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The National
01-05-2025
- Politics
- The National
How Sudan's army is allowing Islamists to regain dominance in exchange for battlefield support
It has been a tumultuous journey for Sudan's Islamists since 2019, when the authoritarian regime of their patron Omar Al Bashir was removed from power in a popular uprising. But those trying times, according to Sudanese analysts who spoke to The National, appear to have come to an end, with the Islamists now the single most dominant force in Sudan's complex political landscape. Their alliance with the army in the two-year-old war against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces now seems to have brought them back from the political wilderness. Many of these militant Islamist groups operate under the name "The Islamist Movement" but in reality embrace a doctrine inspired almost entirely by the Muslim Brotherhood, which was recently banned in Jordan and is designated a terrorist group by several Arab states. That means war-torn Sudan could become their last refuge if they are allowed to return to power. "The individuals who ruled Sudan during the days of Al Bashir are now the ones who dominate the scene," said prominent analyst Osman Al Mirghany. "They are all inside Sudan, and their volunteer fighters are their most important political tool." Experts believe it's an alliance dictated in large part by necessity, not conviction, and the Islamists and the army could very well be the opposing sides in a conflict likely to begin after the current war is over. That war could start even earlier if the army decides to retake the reins, with Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan – the armed forces' chief and Sudan's de facto leader – deciding to tee up for a power grab, they explained. "The best case scenario for the Islamists is to recreate conditions similar to the Al Bashir era. But that will mean the return of international economic sanctions, the erosion of their power base and the populace's loss of hope in change," said political analyst Mahmoud Said. "That will trigger another popular uprising that could be more violent than the one that toppled Al Bashir in 2019," he warned. "Moreover, the possibility of a violent confrontation between the military and the Islamists is real since both are vying for power." Already, radical Al Bashir loyalists, including clerics, have been claiming that Islamist militias, not the army, should take the credit for the string of battlefield gains against the RSF in recent months. Those claims have drawn an angry response from Gen Al Burhan, whose critics accuse him of being a closet Islamist himself. He denies the charge, despite his growing alliances with Islamists. Sudan has since 2019 seen Al Bashir disgraced and jailed, his top lieutenants imprisoned and their assets taken away as authorities of the new order went about dismantling the legacy of what had been one of the world's most enduring dictatorships. It was not long before the Islamists received a reprieve from measures to limit their role, overseen by the transitional government of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok. A 2021 coup staged by Gen Al Burhan and his ally at the time, RSF commander Gen Mohamed Dagalo, ushered in the start of their comeback after months in which the pair harshly berated the government and its policies. Ostensibly staged to spare the vast and ethnically and religiously diverse country a possible civil war and bring about political inclusion, the coup toppled Mr Hamdok's government and derailed the democratic transition protesters advocated during the bloody 2018-19 uprising. The anti-Islamist moves pursued by Mr Hamdok's government was halted by the coup leaders, with droves of Al Bashir loyalists reinstated in key government jobs and sympathetic judges overturned rulings that froze the assets of businesses and organisations linked to Al Bashir's now-dissolved National Congress Party. Al Bashir's feared security agencies were given back the wide powers they had during the dictator's 29-year rule but taken away after his fall; and hundreds of pro-democracy protesters were killed on the streets by security forces. But tension was soon to surface between the two generals and it did not take long for it to turn into open conflict in April 2023. Many blame the Islamists for igniting the war, but there has been no concrete evidence to support that claim besides the assumption that a paramilitary force not run by Islamists would always be a major hurdle on the Islamists' path back to power. Short of boots on the ground, run out of the capital by the RSF and embroiled in a bitter feud with liberal politicians, Gen Al Burhan turned to the Islamists for help; and they were happy to oblige, seeing the fight against the RSF as a way to increase their influence. "The SAF (Sudanese armed forces) today is less a national army than a coalition of necessity," said US-based analyst Ezzat Khairi. "They (the army and the Islamists) are united, not by a vision for Sudan, but by a common goal: to crush the idea of a democratic Sudan," he explained. "Al Burhan, whether by design or drift, has aligned himself with the very forces the revolution tried to remove. And, yet, some still think the army will save Sudan." Gen Al Burhan has denied he was in a direct alliance with the Islamists, arguing that the powerful volunteer brigades fighting on his side against the RSF were made up of men who left their ideologies at the door before joining the battle for Sudan's 'salvation'. But the analysts insist the alliance does in reality exist, with the notorious Al Bashir-era militias that were disbanded after the dictator's fall regrouped to fight on the side of the army. "For 30 years, Al Bashir invested heavily in the armed forces to turn it into a political force to implement his programme," said Shawki Abdel Azeem, a pro-democracy politician. "Joining the war allowed them to collect a handsome return on years of work to fill the ranks with loyalists." The army's alliance with the Islamists has not escaped the attention of the RSF propaganda machine, whose political discourse is dominated by rhetoric of inclusion, democracy and ridding the nation of the Islamists, whose time in power saw the Afro-Arab nation of 50 million roiled in corruption, crippling economic woes and international isolation and sanctions. The RSF's narrative has resonated with some members of Sudan's liberal political establishment as well as rebel groups in the West and south of the country who see Gen Al Burhan and his top lieutenants guilty of allowing remnants of the Al Bashir regime to make a political comeback. Gen Al Burhan has labelled those politicians "traitors" while the military-backed prosecution issued arrest warrants for many of them. Gen Al Burhan was in Cairo this week for talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi whose 11-year rule in Sudan's powerful northern neighbour is based in large part on zero tolerance of political Islam. Sources briefed on their talks said Gen Al Burhan explained to his host that the "presence" of Islamists on the scene was still needed as his army and the allied militias prepare to retake vast areas still under RSF control in the western Darfur region and parts of Kordofan to the south-west of Khartoum. "He is a religious man but he is not an Islamist in the Al Bashir mould," said one of the sources about Gen Al Burhan. "Many of his officers and several top generals are."
The National
01-05-2025
- Politics
- The National
How is Sudan's army allowing Islamists to regain dominance in exchange for battlefield support?
It has been a tumultuous journey for Sudan's Islamists since 2019, when the authoritarian regime of their patron Omar Al Bashir was removed from power in a popular uprising. But those trying times, according to Sudanese analysts who spoke to The National, appear to have come to an end, with the Islamists now the single most dominant force in Sudan's complex political landscape. Their alliance with the army in the two-year-old war against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces now seems to have brought them back from the political wilderness. Many of these militant Islamist groups operate under the name "The Islamist Movement" but in reality embrace a doctrine inspired almost entirely by the Muslim Brotherhood, which was recently banned in Jordan and is designated a terrorist group by several Arab states. That means war-torn Sudan could become their last refuge if they are allowed to return to power. "The individuals who ruled Sudan during the days of Al Bashir are now the ones who dominate the scene," said prominent analyst Osman Al Mirghany. "They are all inside Sudan, and their volunteer fighters are their most important political tool." Experts believe it's an alliance dictated in large part by necessity, not conviction, and the Islamists and the army could very well be the opposing sides in a conflict likely to begin after the current war is over. That war could start even earlier if the army decides to retake the reins, with Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan – the armed forces' chief and Sudan's de facto leader – deciding to tee up for a power grab, they explained. "The best case scenario for the Islamists is to recreate conditions similar to the Al Bashir era. But that will mean the return of international economic sanctions, the erosion of their power base and the populace's loss of hope in change," said political analyst Mahmoud Said. "That will trigger another popular uprising that could be more violent than the one that toppled Al Bashir in 2019," he warned. "Moreover, the possibility of a violent confrontation between the military and the Islamists is real since both are vying for power." Already, radical Al Bashir loyalists, including clerics, have been claiming that Islamist militias, not the army, should take the credit for the string of battlefield