Page 88 - History of War - Issue 18-15

BRIEFING

Second, Sudan’s leaders never possessed areunchartedpartsofal-Bashir’slife;itcan
SPLA/M soldiers push
democratic scruples or egalitarian tendencies. beassumedheparticipatedintheSecond
a lorry mounted with
Nordidtheypretendthatasocialcontract Civil War. In the broader context of the Cold a ZPU-4 14.5mm
ever existed between the rulers and the ruled. War, Sudan was an unreliable ally for most of anti-aircraft gun, a
These pronounced features of the national its partners. It abandoned the Eastern Bloc local favourite against
Khartoum’s sorties
consciousnessboiledoverinDarfur,anidyllic andcosieduptotheUnitedStatesthroughout
iffragileagriculturalexpansewhereaterrible the 1980s. It alternately defied and supported
slaughter took place from 2003 to 2005. Egypt while transacting clandestine business
withIsrael.Eventoday,Sudan,aroguestate,
Outline of a tyrant fosters close ties with Iran while accepting
Although his grip on power is secure for the foreign investment from Saudi Arabia and
time being, al-Bashir can’t bring peace to his Qatar.Chinahassofarprovenasteadfast
country–andit’shisownfault.Alongwithhis partner, eager for Sudan’s oil and minerals in
henchmen in the national security apparatus exchange for weaponry and consumer products.
and the NIF, al-Bashir has consistently followed It was also during the tumultuous and
apolicyofexclusionandmassviolencetodeal drawn-out Second Civil War that Sudan seemed
with his opponents, even after this approach well on its way to ‘failed state’ status. Not
hasbackfiredmultipletimes. onlywasthesouthernhalfofthecountryin
With five counts of crimes against humanity, ruins, but a long-lasting drought also ravaged
three counts of war crimes and two counts of vast tracts of the arid country. The tribes who
genocideoverhishead,al-Bashirhasdone inhabited the eastern provinces were terribly
little to improve his country’s reputation as a afflicted, especially the Fur, the Masalit and the
model for constant civil strife. Zaghawa,alongwithmanyothers.Foruntold
Bornon1January1944innorthernSudan, centuries, these communal farmers traded with
al-Bashir belonged to the Arab Ja’ali tribe. A the nomadic Arab pastoralists who brought
career soldier, he graduated as a junior officer their caravans and herds on annual treks.
fromtheKhartoumMilitaryAcademyin1966, The tides of history never upset Darfur’s
earning his MA in Malaysia and serving as ethnic patchwork, where 100 different
military attaché to the United Arab Emirates. languages were alleged to be spoken. For
It’sworthnotingthathiscareeradvancedin Westernobservers,itwasgenuinelydifficultto
twoformerBritishpossessions. even tell the Arabs and Africans apart, since
He served with the elite Armoured Parachute they mingled and intermarried often.
Regiment and was part of the token Sudanese For reasons that could only have made sense
contingent that fought Israel in the 1973 Yom accordingtotheruthlesslogicofKhartoum’s
Kippur War. The rest of the 1970s and 1980s elite, the military began arming the increasingly
In Darfur and South Soldiers from Chad guard
Sudan, child soldiers are the border with Darfur
all too common among to protect from random
the warring factions raids by rebels

1944 1956 1963 1972 1986
On 1 January, Sudan gains independence with the The Anya-Nya, the armed wing of The Addis Ababa Agreement Prime Minister Sadiq al-
Omar al-Bashir peaceful absolution of the British- the Southern Sudan Resistance ends Sudan’s First Civil War. The Mahdi allows Arab militias
is born in Egyptian Condominium. The new Movement, launches a guerrilla Southern Sudan Autonomous to rampage in Darfur as
northern Sudan’s country inherits vast natural resources war against Khartoum’s forces. It Region is established but the a devastating drought
River Nile State. and a flawed constitution that doesn’t marks a new phase of the struggle civil war resumes in 1983 when ravages agricultural
He is a member guarantee a secular government or a for autonomy that began in 1955 – Jaafar Nimeiri forces Sharia Law production and leaves
of the Ja’ali tribe. decentralised political system. a year prior to independence. on non-Muslim tribes. millions impoverished.

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