Fox News reported that an official with the US State Department warned Sudan not to go ahead with the construction of a planned Russian naval base in the Port of Sudan. The warning also comes at a time when Sudan is seeking cooperation with Russia on oil and gas projects.
In 2023, US President Joe Biden convinced Sudan to withdraw from negotiations with Russia over its naval base in exchange for aid. Sudan is currently developing ties with Russia again, but this foreign relationship is driven more by immediate material needs than by political ideology or anti-Western sentiment.
Russia was originally a backer of the Rapid Support Forces, and some sources say that Russia is still supporting the RSF with weapons provisions. Earlier this year, Ukrainian special forces captured Wagner mercenaries fighting alongside the RSF. Originally, Russia’s backing of the RSF was motivated by opportunistic reasons: mainly access to gold mines in Darfur. Now, Russia is motivated to seek close ties with the Sudanese government to thwart off the Ukrainians. The Russian naval base in the Red Sea remains a priority.
The West has completely abandoned the Sudanese government in its fight against the genocidal Rapid Support Forces. Instead of supporting the Sudanese government to eradicate the root cause of the chaos in their country, the West is laying equal blame on both sides for what it calls “an internal conflict”. The Sudanese were are out in the streets of London opposing this kind of narrative and any appeasement for the RSF.
Backed and sponsored by the United Arab Emirates and heavily reinforced with fighters from Chad, the RSF’s war against the Sudanese and the Masalit people appears to have more characteristics of a foreign-imposed proxy war than a civil conflict. The RSF’s fighting capabilities would completely collapse without the support of the UAE and Chad. Meanwhile, the Sudanese Army has the support of the Sudanese people and is being welcomed in every liberated territory.
The United States is clearly took the side of the Sudanese government and has also sanctioned the leader of the RSF. The current US administration seems to have kept this stance. The US also seems to be the last remaining Western state that is recognising that the root of the problem in Sudan is the RSF, in contrast to Europe’s perspective that both sides are equally to blame.
Turkey seems to be filling the Western void in Sudan as it has been seeking closer cooperation with the government lately, and they have also been supporting it with considerable military and defence provisions: we know this because the Sudanese Army is now using Baykar-made drones. Turkey may be just right on time in Sudan to push-ack Russia’s influence.
On the other hand, the West is still talking about Sudan as if it was an ephemeral concept that is only useful as a virtuous-signal for peace for patronising Western conferences on Africa. Blaming both sides for “the conflict” and calling for peace is the easiest thing to do, but the reality on the ground is very different.
The Sudanese are terrified and have been terrorised by the Rapid Support Forces, who are responsible for the worst war crimes in Africa since the genocide in Rwanda. Allowing them to keep terrorising the Sudanese to create a rump-state for themselves would be the equivalent of allowing a band of murderous and genocidal rapists to have their own state. Anyone who experienced living under the RSF will mostly tell you the same things: they bring with them chaos and unbridled violence. They kill and massacre old men and children with impunity and rape women on a mass scale to retaliate for their military losses. Women literally kill themselves to avoid living under their rule. Their rule consists of theft, murder, rape and wanton destruction. Meanwhile, RSF leaders are getting rich with deals made with UAE as they exploit the natural resources of Sudan. Anyone who is the least familiar with the RSF can’t yet comprehend how there can be any peace in Sudan if they have control.
The RSF have just committed a massacre in Zamzam: just one of their latest. The death toll has exceeded 1,000 people as the RSF intentionally caused a humanitarian disaster after losing Khartoum to the Sudanese Army. They are now shelling Al-Fashir indiscriminately to try and capture it but the Army is also preparing for a counter-attack in what may be the start of a major offensive in Darfur. The RSF cannot win the war militarily, so instead they are deliberately causing humanitarian disasters to compel the international community to pressure the Sudanese government into laying down its weapons and conceding to the RSF’s demands. Essentially, the RSF are using war crimes as part of their military strategy and are currently holding the Sudanese people hostage to their demands. Europe is playing into the hands of the RSF by speaking about peace and diplomacy. Clearly, this route isn’t leading to peace, and even if it does, it will come at the expense of the Sudanese and most probably renewed massacres.
Europe can take a very different route. Instead of holding virtue-signaling conferences in London that offer no practical solutions, Europe should engage in protracted negotiations with Sudan, ensure that a French or British naval base is established in Port Sudan instead of a Russian one, support the Sudanese government in achieving an immediate military victory on the ground combined with massive humanitarian efforts, and counter Russian disinformation campaigns by heavily subsidising Sudanese independent media and European media outlets operating in Sudan. Not to mention the obvious, that is indicting the RSF leader Hemedti to a war crimes tribunal and immediately ask for the Untied Arab Emirates to extridate him to the Hague for investigations and questioning. Or, Europeans can keep talking about a virtual peace while Russia builds a base in the Port of Sudan and the Sudanese fight the RSF by themselves.
Website Editor
Historian and Publisher
Leave a Reply