Malawi Police Service, George Kainja, over c...

Stories by country

Footer Map