2024-01-02 14:56:41
Hemedti meets Hamdok amid hopes to stop the Sudanese war
The meeting between the commander of the Rapid Support Forces, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (known as Hemedti), and the former Sudanese Prime Minister and head of the leadership body of the Coordination of Civilian Democratic Forces (Taqaddum), Abdullah Hamdok (Monday) in Addis Ababa, renewed hopes for stopping the war that has been raging in the country since Last April.
The meeting began late Monday evening, in the presence of two delegations from both sides, led by Hemedti and Hamdok, and came in response to an invitation issued by “Taqaddum” to meet with both sides of the Sudanese war (the army and the “Rapid Support”), but the army, led by the head of the Sovereignty Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. He has not yet announced his response to the invitation.
Before the meeting with Hamdok and the “Taqaddum” delegation, Hemedti broadcast a speech addressed to the Sudanese, during which he boasted of what he called “the great victories” that he said his forces had achieved over the “enemy” in Kordofan and the Jazira. He also praised “its high combat efficiency and commitment to the people’s just causes, and pledged to end the war in its favor soon,” and to build what he called “a state of equal citizenship without discrimination.”
He added, “(Rapid Support) will continue to pursue (the coup plotters and those on alert) and those beating the drums of war,” calling on the army to “acknowledge loss and failure, and stop being on alert, fighting, and destroying the country, in preparation for ending the war and starting the political process.”
Hemedti also acknowledged the major humanitarian, social and economic damage and crises that resulted from the war, and the resulting “bad humanitarian conditions, social division, the spread of hate speech, human rights violations, the cessation of production and the destruction of infrastructure, resulting from the collapse of the de facto government.”
Sudanese civilians supporting the army wave weapons (Monday) in the streets of the city of Gedaref in the east of the country (AFP)
Hemedti believed that his forces were “forced” to go to war “because of their strict and sincere commitment to the political process, reaching civilian rule and building a new Sudan, and a democratic system in which authority rests with the popular will,” he said.
He said, “My only goal is to establish a democratic, peaceful Sudan, and we are ready to make any sacrifices in order to achieve this goal,” reiterating his commitment to “restoring and pursuing the path of sustainable democratic transformation.” He stressed the principle of “establishing a new, professional and national army that does not interfere in politics and is subject, from the first day of its establishment, to civilian control and oversight.”
Hemedti denied his desire to gain power by force, as his opponents accuse him of, saying: “If our goal was power, or to continue it, we would have allied ourselves with the army leadership, which is hostile to change,” stressing that his forces do not want to be an alternative to the Sudanese army, which he considered to be “It was destroyed by politicization, nepotism and corruption.”
Hemedti expressed his regret for the widespread violations against citizens, “especially in the state of Al-Jazira,” and pledged to eliminate those he called “the unruly people,” whom he disavowed, saying: “They have nothing to do with (Rapid Support)… The unruly people are an enemy to us, just like the enemy who We have been fighting it since April 15.”
Hemedti also renewed his call on the international and regional communities to support what he called “Sudan’s new future that follows peace,” and to address the root causes of the wars, and appealed to them to provide assistance to Sudan to restore its international standing.
Explosions
On the other hand, the Sudanese welcomed the New Year with the impact of strong explosions in the capital, Khartoum, and Sennar State in the southeast of the country, with renewed battles between the army and the “Rapid Support,” in which heavy artillery, warplanes, and drones were used.
The New Year celebrations in the streets of the capital and other cities disappeared as a result of the war and the imposition of a curfew in the relatively safe cities in the north and east of the country.
Eyewitnesses reported that artillery shelling targeted the neighborhoods surrounding the Armored Corps, south of the city, with strong explosions being heard from the place.
Witnesses reported that the army carried out strikes with drones on a number of Rapid Support Forces positions in the neighborhoods of East Khartoum and East Nile in the city of Khartoum Bahri.
Patients receiving treatment with dialysis machines (Monday) at Gedaref Hospital in the east of the country (AFP)
For its part, the Rapid Support Forces bombed the headquarters of the Army General Command and the Signal Corps in the city of Khartoum Bahri, leading to heavy columns of smoke.
The situation was not much different in Sennar State, where the Rapid Support Forces were advancing after taking control of Al-Jazeera State in central Sudan a few days ago, as clashes took place between the army and the Rapid Support Forces in the morning.
6 people killed
Meanwhile, local officials said that 6 people, including a senior local official, were killed in an ambush by gunmen in the Abyei region, which is disputed by Sudan and South Sudan.
The oil-rich region is witnessing repeated waves of violence, as two warring factions of the Dinka tribes – the Dinka Twic from Warrap State in South Sudan, and the Ngok Dinka from Abyei – are engaged in a dispute over the location of the administrative borders.
Government officials said, “Noon Deng, the Deputy Administrative Chief of the Abyei Region, and his team were attacked on the road from Abyei to the town of Anit while they were returning from an official visit to the Romarre region, where they were celebrating the New Year.”
“His driver, two of his bodyguards and two national security personnel were killed,” South Sudan MP Teresa Chol told Archyde.com.
The Abyei region is located within an ill-defined border area between Sudan and South Sudan, and both countries have claimed sovereignty over it since Juba declared its independence from Khartoum in 2011. The region is subject to a special administrative status, as it is governed by an administration consisting of officials appointed by both countries.
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