gains against the RSF in recent months. Those claims have drawn an angry response from Gen Al Burhan, whose critics accuse him of being a closet Islamist himself. He denies the charge, despite his growing alliances with Islamists. Sudan has since 2019 seen Al Bashir disgraced and jailed, his top lieutenants imprisoned and their assets taken away as authorities of the new order went about dismantling the legacy of what had been one of the world's most enduring dictatorships. It was not long before the Islamists received a reprieve from measures to limit their role, overseen by the transitional government of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok. A 2021 coup staged by Gen Al Burhan and his ally at the time, RSF commander Gen Mohamed Dagalo, ushered in the start of their comeback after months in which the pair harshly berated the government and its policies. Ostensibly staged to spare the vast and ethnically and religiously diverse country a possible civil war and bring about political inclusion, the coup toppled Mr Hamdok's government and derailed the democratic transition protesters advocated during the bloody 2018-19 uprising. The anti-Islamist moves pursued by Mr Hamdok's government was halted by the coup leaders, with droves of Al Bashir loyalists reinstated in key government jobs and sympathetic judges overturned rulings that froze the assets of businesses and organisations linked to Al Bashir's now-dissolved National Congress Party. Al Bashir's feared security agencies were given back the wide powers they had during the dictator's 29-year rule but taken away after his fall; and hundreds of pro-democracy protesters were killed on the streets by security forces. But tension was soon to surface between the two generals and it did not take long for it to turn into open conflict in April 2023. Many blame the Islamists for igniting the war, but there has been no concrete evidence to support that claim besides the assumption that a paramilitary force not run by Islamists would always be a major hurdle on the Islamists' path back to power. Short of boots on the ground, run out of the capital by the RSF and embroiled in a bitter feud with liberal politicians, Gen Al Burhan turned to the Islamists for help; and they were happy to oblige, seeing the fight against the RSF as a way to increase their influence. "The SAF (Sudanese armed forces) today is less a national army than a coalition of necessity," said US-based analyst Ezzat Khairi. "They (the army and the Islamists) are united, not by a vision for Sudan, but by a common goal: to crush the idea of a democratic Sudan," he explained. "Al Burhan, whether by design or drift, has aligned himself with the very forces the revolution tried to remove. And, yet, some still think the army will save Sudan." Gen Al Burhan has denied he was in a direct alliance with the Islamists, arguing that the powerful volunteer brigades fighting on his side against the RSF were made up of men who left their ideologies at the door before joining the battle for Sudan's 'salvation'. But the analysts insist the alliance does in reality exist, with the notorious Al Bashir-era militias that were disbanded after the dictator's fall regrouped to fight on the side of the army. "For 30 years, Al Bashir invested heavily in the armed forces to turn it into a political force to implement his programme," said Shawki Abdel Azeem, a pro-democracy politician. "Joining the war allowed them to collect a handsome return on years of work to fill the ranks with loyalists." The army's alliance with the Islamists has not escaped the attention of the RSF propaganda machine, whose political discourse is dominated by rhetoric of inclusion, democracy and ridding the nation of the Islamists, whose time in power saw the Afro-Arab nation of 50 million roiled in corruption, crippling economic woes and international isolation and sanctions. The RSF's narrative has resonated with some members of Sudan's liberal political establishment as well as rebel groups in the West and south of the country who see Gen Al Burhan and his top lieutenants guilty of allowing remnants of the Al Bashir regime to make a political comeback. Gen Al Burhan has labelled those politicians "traitors" while the military-backed prosecution issued arrest warrants for many of them. Gen Al Burhan was in Cairo this week for talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi whose 11-year rule in Sudan's powerful northern neighbour is based in large part on zero tolerance of political Islam. Sources briefed on their talks said Gen Al Burhan explained to his host that the "presence" of Islamists on the scene was still needed as his army and the allied militias prepare to retake vast areas still under RSF control in the western Darfur region and parts of Kordofan to the south-west of Khartoum. "He is a religious man but he is not an Islamist in the Al Bashir mould," said one of the sources about Gen Al Burhan. "Many of his officers and several top generals are."
