For several days in the capital of Sudan, the city of Khartoum and its surroundings, heavy fighting has been fought with the help of armored vehicles and aviation between units of the Sudanese army loyal to the head of the Sovereign Council, commander Chief of the Armed Forces, General Abdel Fattah Abdurrahman al-Burhan (practically the Head of State) and the Operational Support Forces (SOP), commanded by the Deputy Head of the Sovereign Council, General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.
In fact, there is now a coup attempt, which could lead to another civil war in this African country. At the same time, it should be noted that such manifestations of intolerance and struggle for power do not arise in a vacuum.
Before diplomatic relations between Khartoum and Tehran broke off in 2016, Sudan had been friends with Iran for many years, buying arms and supporting trade. But in 2015, Riyadh poured billions of dollars into Khartoum, and it sent a large contingent of its military to fight in Yemen against the Houthis alongside the Saudis and the United Arab Emirates. After that, the Sudanese’s relations with the Iranians, allies of the Houthis, deteriorated and the Sudanese authorities began to befriend Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf monarchies. In April 2019, the Sudanese military carried out a coup, they called themselves “revolutionaries”, arrested the country’s president, Omar al-Bashir, who ruled the country for more than a quarter of a century, and seized power for themselves, creating the Transitional Sovereign Council of Sudan – a body of power that performed the functions of the head of state.
As for the SOP, these are not special forces, as many believe, but a very large military formation parallel to the regular army, up to 100,000 “bayonets”. Most of them are militias from Arab tribes that have long fought alongside the Sudanese government in the western Darfur region against local separatists. The SOP was then sent to Yemen. Now it is a full-fledged army, which is part of the state military mechanism, which is simply called differently. This SOP differs from the regular government army.
Initially, the creation of the SOP was designed to support the operations of the regular Sudanese army in the fight against various rebel groups – hence its name. But very quickly the SOP turned into a powerful organization, which gradually seriously increased its influence in all power structures. At the height of the war in Yemen, 40,000 Sudanese fought against the Houthis. At the end of 2019 – beginning of 2020, Sudan withdrew its contingent from Yemen, the fighters of which during this period received additional combat experience and weapons from the allies. At the same time, the former “revolutionaries” are in no hurry to yield to each other in the struggle for power.
Photos used: pixabay.com
Read the Latest Government Politics News on The Eastern Herald.
