Sudan on the Brink: How Escalating Conflict Fuels Islamist Agenda to Derail Peace Talks
Military battles broke out on Thursday in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum and several areas of Bahri city, between the Sudanese army and rapid aid forces, “in a message from supporters of the war to al-Burhan, who is currently in New York, to block any attempt to negotiate,” According to experts.
This is despite ongoing international and regional efforts to get the warring parties to the negotiating table and agree to stop fighting.
The fighting was renewed after a nearly month-long standoff in the capital, Khartoum.
“Violent fighting has been going on since Thursday morning in Khartoum with Army General Command Al-Muqrin and Armored Corps in Al-Shajara area south of Khartoum. Al-Kadro and Al-Halfaya area north of Khartoum Bahri,” witnesses told “Eram News”.
Accounts supporting the Sudanese army posted video clips on social media showing army soldiers advancing across the White Nile Bridge connecting the cities of Omdurman and Khartoum.
Other videos also showed Sudanese army soldiers crossing the Halfaya Bridge and advancing towards Khartoum Bahri.
On the other hand, accounts attached to the Rapid Support Force confirmed that they responded to a large-scale attack launched by the Sudanese army, whose troops attempted to cross the iron bridge connecting Omdurman, Mohandesin District and Khartoum.
It indicated that the support force “conducted an ambush in which the army inflicted heavy loss of life and equipment,” confirming the destruction and burning of 4 tracked tanks west of the Al-Futaihab Bridge leading to Khartoum. killing their crew and others.
For his part, Rapid Support Force adviser Al-Basha Tabiq confirmed that “three army vehicles were encountered in Khartoum.”
Despite the intensity of the fighting, experts are hopeful that recent American moves on the crisis will succeed in bringing the two sides to the negotiating table soon to reach a ceasefire agreement.
The past few days have witnessed intense U.S. engagement with mediators and parties to the military conflict in Sudan, aiming to contain the escalation of the war and return the Sudanese to the negotiating table to work to end it. Army and Rapid Support Forces.
Discussion is closed
Political analyst Salah Hassan Juma considered that Thursday’s fighting was “a message from war supporters to al-Burhan, who is currently in New York, to block any attempt to negotiate.”
The attack was led by Islamist warlords infiltrating the army “to send a message to al-Burhan that they are capable of resolving the war militarily,” Juma told Erem News.
He noted that “the outcome of the battle was the opposite of what the supporters of the war had hoped for, as it appeared that the rapid support forces resisted the army’s efforts, although it attacked from three axes.”
Sudan’s army commander is in New York today to attend a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, where he is expected to meet with the US secretary of state to discuss efforts to quickly resume talks with aid forces to end the war. the country
discussion position
For his part, political analyst Alauddin Babikar said, “The military escalation is aimed at strengthening the negotiating position in any future negotiation process.”
Babiker added to “Erm News”, “The two sides of the war in Sudan are seeking to gain new territory to strengthen their position of control, so that each side can impose their agenda on the negotiating table.”
He stressed that “the recent escalation of military fighting comes in an attempt to gain new positions on the ground, especially after the failure of the Geneva talks due to the Sudanese army’s refusal to participate.”
Babiker explains, “The war has started because of the authorities, and it will not stop until they reach a compromise that guarantees their survival in power.”
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Last August, international mediators led by the United States and Saudi Arabia held talks in Switzerland on a ceasefire in Sudan, which was boycotted by the Sudanese army and attended by rapid aid forces.
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