The National
28-04-2025
- Politics
- The National
Sudan's Al Burhan meets Egypt's El Sisi in Cairo amid shifting war dynamics
Sudan 's army chief and de facto leader Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan met Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El Sisi in Cairo on Monday following recent gains by the Sudanese army against their rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the collapse of international mediation efforts this month. Mr El Sisi and Gen Al Burhan held closed-door meetings which addressed, among other things, the 'progress made by the Sudanese Armed Forces in the field and its recent retaking of the capital Khartoum', according to a statement from the Egyptian presidency. Gen Al Burhan was accompanied by ٍSudan's acting Foreign Minister, Hussein El Amin, who told the Sudan News Agency the army chief received an invitation to Cairo from Mr El Sisi on April 15, the second anniversary of the start of the war. On the same day, 22 countries and a coalition of NGOs working on war relief efforts in Sudan met in Britain's capital for the London Sudan Conference, the latest in a series of international mediation efforts that have ended without a breakthrough. The war has claimed more than 100,000 lives, by some estimates, and displaced nearly 13 million people. Some areas of the country are facing famine as aid agencies struggle for access to deliver relief supplies. Monday's meeting also comes two weeks after RSF leader Gen Mohamed Dagalo announced the formation of a rival Sudanese government with plans to issue a new currency and ID cards, and exercise full administrative control over the regions it holds. Cairo is opposed to any division of control over Sudan and views the new rival government as a threat to its national security due to the borders it shares. 'We categorically reject any attempts to undermine the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sudan, including the rejection of any endeavours to establish a parallel government,' President El Sisi said during a speech in Djibouti last week. Gen Al Burhan, in a speech on Saturday in Khartoum, said the army had "shifted from a defence strategy to an offence strategy'. He pledged to retaliate twofold to any RSF attacks and to put an end to the drone strikes the paramilitary has been accused of launching on civilian areas since its defeat in Khartoum last month. Analysts say the military's recent victories have tipped the scales in its favour and that Cairo aims to build on these gains by boosting the army's international profile. 'This visit comes as the army is seeking to solidify its recent victories and determine the path forward after it regained the capital and large parts of the country. The fact that Al Burhan went to Egypt at this critical time sends a strong message that the Sudanese establishment welcomes Cairo's input," Ahmed Ismail, director of Mashad, an NGO in Paris that monitors the war, told The National. 'Egypt and El Sisi have enjoyed an exceptionally high international profile lately because of the central role it has played in both the mediations of the conflicts in Gaza and Sudan," he said. "So hosting Al Burhan now, while there is attention, will also send a message to the world that all political manoeuvring in the Horn of Africa will have to go through the military establishments of both Egypt and Sudan." Cairo has so far been one of the Sudanese army's main allies in the civil war, and Mr El Sisi, a former military general, has maintained strong ties with Gen Al Burhan, whom he has hosted in Cairo several times since the outbreak of the war, most recently for an Arab summit on Gaza in early March. Mr Ismail said that with divisions among the regional stakeholders becoming increasingly apparent, the meeting between Gen Al Burhan and Mr El Sisi 'strongly suggests that Khartoum and its military de facto ruler will now move further into the orbit of Cairo'. The Sudanese military-dominated government is the UN-recognised representative of the people of Sudan.
The National
24-03-2025
- Politics
- The National
Sudan's war far from over despite significant army gains over RSF
Taking back vital areas in the heart of Sudan's capital has boosted the army's morale and restored much of its standing after the battlefield setbacks it suffered in the early days of the war against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. However, the litmus test for Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan and his troops still may lie ahead. The army and its Islamist allies have over the past week retaken important sites in the capital, including the presidential palace – the seat of Sudan's government for nearly 200 years – as well as the central bank headquarters, the national museum and several government ministries. Their gains in central Khartoum added to successes late last year when they regained control of the armed forces headquarters and most of Khartoum's twin cities of Omdurman and Bahri. They also threw the paramilitaries out of central Sudan, the breadbasket of the vast and impoverished Afro-Arab nation. However, the RSF, led by Gen Mohamed Dagalo, is still in control of the capital's only international airport, parts of Omdurman and large residential districts in Khartoum, where its fighters are deeply embedded and may prove challenging to push out. Analysts, however, say it may only be a matter of time before the army and its allies retake the rest of the sprawling capital on the Nile. 