KHARTOUM -

Analysts described the threats of the head of the Supreme Council of Beja Opticians and Independent Verticals, Muhammad al-Amin Turk, to declare war in eastern Sudan as "political blackmail and media consumption," while his legal advisor defended them, justifying them by the expiration of the deadline he granted to the government.

Observers believe that Turk does not represent the entire region of eastern Sudan, but he enjoys great support from the Hadandwa tribe (the largest tribe in the region) and enjoys a leadership personality, which is an extension of his father's leadership in the east, of which he has become a symbol.

Turk's moves come at the present time to kill several birds with one stone.

It anticipates the workshops that the Forces for Freedom and Change will attend with the African UN mechanism to hold, starting next week, to discuss the five outstanding issues in the framework agreement - including the issue of eastern Sudan - to achieve a final agreement.

Turk also wants - according to observers - to put pressure on Khartoum through the East issue to achieve gains for the "Forces of Freedom and Change - the Democratic Bloc", whose vice-president he is, in order to obtain concessions that enable the bloc to join the political process.

Turk is also seeking to pull the rug from under the other wing of the Supreme Council of Beja Glasses led by Ibrahim Adroub, Abdullah Obshar and Sayed Abu Amna, who announced earlier that he did not recognize the authority in Khartoum and his intention to secede and form an interim government in the region.


threat of separation

The head of the Supreme Council of Beja Opticians and independent columns, Muhammad al-Amin Turk, threatened to declare war in eastern Sudan if the Sudanese authorities refused to grant the region a separate negotiating platform for self-determination.

Turk said in front of a crowd in Kassala state, while he was carrying a cannon and ammunition for heavy weapons.

"We will return again to the cases of air and artillery bombardment, and I salute the citizens of these border areas who stood firm during the years of war."

Turk criticized the policies pursued by the former regime in developing areas affected by the war, and added, "There are thousands of martyrs and wounded who were not compensated by the government or organizations."

He talked about arrangements that would lead him to join an alliance that brings together central, northern and eastern Sudan, in addition to the Kordofan region, to work to achieve self-rule, and he continued, "The most important one thinks that he wants to rule us from Khartoum."

He refuses to leave the eastern Sudan path included in the Juba Sudan Peace Agreement concluded by the transitional government in 2020, and led the Beja tribes in 2021 to close the main ports in the country, and the road linking the capital, Khartoum, to the Red Sea state, as part of protests against the transitional government, which was later dismissed by the army.


timeout

Turk's advisor for legal affairs, lawyer Ahmed Musa, explains that the head of the Supreme Council of Beja announced the tendency to self-determination at this time, after the expiry of the deadline he set 4 months ago.

Musa told Al-Jazeera Net that the forces of "freedom and change - the Central Council" excluded eastern Sudan from the framework agreement, and are heading to hold a workshop to discuss the region's crises in the absence of the region's people and leaders, and he saw this as an extension of its mistakes in power since it was a political incubator for the government of former Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok.

Musa confirms that Turk will continue to mobilize the people of eastern Sudan to reject the framework agreement and the path of the East until the government responds to the demands of the people of the region for an independent platform that discusses its issues with the participation of stakeholders, and a round table for national and societal forces to resolve the country's crises.

And Muhammad Al-Amin Turk established - following the Juba Sudan Peace Agreement signed in October 2020 - the Supreme Council of Beja and the independent columns to oppose the eastern Sudan path in the agreement.

Turk believes that the path passed them by and they were not consulted, and that the leaders of the path do not represent them.

The leaders of the track - Al-Amin Daoud, Khaled Jawaish and Muhammad Jamil - belong to the Bani Amer tribe (the second largest social component in the region).

And last June, Turk announced the suspension of the Supreme Council of Beja Glasses, and accused parties of kidnapping him.

This led to the split of the council, as his deputy, Ibrahim Adrop, led another wing with the same name.

The dissidents accused the deputy head of the Sovereignty Council, Muhammad Hamdan Hamidti - who is assigned by the Sovereignty Council with the East file - of coaxing Turk to change his position and support the path of the East.

Another body was also formed, larger in number and representation, and includes 17 social components, under the name of the National Administration Council for Eastern Sudan, and it includes the tribes of Bani Amer, Al-Bashari, Al-Amrar, Al-Bawadra, Al-Lahween, Al-Jamilab, Al-Habab, Al-Dabaina, Al-Sulaihab and others, and this council supports the path of the East in the peace agreement.

Turk rejects the framework agreement signed by the Sovereignty Council with the Forces for Freedom and Change (Anatolia)

Political blackmail

On the other hand, the leader in eastern Sudan, Abdullah Darf, saw that "threats leave political blackmail and media consumption."

He told Al-Jazeera Net that Turk does not represent eastern Sudan, and that most of the people of the region are with the unity of Sudan, and he cannot leave the implementation of his threats in isolation from them, and that he has become a single current from the Supreme Council of Beja Glasses, which split into 3 groups.

In turn, the researcher in eastern Sudan issues, Sami Abdullah, warned of the regional and international competition on the Sudanese coast in the Red Sea to establish military bases and ports in light of the state of liquidity and security and political fragility that Sudan has been experiencing since the overthrow of President Omar al-Bashir.

He told Al-Jazeera Net, "Foreign fingers fuel the conflict between the components of eastern Sudan in order to control the region."

He added that the United States categorically rejects Russia's establishment of a logistical base on the Sudanese coast, and considers it one of the red lines, despite the agreement between Khartoum and Moscow to establish this base.

Tribal components oppose the recent agreement of Sudanese Finance Minister Jibril Ibrahim with the UAE to establish the "Abu Amama" port, 200 km from Port Sudan, which is consistent with the positions of neighboring countries that fear competition in ports, influence and interests in the region.