Sudan

Africa

Who’s arming who in Sudan?

The United Arab Emirates denied arming the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces fighting Sudan’s army, despite a leaked UN document alleging “credible” evidence. The UN report said arms shipments are unloaded each week from cargo planes at an airport in Chad, and handed to the RSF at the Sudanese border. The UAE has also been accused of funnelling weapons through the Central African Republic, part of a regional supply network that has allowed the RSF to “punch above its weight” in the nine-month conflict. But the Gulf State—with business and political interests across Africa—said it has taken no side in the war. Sudan’s strategic position on the Red Sea has attracted the involvement of several regional powers. Egypt is backing the army, as is, reportedly, Iran. The multiplicity of actors has complicated resolution of a conflict that has displaced 10 million people. (Map: PCL)

Africa

‘Blood gold,’ diamonds behind Russian war effort

Gold-mining operations in Africa under the control of the paramilitary Wagner Group are funneling money to the Kremlin for the Russian war effort in Ukraine, according to a new report by watchdog organizations. “The Blood Gold Report,” prepared by the Consumer Choice Center and Democracy 21, finds that Wagner has laundered some $2.5 billion in proceeds from its African operations since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, helping Moscow to ride out international sanctions. In the Central African Republic, Wagner is said to have exclusive operational control over the country’s largest gold mine at Ndassima in return for its services in propping up the regime. The European Union meanwhile announced sanctions on Russia’s state-owned diamond giant Alrosa and its CEO, citing their “long-standing partnership with the Russian Armed Forces.” (Photo of CAR army troops wearing the Wagner Group insignia via Corbeau News Centrafrique)

Africa

Is Sudan about to split in two?

Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are ousting the army from military bases across the western Darfur region, leading to fears the country will be split in a similar way to neighboring Libya, which is ruled by rival governments. Even as the RSF has engaged in talks with the army in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah, the group has launched attacks on the capitals of three of Darfur’s five states, leading to mass displacement and large civilian casualties. Last month, it took full control over Nyala and Zalingei (the capitals of South Darfur and Central Darfur), while last week it seized the main army base in West Darfur’s El Geneina. Over 1,000 people from the Masalit ethnic group were reportedly killed by RSF and allied militia fighters during the West Darfur takeover, which may amount to the worst civilian atrocity since Sudan’s current war erupted in April. RSF leaders are now threatening to seize El Fasher in North Darfur, which has been a safe haven in recent months, and has attracted hundreds of thousands of displaced people. (Map: PCL)

Africa

Can Sudan talks make progress this time?

Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) resumed negotiations in Jeddah, four months after the US- and Saudi-mediated talks were suspended because truces were repeatedly violated. Saudi Arabia said the discussions will be based on previous agreements to facilitate humanitarian access and respect ceasefires, though the conflict parties appear to have widely divergent negotiating stances. The army said the talks don’t mean it will stop fighting, and the RSF—which controls most of the capital, Khartoum—has been battling on too. This week, it took full control over Nyala, the country’s second biggest city and the largest in the Darfur region. (Map: PCL)

Planet Watch

El Niño’s global food fallout

El Niño will drive global food aid needs even higher in the coming months, a new analysiswarns. The prediction comes as food aid agencies are already making ration cuts amid a budget squeeze. In July, meteorologists declared the onset of El Niño, a periodic climate phenomenon that usually brings drought to large stretches of the globe and wetter weather elsewhere. The analysis by the Famine Early Warning Systems Network says that humanitarian groups must prepare for “high food assistance needs.” Another climate phenomenon, the Indian Ocean Dipole, could amplify El Niño’s effects—with both compounded by the climate crisis. This September was the hottest ever recorded. “The temperature anomalies are enormous—far bigger than anything we have ever seen in the past,” Petteri Taalas, head of the UN’s meteorological agency, WMO, said in a press release. (Photo of displaced families in Somalia: UN Photo/Tobin Jones via Flickr)

Africa

Russia in Africa: imperialist or pretender?