'Besides the strategic and symbolic significance of taking back control of the capital, the army's objective there was also to salvage the prestige of Al Burhan and the army, which had been embarrassingly run out of the capital by the RSF,' said Sami Saeed, a US-based Sudan expert. 'It's widely anticipated now that the army will dig deep in the capital as well as central, eastern and northern Sudan, while the RSF will do the same in its strongholds in the west,' explained Mr Saeed. 'The narrative propagated by both sides partially supports that notion, with the Islamists allied with the army speaking of a Sudan whose boundaries stretch from the Red Sea to the Nile, and the RSF actively championing the rights of the 'marginalised' people of Darfur and Kordofan." The RSF, whose forerunner was a notorious, Darfur-based militia called the Janjaweed, controls most of Darfur and large areas of Kordofan, to the south-west. Like Darfur, Kordofan has been mired in strife for years, with indigenous rebels pitted against successive governments in Khartoum. Addressing mourners at the funeral of a senior officer killed in an RSF drone attack in Khartoum last weekend, Gen Al Burhan was adamant the war would only end when the RSF surrenders or is defeated. He rejected out of hand the idea of mediation. His pledges to press on with the war could only add to the devastation Sudan has suffered since the war broke out in April 2023. Tens of thousands have been killed, more than 12 million displaced and one of the world's worst humanitarian crises has developed, with some 25 million facing acute hunger. However, Mr Saeed and other analysts believe taking the war to Darfur, where the RSF has the support of most residents, and Kordofan, where the paramilitary is allied with a powerful rebel group, is likely to prove a tough challenge for an army with a poor track record of fighting adversaries in the nation's outlying regions. Additionally, there is growing evidence that the RSF is pulling its most combat-seasoned fighters and heavy weaponry from the capital and sending them to Darfur, a vast region the size of France where the army is holding on to just one major city – El Fasher – which has been under siege by the paramilitary for nearly a year. 'The war may have entered the countdown stage but it will not end before the whole of Khartoum is regained as well as Darfur and Kordofan,' said Sudanese analyst Salah Mansour, a retired army brigadier general. 'The RSF is in a weak and defensive position but will use urban warfare to prolong the war.' 'Shifting men and resources to the war in Darfur is a costly and difficult task with an uncertain outcome. Most residents in Darfur are armed and everyone has a problem with the central government,' said Mr Saeed. 'The army may at the end settle for making life hard for the RSF there' using air strikes, artillery and drones. In contrast, military analyst and retired army general Al Moatasem Abdel Ghafar believes fighting the RSF in Darfur and Kordofan could prove less challenging for the army than battling the paramilitaries in Khartoum. 'It will be less difficult if enough resources are mobilised to do the job in Darfur and Kordofan,' he said. 'The battles of Khartoum and central Sudan have proven that the RSF suffers structural problems manifested in the absence of reliable and consistent communication between commanders and men on the ground." The army's chronic lack of sufficient manpower has forced it into an alliance with Islamist militiamen and volunteers linked to the regime of former dictator Omar Al Bashir. The alliance has cost Gen Al Burhan and his military-backed government significant popular support given the notoriety of Al Bashir's 29-year regime and the brutality with which his loyal militias dealt with dissent. Experts believe the army's Islamist allies will soon want to collect political rewards for helping the army and may not have the appetite to fight outside the hinterlands of Sudan's Arabs in places like Darfur and Kordofan. In another ominous sign for the army, the RSF, whose fighters are mostly drawn from Arab tribes, has recently forged alliances with two Darfur militias whose members are from the ethnic African Zaghawa and Fur tribes. On another level, the alliances signal a shift in the ethnic power balance in Darfur with the potential to have an impact on the course of the conflict in Darfur given the RSF's history, dating back to the 2000s, of widespread abuse of African communities there Another threat that faces the army is the potential of a wider conflict that drags some of Sudan's neighbours into its war against the RSF. Already the army frequently claims that thousands of Africans from neighbouring nations are fighting alongside the RSF.
