Sudan.. Why do political forces hold the military responsible for slipping into tribal fighting?

KHARTOUM

- With the widening circle of violence in many areas of Sudan and the increase in deaths and injuries as a result of tribal conflicts on the one hand, and the security authorities' intervention to control the situation on the other hand, political forces and professional and factional entities rushed to take urgent action to contribute to ending the fighting and preventing its expansion.

Many of Sudan's vast regions are witnessing security tensions of a tribal nature that are almost extinguished in one place without igniting in another, and dozens of victims always fall, either dead or wounded.

map of tribal violence

Last March, West Darfur state, bordering Chad, witnessed fierce fighting between several tribal components, as the conflict intensified between Masalit and Arab tribes in the "Kerink" region, killing at least 200 people.

This development made the Masalit - one of the African tribes - threaten to demand self-determination in accordance with an agreement dating back to 1919, unless the government imposes measures to prevent the renewal of violence. Rather, the tribe went so far as to invite the Security Council to place its areas under international protection.

Fierce fighting also took place in the same state between the Bedouins and the Misseriya Jabal tribe in "Jabal Moon", in addition to another conflict between the Al-Tama and Al-Ura tribes. Clashes also took place in the Kulbus locality between the Arab tribes and the Qamar tribe.

As for South Darfur, during last March there was also fighting between the Fallata and Arab tribes in the localities of Tulus, Masu and Buram.

Conflicts always erupt in Darfur, western Sudan, due to the conflict between pastoralists and farmers over fertile lands, and tribal wars erupt due to revenge, but the intervention of official forces by taking sides in one of the parties to the conflict often complicates the situation on the ground, which prompts the central authorities to always send forces from outside the inflamed region by conflict.

The escalation of tribal fighting in the western states prompted the Vice-President of the Sovereignty Council, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, "Hemedti" and two leaders of the armed movements in Darfur, Al-Hadi Idris and Al-Taher Hajar - members of the Sovereignty Council - to stay in Darfur, to make reconciliations between the tribal components, to prevent renewed bloodshed.

However, the chances of these reconciliations surviving seem slim in light of the accusations against Hemedti of impartiality, especially since his forces, affiliated with the Arab tribes, are involved in these conflicts.

focus in the east

In eastern Sudan, armed clashes of a tribal nature took place, but their political background was overwhelming. The signing of the peace agreement by one of the eastern components in Juba in October 2019 caused constant tensions between the tribes who rejected the agreement and those who supported it.

The Beja group is considered the most extreme in rejecting the eastern path included in the peace agreement and demanding its abolition, as this group adopted the process of closing eastern Sudan last October for weeks, including the country’s only port on the Red Sea, in protest against the agreement and to demand the departure of the government of Prime Minister Abdel God Hamdok and the transfer of power to the military component.

As for the second group in support of the peace agreement, it includes the tribes of Bani Amer and Habab. A few months ago, because of a quarrel between two people, Bani Amer entered into a bloody conflict with the Nuba tribe in Port Sudan, and its shadows extended to the new cities of Kassala and Halfa, which are among the well-known cities in eastern Sudan and these tribes are distributed in large numbers .

Blue Nile

And this week, tribal fighting moved for the first time to the Blue Nile region between the Hausa and Alberta tribes, and it was caused by the killing of a farmer, but its repercussions spread to several areas, especially since the incident was preceded by the refusal of several tribes to grant the Hausa a civil administration, claiming that they are not the owners of the land.

Voices called for their deportation from the area, and indeed, during the clashes against the Hausa, revenge campaigns were carried out in neighborhoods and streets, with which the number of people fleeing their homes rose to 17,000, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Sudan (OCHA), including 15,000 displaced people from the locality of Roseires. alone.

While the population of the Blue Nile is estimated at 1.3 million people.

In rejection of the events of the Blue Nile, thousands of Hausas demonstrated in the various states of Sudan, especially in the east of the country, where the protests in the states of Gedaref and Kassala turned into acts of violence that killed 6 people and injured dozens.

In Khartoum, the Coalition for Freedom and Change - the ruling coalition before October 25 - decided to urgently send a high-ranking delegation to the region, and also decided to call for the formation of the widest front to confront the plans to break up the country and provoke hate speech.

Take responsibility for the authority

The situation in Sudan has not stabilized since last October 25, when the army chief, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, overthrew the partners in the Freedom and Change Coalition, declaring his intention to take corrective measures after accusing the coalition of controlling the government and excluding others. The street continued to reject him with continuous protests, in which more than 100 people were killed, and thousands were injured.

A member of the Media Committee of the Freedom and Change Alliance, Muhammad Abdel Hakam, believes that the country's slide into the midst of armed tribal conflict represents a major reversal of what the December revolution resolved from the unity of the social fabric.

And Abdel Hakam adds in his speech to Al Jazeera Net, "Therefore, the coalition decided to conduct processions on Sunday to call for an end to the bloody tribal conflict, and to strengthen national cohesion."

According to the leader of the coalition, Moataz Saleh, the proposed processions aim to condemn the developments in the Blue Nile and show support and support for the people there.

The Forces of Freedom and Change hold the military authority responsible for what is happening in the country (communication sites)

Saleh and Abdul Hakam agree to hold the ruling military authority and its security services responsible for the ongoing insecurity in the country.

Moataz Saleh confirms to Al Jazeera Net that eliminating these crises requires addressing the root causes of the conflict and addressing the basis of the problems, which cannot be done in light of the "coup," according to him.

While Abdul Hakam says that "the coup authorities are fully responsible for the blood that was shed and the lives that were lost, by their direct cause of feeding hate speech, discrimination and renunciation of the other." In stopping the conflict, it will lead to the expansion of the armed conflict."

The authorities sent military reinforcements to the Blue Nile region, about 4 days after the tribal fighting intensified, and the forces consisting of the army and the Rapid Support Forces managed to control the situation and arrest some of those involved in the violent events.

A hopeful constitutional declaration

In turn, the leader of the Freedom and Change Coalition, Noureddine Salah El-Din, believes that "overthrowing the coup" is the only way to end the security liquidity and limit the creation of tribal interfaces that create conflicts between them, which is what all party forces and revolutionary entities must put out the fires ignited by the ruling authority, accusing the latter. "Breaking the dreams of a civil state for an equation of the absence of security."

Salah al-Din confirms to Al Jazeera Net that the forces of the revolution are now united more than ever around clear goals that seek to move from the square of the unity of the political position to the circle of action, which he said will only be achieved by the presence of a single political umbrella that brings together all, adding, "I think that we are now performing a calamity towards this issue." Well, the forces of the revolution are getting closer to each other, and many of the differences that dominated the scene in the past period are fading away."

The leader talks about that the most prominent features of the unified action are the field coordination in all of the following: the act of resistance through mass movement, political disobedience or strike and all tools of peaceful resistance. He also indicates the importance of making a greater effort in the external file by mobilizing international and regional support for the Sudanese cause.

Noureddine reveals important arrangements being prepared in the Alliance for Freedom and Change to present the draft constitutional declaration, including the tasks of the transitional period and after the “overthrow of the coup”, and what structures will bear the burden of managing the transitional period, how to choose their occupants and the tasks assigned to these structures to implement them until the end of the transitional period with elections General.