In Episode 194 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg reviews Russia in Africa: Resurgent Great Power or Bellicose Pretender? by Samuel Ramani. Oxford scholar Ramani traces the history from Imperial Russia’s Cossack adventures in Djibouti to the contemporary Wagner Group operations in Sudan, the Sahel nations, and across the African continent. Is Russia truly a Great Power that can challenge the traditional colonial and neo-colonial powers on the continent, or is it a “pretender” which is at this moment assuming a particularly bellicose posture to compensate for its lack of structural imperial power? And does it make a difference? Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Image: OUP)

Africa

Ukrainian special ops against RSF in Sudan: report

Ukrainian special forces were likely behind a series of drone strikes and a ground operation directed against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) near Sudan’s capital Khartoum, a CNN investigation has found. An unnamed military source in Kyiv told CNN: “Ukrainian special services were likely responsible.” The RSF, which took up arms against the ruling junta in an evident effort to derail Sudan’s planned democratic transition in April, is believed to be backed by Russia’s mercenary Wagner Group. (Photo: Sudan Tribune)

Africa

ICC opens investigation into Sudan conflict

International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan announced before the UN Security Council that the court has opened an investigation into atrocities committed by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and rival Rapid Security Forces (RSF), 90 days into the current conflict in Sudan. Khan said that investigators are following up on claims of attacks on civilians, the targeting of ethnic minorities, and sexual violence and violence against children. The fighting has been particularly fierce in Darfur region, where Khan referenced reports of “looting and extrajudicial killings, burnings of homes.” The bodies of at least 87, mainly ethnic Masalit believed to have been killed by the RSF and their allied Arab militia in West Darfur, were buried in a mass grave outside the state capital El-Geneina, according to information obtained by the UN Human Rights Office. (Photo: Henry Wilkins/VOA via Jurist)

Africa

Thousands killed in new Darfur ‘genocide’

Clashes, artillery fire and air-strikes rock Sudan’s capital, as the conflict between rival factions that has displaced 2.5 million people and caused a humanitarian crisis enters its 11th week. But with world media focusing on the fighting in Khartoum, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is raising the alarm about a dramatic escalation in western Darfur region, where members of the Masalit ethnic group are targeted by Arab militias aligned with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Authorities from the autonomous Sultanate of Dar Masalit report that more than 5,000 have been killed in such attacks in and around West Darfur state capital El Geneina over the past weeks. The Sultanate describes the continuing attacks as “ethnic cleansing” and “genocide.” (Photo of displaced Masalit children: Radio Dabanga)

Africa

Darfur bears brunt of Sudan conflict

Coverage of Sudan’s new internal conflict, now entering its second month, has focused on the battle for Khartoum, the nation’s capital. But some of the worst fighting has taken place in El Geneina, capital of West Darfur state. On top of combat between the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), clashes have broken out in the town between RSF-aligned Arab militias and members of the Masalit ethnic group. By the count of local medical groups, the total death toll in El Geneina now exceeds 2,000, while more than 150,000 people from the town and surrounding areas have been displaced. Many have fled across the border to neighboring Chad. (Photo: Remains of an IDP camp in El Geneina, via Radio Dabanga)

Africa

Podcast: Russia and the Sudan crisis II

In Episode 172 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg continues to document Russian support for the attempted coup that plunged Sudan into crisis and derailed a scheduled transition to civilian rule last month—as well as ongoing Russian armed support to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the paramilitary faction that led the attempted coup and is now battling for control of the country. CNN and Deutsche Welle have reported claims of Russian weapons drops to the RSF, even as the UN pleads with the warring factions to come to the table. The RSF and Moscow’s Wagner Group mercenary outfit have established a power base in Sudan through their joint control of mineral resources in Darfur and Kordofan—even as they put down the self-determination struggle of these regions’ indigenous peoples. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Photo of RSF forces in Darfur via Sudan Tribune)

Africa

Podcast: is Russia behind the Sudan crisis?

In Episode 171 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg examines the Russian fingerprints on the attempted coup d’etat in Sudan that has plunged the country into crisis—and derailed a transition to civilian rule that was to have taken place in April under terms of a deal between the ruling junta and pro-democracy opposition. The coup attempt was led by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which was to have been absorbed into the official armed forces under terms of the transition deal. The RSF has been closely collaborating with Russian mercenary outfit the Wagner Group—especially in semi-legal gold-mining operations in Darfur and Kordofan regions. The Wagner Group appears to be operating a death squad to eliminate rival and independent gold prospectors in these regions. The arrangement points to a Kremlin-backed design to make the RSF economically independent of the Sudanese state in preparation for an eventual seizure of power. Russian plans for Moscow’s first military base in Africa, at Port Sudan, could have been jeopardized by the transition to democratic rule. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Map: PCL)