The National
09-02-2025
- Politics
- The National
Sudan's army close to seizing Khartoum but faces significant challenges
Sudan's army and its allies say that they are close to regaining full control of Khartoum, recording the most significant victory by far over the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces since their war began nearly two years ago. But Africa's third largest country faces challenges, including a possible break-up or a low intensity war that drags on for years in Darfur, analysts warn. Retaking the whole of Khartoum will add to regions already under army control in the north, east and centre of the Afro-Arab nation, leaving the RSF with most of the western Darfur region – home to most of the paramilitary's fighters – as well as large areas of Kordofan to the south-west. Emboldened by the recent battlefield gains in the capital and central Sudan, army chief Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan has declared his intention to launch a national dialogue to chart the country's postwar future. He also said he planned to name a 'war cabinet' of independent technocrats to 'help the state achieve the remaining military operations needed to purge the whole of Sudan from the rebels'. He has also pledged, in comments released by the military on Saturday, to continue the war, which marks its two-year anniversary on April 15, until the defeat of the RSF, repeating his dismissal of international calls for a truce, even just to allow humanitarian assistance to reach the most vulnerable among the 26 million Sudanese now facing acute hunger. 'Man does not live by food alone,' he said on Saturday. Analysts, however, said Gen Al Burhan may be overconfident given the daunting task ahead. He was also ignoring the possibility that the resource-rich nation may break up, with Darfur and parts of Kordofan possibly seceding, they said. Sudan may also be looking at a protracted, low-intensity war in Darfur that, while further impoverishing the country, would leave residents of army-controlled regions mostly shielded. 'The war will continue in Darfur, social and political instability will persist in central Sudan and the Islamists will rise again,' said Sami Saeed, a prominent US-based Sudan expert. 'On a parallel track, there will be timid peace negotiations that will seemingly never end.' Darfur was devastated by civil war that broke out there in 2005 and continues to this day despite a 2020 peace accord between some of its rebel groups and the military. The war has killed about 300,000 and displaced about three million, according to UN figures. Previously, the army had enlisted the help of the RSF to suppress the rebellion in Darfur by mostly ethnic Africans seeking an end to discrimination and the political and economic monopoly by the country's north. With the RSF now in control of all of Darfur's major cities except one – Al Fasher – the army and its allies face years of fighting to regain control of an area the size of France. 'All indications suggest that the war in Khartoum will end very soon, will take some more time in Kordofan and maybe as many as five years or longer in Darfur,' said retired Sudanese army general Galal Said. But Mr Saeed, also vice president of the pro-democracy African Network of Constitutional Lawyers, believes the army may never be able to regain full control of Darfur, where the RSF is an integral part of the social fabric among the region's Arab tribes. The RSF has been seeking to cement support for its cause in Darfur by portraying the paramilitary as fighting to win equality for the 'marginalised' people of the region. Part of that discourse is also the RSF's persistent denial of involvement in war crimes committed against the region's ethnic Africans, according to the UN and international rights groups. Faced with major battlefield setbacks in central Sudan and in the capital, the RSF is likely to concentrate its power in Darfur, according to Sudanese analyst Omar Abdel Aziz. 'The RSF extended itself too thin by foraying into central Sudan where it has no popular support to speak of,' said Mr Abdel Aziz. 'Now that it's been thrown out as well as from most of the capital, it will make its stand in Darfur. It's a new reality that could very well lead to the break-up of Sudan.' In contrast, the Sudanese army continues to show a chronic shortage of soldiers, relying heavily on volunteers, many of whom are members of now-disbanded militias loyal to the regime of former leader Omar Al Bashir, who was toppled in 2019 amid a popular uprising against his nearly 30-year rule. The army's infantry is mostly drawn from Darfur and Kordofan, a fact that invited a level of distrust from its northern Sudanese commanders and allowed the RSF to appeal to their tribal and geographical associations, said Mr Saeed. Gen Al Burhan on Saturday said he was opposed to any attempt to link the volunteers fighting alongside his troops to political parties, insisting that they represent the whole of Sudan and were fighting for their country. The army's heavy reliance on the mostly Islamist volunteers could pose its own challenges to Gen Al Burhan when the war is over. Already, he appears to have unilaterally rescinded the illegality of Al Bashir's National Conference party. On Saturday he said that the party blamed by the opposition for large-scale, political and economic corruption as well as atrocities against civilians in Darfur could contest postwar elections. In moves widely interpreted to be sowing the seeds of division, the military-backed government now residing in Port Sudan on the Red Sea has recently issued new banknotes recognised only in areas under its control and allowed high school exams to proceed there and not in RSF-held areas. 'Steps like these could eventually tempt the RSF to create its own government, thus further destabilising the country and paving the way for a break-up,' said Mr Abdel Aziz. 'There is no way to end this war except through negotiations. The army had never been able to militarily end armed revolts in Sudan.' An example of that is the war between the south and north of Sudan that raged for more than 20 years before a peace agreement gave the mostly animist and Christian south the right to self determination that eventually led to its secession in 2011, robbing Sudan of a third of its territory and most of its oil wealth. Al Shafie Ahmed contributed to this report.
