Have al-Burhan’s supporters lost faith in the Sudanese Army?
Sudanese politicians have confirmed that the repeated failures of the Sudanese army against the Rapid Support Forces, which are expanding throughout Sudan, have significantly impacted the confidence of supporters and sympathizers of the army’s leader, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, in the military institution.
They explained that the dominance of “Islamists” within the army in decision-making has affected its combat and tactical capabilities, especially after many leaders and officers in the army deviated from their roles and duties and turned to other activities, primarily commerce.
The politicians also indicated that the army’s withdrawal and the flight of its elements from their positions in several cities, particularly what happened in the state of “Sennar”, without providing any cover for civilians, affects civilians’ confidence in the army in the short term.
They pointed out that the deterioration of living conditions, coupled with what civilians observe with their own eyes, namely that the relief aid under the army’s custody and supposed to be distributed to the populace is being sold in the markets, also affects civilians’ trust in the military institution.
The state of “Sennar”, according to observers, has witnessed the army’s failure to maintain the areas it controlled, withdrawing and leaving weapons, ammunition, and military equipment in its units as “booty”, putting civilians in these areas at risk of looting and theft, whether by outlaws, bandits, or attacks by “Islamist” fighters who were with the army.
This has led the notables of some areas, including the city of “Mazmoum” in the state of “Sennar”, to appeal to the Rapid Support Forces to form a local administration committee to protect the area at the request of the residents after the army’s withdrawal from the city, leaving military equipment in the “66th Infantry Brigade” headquarters of the “17th Infantry Division” and other military areas, including vehicles, cannons, ammunition boxes, and light weapons.
Repeated Failures
Sudanese politician Adel Yassin stated that the repeated and continuous failures on several fronts and the Rapid Support Forces‘ control of key and strategic areas have led to groups and tribes withdrawing from the equation of supporting the army, especially after the withdrawal from their areas without fulfilling the role assigned to it. He emphasized that there is a lack of control by the army’s leadership over armed groups and factions fighting in their ranks, who have conducted looting operations during their withdrawal from some cities.
He explained that news of the withdrawal by the army’s forces from certain cities and states has led its supporters in currently controlled areas to remain neutral and avoid participating in what is known as “popular brigades”.
Yassin noted that this neutrality also came “after news of withdrawals from several cities, especially in the state of ‘Sennar’, without providing any cover for civilians, along with the deteriorating living conditions with what they observe themselves, namely that the relief aid supposed to be distributed to the populace is being sold in the markets, especially since it is under the army’s custody, and selling it constitutes exploiting their situations.”
Inherited Sufferings
For his part, political researcher Dr. Abdelbaki Ali Azraq said that the Sudanese army has been hijacked by the Islamic Front, which turned it into a subordinate “militia”. He added that the roles and missions of military leaders have dissolved to the point that they have become, in his words, “traders” in grains, wood, minerals, and food aid, abandoning their primary defensive missions, which caused them to lose any expertise in strategic tactics, while the Rapid Support Forces focus on developing their fighters’ capabilities on the military field.
He attributed the loss of confidence of a large segment of the Sudanese people in the army to accumulated sufferings inherited from acts of oppression practiced against the inhabitants of several regions across Sudan, following a path full of successive military coups.
Azraq added that the loss of confidence increased, especially since the army is supposed to provide civilians with protection in the areas it controls, but its forces withdraw, leaving the inhabitants to an uncertain fate. Then, army leaders repeatedly come out to justify the “flight” as a “tactical withdrawal”, after having called on civilians to support them under the pretext of “defending the homeland and the country”.
Headlines
Ali Younes, a member of the founding conference of the Coordination of Democratic Civil Forces “Taqaddum”, spoke about al-Burhan’s presence and his monitoring of military operations and field preparations during the entry of the Rapid Support Forces into the city of “Singa”, the capital of Sennar state, a few days ago, and his alleged departure by “helicopter” with the worsening situation of his forces. Then, videos showed the emptiness of military installations belonging to the army and the Rapid Support Forces seizing military equipment, ammunition, vehicles, and light weapons after the armed forces fled their positions.
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He considered that all these situations are “sufficient continuous headlines to shake the confidence of al-Burhan‘s supporters and sympathizers, with the change in the map of Sudan in recent weeks on the ground, showing that the army has lost entire cities and states without clashing with the Rapid Support Forces, with elements of the armed forces preferring to withdraw rather than confront, no longer trusting their leaders’ ‘tactics’.”
Younes pointed out that the military and field effectiveness of the army has been affected by very important changes, including the loss by the armed forces of large quantities of military equipment and supplies, which has affected their armament capabilities. On the other hand, the removal of military leaders from their positions after clashing with the Islamists controlling all decisions has naturally caused the army to lose the basics of “field tactics” in its battles.
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He noted that “there are military leaders with experience who refuse the Islamists’ dominance over decisions within the armed forces and their intervention in their field work, deciding to flee, especially since there are senior officers responsible for the army’s loss in confrontations with the Rapid Support Forces who have been eliminated by decisions of Brotherhood cadres within the army without referring to al-Burhan.”
