Dispatches

See,

1) Abdelwahab El-Affendi, “There is much danger in the Sudan crisis but also an opportunity; The proliferation of militias has long undermined the Sudanese state. The ongoing fighting could put an end to it, Al Jazeera, April 17, 2023;

2) “Soudan : ce qu’il faut savoir sur la guérilla urbaine qui plonge le pays dans le chaos, Le Figaro, le 18 avril 2023 (@12:30 pm);

UPDATE

3) Benoit Faucon, Summer Said and Jared Malsin, “Libyan Militia and Egypt’s Military Back Opposite Sides in Sudan Conflict; Involvement of regional forces raises risk that fighting between warring Sudanese generals could widen and set back cease-fire efforts,” Wall Street Journal, April 19, 2023 (4:18 pm ET);

Abdelwahab El-Affendi is Professor of Politics at Doha Institute for Graduate Studies

Analysis

For anyone who has not been following events in Sudan for some time, it is difficult to understand the forces at play in the current battle between the government army, and the militia known as the RSF or Rapid Support Forces.

Abdelwahab El-Affendi, Professor of Politics at Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, provides a succinct summary of developments in Sudan in the past 10 years in particular, which can serve as a kind of introduction to the complex forces at play in Sudan. There the army and the RSF are engaged in an all-out battle for control of Khartoum, the capital of some six million people, and other towns and cities in the country. The population of Sudan in 2023 is 48 million people.

The situation is out of control, as a huge humanitarian disaster begins to unfold.

In order to understand the ongoing fighting, readers would be well-advised to begin by reading Professor Abdelwahab El-Affendi’s introduction, published in Al Jazeera on April 17.

The Trenchant Observer