When the deposed incarcerated Sudanese dictator, Omar Hassan Ahmed el-Bechir, was in power he was made to look invincible. He was not only arrogant but talked down to everybody. Transformed by absolute power and outspoken he became a power monster whose court was brimming with jesters and sycophants.
Bolstered by the millions of Dollars he had stolen (some of which was found in his residence after his arrest!) el-Bechir was confident of himself believing supremely in the longevity of his tyranny.
When the International Criminal Court (ICC) had indicted him in absentia for the war crimes his forces committed in Darfur in particular and the now independent South Sudan in general during the protracted war for liberation he had summarily dismissed the ICC and the charges as a non-event just as the Russian dictator, Vladimir Putin, and his many yes-men are presently doing.
Now, el-Bechir had been humbled and sent parking from the presidential perch from where he had built a cult of personality and ‘immortality’. The Sudanese popular revolt that led to his fall was made possible by the Generals (led by the current junta leader, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and his erstwhile Deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti. Gen. Hemedti heads the notorious paramilitary force known as Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Now, after working perfectly together for a few years collaborating to kill hundreds of the Sudanese during the months-long street protests against military rule, Generals al-Burhan and Dagalo have declared war on themselves!
Last weekend heavy gunfire and explosions rocked Khatoum and other cities and towns. Reportedly what led to the declaration of war was about the reinsertion of the RSF elements into the mainstream national Armed Forces. RSF comprises over one hundred thousand men, war-hardened and heavily-armed!
Rapidly following the declaration of hostilities they took control of the international airport in the capital city forcing it to be closed. They equally seized the National TV and radio stations putting them off service! The Presidential Palace itself was not spared as the RSF organized forces almost occupied it.
The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) under the command of Gen. al-Burhan began using air power to their advantage, bombing the entrenched positions of the Hemedti boys. With air superiority Gen Burhan and his forces are said to be imposing their military might and will on the ground.
In a supposedly holy month of Ramadan when the muslim faithfuls the world over fasted and prayed it is abominable for the rogue Generals in Sudan to engage in a fratricidal war killing civilians and destroying properties and infrastructures.
Yet, in another sense it is a good event for democracy as the military conflict would facilitate a speedy transition, an orderly democratic transfer of power to the civilians after a presidential poll.
By the time the booms of gun and bombs subside what would dominate national discourse would definitely be how best to ease out the two warring rogue Generals. In such a case both Generals Hemedti and al-Burhan would be history at the end of the bloodbath!
While Gen. Burhan is said to owe his dominance to the Egyptian logistical military support, Hemedti is known to be friendly with the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Several attempts at mediation have been organized and even declarations of ceasefire had been ignored by the men of the ground. War of supremacy could be about ego and command and control mechanisms.
The rogue Generals in Sudan reminds one of the rogue Generals in Nigeria (including the late Gen. Sani Abacha, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida) and how, decades ago especially during and after the June 12 presidential poll won by the late Bashorun MKO Abiola but annulled, these men of the Jackboot nearly plunged Nigeria into a civil war.
Now, thank goodness democracy has prevailed in our dear great country but it came with a huge price! Hundreds were murdered and hundreds more injured in the process of the campaign for democracy. As it is in Nigeria so shall it be in Sudan soon!
Now, Sudan needs nothing but democracy! And the solution to the raging war of the Generals remains the exit of both men from the national political scene. Many Sudanese had died fighting for democracy. And many more had been wounded and many more forced into exile.
Let a free and fair inclusive presidential election be conducted sooner than later and power handed over to the eventual winner who would heal the land and reconcile the people.
The two rogue Generals that stole the people’s revolution that saw the ouster of Omar el-Bechir must be made to restore that which they have stolen. Fot the past two years or thereabout they have done more damage to the system!
Power belongs to the people — including the Sudanese and of course, Nigerians!
SOC
Okenwa
soco_abj_2006_rci@hotmail.fr
