For the fifth time this year, tribal confrontations flare up in eastern Sudan, taking advantage of the historical rivalry between ethnicities such as Darfur, and the growing foreign agendas in the Red Sea ports, according to Sudanese officials.
Security reinforcements arrived in Port Sudan - where the main port of the country is - 675 km northeast of the capital, Khartoum, during the past hours, in an attempt to contain firearms confrontations between the Bani Amer and Nuba tribes.
According to the Sudanese Ministry of Interior, the renewed conflict between the two tribes has so far killed 32 people and injured 116 others.
Meanwhile, the appointment of the new governor of Kassala state, Ammar Saleh, is still suspended due to protests led by the headmaster of the Hudandawa tribe, Al-Amin Turk, who wields wide influence in the region with its three states: Gedaref, Kassala and the Red Sea.
Haji Warraq: We can accept the right to self-determination for the Nuba Mountains and Darfur, because there are cultural and ethnic differences, but we will not accept determining the fate of the East, because there are no differences, and we will fight everyone who calls for it with all we have # Sudan pic.twitter.com/wkuMe0GeA6
- Nabil Salim (@ShrefNbel) August 9, 2020
Conspiracy theory
In light of the explosive security situation and the tribal conflict with clear political dimensions, the conspiracy theory is strengthened by the presence of foreign hands tampering with the strategic eastern region of Sudan, according to Fayez Al-Selik, the media advisor to the prime minister.
Asked whether there are plans to separate eastern Sudan, he says, "All scenarios are considered. The east is an important region because it overlooks the Red Sea."
He adds that Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok, when he spoke about the five strategic belts in Sudan, spoke about the Red Sea belt and how the region could witness economic and investment activities, and suggested holding a conference for the East.
But a member of the Southern Port Workers' Association in Port Sudan, Abboud El-Sherbiny, directly accuses that what is happening in the east is behind an Emirati agenda that has ambitions in Sudan's ports on the Red Sea.
Stay ten on the ports ...
Under the fires of conflict will flash
This flash reminds me of the scenario of Al-Mahra governorate, the port of Aden, and Socotra island in Yemen, and the scenario of the State of Somaliland. # Port Sudan_Bleeding # Challenges_Transition
- 🇸🇩Montaser Elamin🇸🇩 (@ montii1978) August 11, 2020
Ports coverts
Al-Sherbiny goes on to tell Al-Jazeera Net that many people think that the efforts to seize Port Sudan's ports have ended with the cancellation of the Filipino company contract, but these efforts have just begun to renew the events of Port Sudan and the protests of Kassala and Gadaref against the appointment of governors from the Bani Amer tribe.
Sudan decided - under pressure from the Ports Authority workers in August 2019 - to cancel the 20-year contract of a Filipino company, based in Dubai, to manage and operate the southern port in Port Sudan.
Earlier last year, Sami Al-Sayegh, chief engineer of the coastal terminal in the southern port in Port Sudan, told Al-Jazeera Net that the UAE is seeking, through the Dubai Ports Company, to control Sudan's ports in the Red Sea.
According to al-Sharbini, the workers ’resistance to the UAE’s efforts to seize the Sudanese ports will not stop. He warns of a scheme through what he called“ smart national partnerships ”to control the ports.
He refers to the failure of the Economic Committee, headed by Muhammad Hamdan Hamidati, Vice Chairman of the Sovereignty Council, and his deputy Hamdok, to develop ports through the army's defense industries system, because the latter has experience in manufacturing tanks, not handling mechanisms in ports, he said.
Agendas 4 countries
Lieutenant General Othman Fakray - an expert in eastern affairs and a retired police officer - warns of the agendas of 4 countries in the region, accusing them of tampering with the stability of eastern Sudan with various motives.
He says that Saudi Arabia has its projects in the Red Sea, and Egypt does not want a democratic experiment in its neighborhood, and the UAE funds and plans the eastern path in the Juba negotiations with the support of the Bani Amer tribe at the expense of other Beja nationalities, while Eritrea tries to fish in these murky waters to make gains.
Fakray confirms - based on his security experiences - that there are multiple penetrations and intelligence hands that inflame the situation in eastern Sudan, which calls for the central government to close the borders with Eritrea, sever relations with it, and extend control and sovereignty over the region decisively.
The man advises the central government to quickly contain the situation in the region, because it is moving quickly towards the Darfur scenario, which will be more painful for the center than what happened in the last, because the east is strategic and closer to the center.
# Portsudan_tensv_aabshoat
💔💔💔 pic.twitter.com/hrFpJp12LY
- Dandasha (@ sayida2325863) August 12, 2020
Governmental silence
Fakray expresses his astonishment at the silence of the central government at the UAE summoning civil leaders from eastern Sudan to meet Muhammad Dahlan, advisor to the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, and about reports that snipers have been seized in the Port Sudan events believed to be Eritreans.
He points out that from the position of the advisor to the former Red Sea state governor, he saw conflicting reports of security services on tribal clashes in Port Sudan.
He explains that the Rapid Support Forces, who were recently pushed into the city, lacked experience in dealing with civilians, and that their fears of using force for fear of accountability were reinforced after the events of Al-Obeid city in North Kordofan, in which members of these forces face charges of killing students during protests.
During the past two days, the federal government pushed forces from the Central Reserve of the Police, as well as a large force of Rapid Support Forces, to Port Sudan, while the state government announced the imposition of a state of emergency.
Dar Al-Naim area in Port Sudan # Port Sudan_Bleed pic.twitter.com/1Ku3lU5vjj
- Dandasha (@ sayida2325863) August 11, 2020
Endeavors to calm down
Al-Jazeera Net indicates that the Security and Defense Council headed by President of the Sovereignty Council Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, all members of the Sovereignty Council, the Prime Minister and Commander in Chief of the Army and the Ministers of Defense, Interior, Foreign Affairs, Justice and Finance are holding meetings on the East events.
The Council of Ministers approved the establishment of a commission for eastern Sudan, after hearing a security clarification from the Minister of Interior, Lieutenant General Al Tarifi Idris, about the events that took place in the cities of Port Sudan and New Halfa.
Delegations from the civil administrations of eastern Sudan also arrived in Khartoum, headed by Nazir Al-Hudandawa Al-Amin Turk, where these delegations met government officials led by the Prime Minister and members of the Sovereign Council and the Forces of Freedom and Change, the political incubator for the transitional government.
And Abdullah Dedan, a peace researcher and former director of Hamdok's office, advises against relying on security solutions, despite their importance at the present time.
He explains that the people of the East are a victim of marginalization that has lasted for more than 6 decades since the independence of Sudan, so it is not important now to accuse the government of negligence or lack thereof, rather what is important is the solidarity of political and civil forces so that we do not plunge into ethnic conflicts.
"Everyone must be involved. We need boldness and frankness and to sit on the ground with all parties to know why they are killing each other? There are different motives for everyone who carries arms," Dedan continues.