Sudan:
One Year of War

May 6, 2024

This article is translated from the May 5, 2024, issue # 2909 of Lutte Ouvrière (Workers Struggle), the paper of the Trotskyist group of that name active in France.

On April 15 in Paris, an international conference focused on the fate of Sudan, torn apart over the past year by brutal rivalry between warlords.

In April 2023, the two main forces of repression allied against the Sudanese population went to war. The Sudanese Armed Forces, under the command of General al-Bourhane and the Rapid Support Forces of General Daglo, known as Hemetti, suppressed the popular mobilization that ousted dictator al-Bashir in 2019. After firing on demonstrators occupying the center of the capital, Khartoum, the two generals jointly overthrew the civilian government in 2021.

The muted rivalry between al-Bourhane and Hemetti then turned into a direct confrontation for power. The al-Bourhane forces are supported by Egypt, Iran, Qatar, Turkey, and Eritrea. Hemetti, for his part, has the support of the United Arab Emirates and buys arms that transit through the areas of Africa where the Russian ex-Wagner militia is based.

The war that is tearing Sudan apart goes beyond the borders of this country of nearly 45 million inhabitants. It has already claimed almost 50,000 lives. Fleeing the fighting, aerial bombardments, rape, and famine, 8 million people have been displaced, including 1.6 million across the border, surviving in camps where they lack everything.

At the invitation of French Foreign Minister Séjourné, the Paris Conference pledged two billion euros to “meet the most urgent needs,” according to Macron. An international response that NGOs consider shameful in light of the needs.

The conference was an opportunity for the major imperialist powers, who sell arms and finance wars all over the world, to show commiseration for the victims and call for negotiations and ceasefires. The arsonists advise on how to extinguish the flames and ask the tigers they have fed to turn into lambs.