Spotlight on Akars Speech: A Counterattack of Fallacies and Alternative Rumors
Abdullah Rizk Abu Seimazah
Commander Malik Akars speech, the Deputy Head of the Transitional Sovereignty Council, directed to the people yesterday evening, can be distinguished into two components: the declared and the hidden.
In the declared component, a set of fallacies and counter rumors emerge to compose the discourse of the phase, aiming to boost morale (after the civilian bloc), on the threshold of a new political development (Antebe negotiations). This is for the continuation of the war (to the last soldier, as per Al-Burhans recent speech), implying an implicit rejection of negotiations and any attempt to end the war peacefully.
Based on the assumption that "propaganda and rumors are tools of the enemy," as he stated, Akars speech shifted towards a counterattack entirely relying on alternative propaganda and rumors. This aims to restore what remains of certainty or reassurance that war and its field data have scattered, regarding the military resolution of the battle.
Akar took the place of Al-Burhan in presenting false reassurance and shaky certainty because the general is now preparing to meet his opponent, Hemeti, expected to occur in the next few days, where it seems inappropriate to speak inappropriately before the meeting (like ridiculing the efforts of IGAD to end the war, as mentioned in Akars speech).
The speech, which can be categorized as a response to Ali Kartis call, the Secretary of the Islamic Movement for the coup leaders, to "be honest with the people about the facts and not leave them to rumors," consists of a set of inverted facts. Examples include the claim that the war did not start on April 14 and that remnants and Islamists have no connection to the war (although America punished the Secretary of the Islamic Movement and two leaders of Bashirs security apparatus). The speech also suggests that the presence of the Rapid Support Forces does not mean control and its expansion does not mean victory. It claims that the army is victorious (even though, instead of transitioning from the defense square to the attack square since last June, the army started withdrawing from some positions it defended since the beginning of the war, in some states in Darfur, West and South Kordofan, in addition to the Gezira state).
Perhaps the most important aspect of Akars speech is the endorsement of the Peoples Resistance project, officially launched in Suakin. Through this project, remnants are activated to expand the scope of the war and turn it into a comprehensive civil war. It is blessed as a framework for a new militia, and the armed forces are preparing to deploy it to the stage of the absurd war.
What is left unsaid in Akars speech is the ignorance of the Burhan-Hemeti meeting, the imminent confrontation. He refrains from mentioning Burhan and praising his leadership in the "Dignity Battle," denying the accusation of betrayal. This is what Al-Nazir did at the inauguration of the Peoples Resistance, where General leadership is a point of contention within the war advocates camp, with some calling for his overthrow.
However, the most significant aspect ignored in Akars speech is the escalating humanitarian tragedy in light of an absolute denial of the catastrophic facts of the war. The victory celebrated by Akar has claimed more than 12,000 lives, with 7 million refugees and internally displaced people, wandering displaced from one place to another in search of safety that does not exist throughout the country. Akar and his partners in the current government delay acknowledging an immediate and unconditional ceasefire as an indication that they are interested in continuing the war. This is a favorable environment to secure their private interests at the expense of the interests of the Sudanese people as a whole.
