Does the Army Commander Attack the Civil Forces with the Remnants Rifle?
Zein Osman
In his recent speech from the temporary capital, Port Sudan, the Sudanese army commander and head of the Sovereignty Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, announced his readiness to engage in negotiations soon. However, the man who previously led the coup against the civilian government, in collaboration with the leader of the Rapid Support Forces and his current war rival, launched a harsh attack on the civilian forces in his speech, once again accusing them of supporting the rebellion of the Rapid Support Forces. He emphasized that there is no access to power in the country except through the ballot boxes.
The question is, why does the army commander attack the civilian political components preemptively before sitting at the negotiating table with his military rival? To answer this, it is necessary to identify the political components that the army commander targeted, and here it seems to point towards the Forces of Freedom and Change and the Civilian Front to stop the war and restore democracy.
Political analyst and professor of political science at the University of Nilein, Mosab Mohamed Ali, explains in his conversation with "Citizens" that the army commanders attack on the civilian forces is an extension of the general context in which he tries to create a situation of linkage between the Forces of Freedom and Change and the Rapid Support Forces. He claims that the latter is waging its war for its political agenda, which may not seem logical but, on the other hand, may align with the popular mood that has been shaped throughout the war. The recent speech came in the aftermath of the shock following the Rapid Support Forces takeover of Wad Madani, and its main goal is to create a sense of popular cohesion.
However, the Secretary-General of the National Umma Party and a leader in the Forces of Freedom and Change, Al-Wathiq Al-Birair, criticized the army commanders speech, describing it as a mere echo of the remnants and the leaders of the Islamic movement. Al-Birair characterized the statements of the army commander as emotional and detached from reality, affirming at the same time his immersion in the agenda of the remnants of the previous regime, who seek to return to power through war. Al-Birair also highlighted the consistency of Al-Burhans statements with the rhetoric of the Secretary-General of the Islamic Movement, Ali Karti, who calls for the continuation of the war, confirming all indications that the Islamists are the ones who ignited and manage the current war. Al-Birair regrets the alignment of the army commander with their speech, calling it a futile war that contributes to breaking the capabilities of the army. Al-Birair indicates the alignment of the army commander with the rhetoric of the Islamic movement by summoning his response to their demands to retract from the Juba resolutions and attempts to disavow his commitments to the peace summit.
In his conversation with "Citizens," the political secretary of the Sudanese Congress Party, Sharif Mohamed Osman, welcomes Al-Burhans announcement of his readiness to meet with the leader of the Rapid Support Forces as a step in the right direction. It finds approval from the civilian forces calling for the cessation of the war. Even if the bill for that is the army commander engaging in insulting the civilian forces and accusing them, it is not new since the army commander has previously insulted these political forces by aligning with his former ally Hemeti following the coup, which we overlooked before. We will overcome it now because time does not allow stopping at minor issues, and the nation is at a crossroads.
Earlier, Al-Burhan attacked the civilian forces to justify the coup and to block the path to the outbreak of a civil war in the country, according to his expression. Now he attacks them after the war has erupted under the pretext that they support one of the conflict parties. This contains a significant contradiction because those who are waging the war today are those who led the coup, united against the civilian forces.
But the conclusion now is that the army commander attacks the civilian forces to justify his engagement in negotiations, seeking to create a state of political polarization among civilians. This is despite the archives preserving statements by the army commander affirming that the armed forces have no inclination or desire to continue in governance. They are moving towards stopping the war and completing the transitional process. However, the general quickly retreats from his statements, wielding the "remnants" rifle according to the accusations of the civilian forces.
