What's Really Going On in Sudan: Civil War, Hemedti's RSF & the Fight for Democracy | Explained

The two men who have been basically running Sudan for the past few years are now at war with each other, and the fighting is tearing the country apart.
0:00 The Humanitarian Crisis in Sudan
1:50 al-Burhan & Hemedti Explained
2:41 Why are Sudan's Generals Fighting?
4:10 Military Government in Sudan
4:25 Omar al-Bashir's, the Janjaweed & the RSF
5:09 Pro-Democracy Protesting in Sudan
6:00 The Khartoum Massacre
6:49 2019 Military Coup in Sudan
8:00 What the Generals Stand to Lose
8:58 Atrocities, Genocide & the War in Darfur
10:00 The Future of Sudan
More than 250,000 people have fled the country more than 1 million have been forced from their homes. World leaders are scrambling to help the two sides negotiate an end to this conflict which has created a humanitarian disaster and is threatening to destabilise the entire region.
Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, AKA Hemedti, are military generals, as Sudan is one of the few countries in the world run by a military government. Burhan is the general of Sudan's regular army (Sudanese Armed Forces). Hemedti is the commander of a completely separate and independently run militia called the RSF (Rapid Support Forces) and the fighting happening right now is between these two groups.
Both generals blame the other for the violence and say they're the one that's fighting to protect the future of democracy in Sudan, but many don't believe either of these men.
Sudan has a long history of military control and dictatorship and both Burhan and Hemedti have played a key role in keeping the military in power. Since gaining independence in 1956, Sudan has spent about 60 of the following 67 years under various forms of military control
Sudan's longest serving leader during this period (and one of Africa's longest serving dictators) was Omar al-Bashir. Both Burhan and Hemedti rose up the ranks during Bashir's rule. Burhan with the SAF while Hemedti was a commander in the Janjaweed - a collection of Arab militias employed by Bashir to brutally suppress rebel groups during the war in Darfur. In 2013, Bashir helped to form the RSF from the Janjaweed.
By 2018 the people of Sudan had had enough, and a pro-democracy revolution took off around the country. Burhan and Hemedti came to an agreement and sided with the protesters and Bashir was arrested and removed from power. After removing Bashir the generals refused to hand over power to civilians instead appointing themselves as the head and deputy of a new military government. On June 3rd, 2019, military forces killed more than 100 people at a pro-democracy sit-in protest.
This led to intense pressure from inside and outside of Sudan forcing the generals to compromise and agree to a power sharing agreement between the military and civilians. About 2 years later, Burhan and Hemedti staged a military coup & seized full control of Sudan.
Both generals justified all of this by saying they were protecting the country from infighting and instability, but pro-democracy protesters say their actions are proof that they were never in support of democracy and were willing to do whatever was needed to stay in power.
Both Hemedti & Burhan have a lot to lose if Sudan does transition to civilian government, something that started to look a lot more likely by late 2022. In December 2022, the generals agreed to finally start the transition to democracy, but negotiations fell through and fighting between Burhan and Hemedti began.
Civilian leaders want the RSF to be folded into Sudan's military, and for the military to come under the control of a civilian government as is the case in most countries. Civilian leaders are also keen to get Sudan's wealth get back into the hands of civilians as both military groups currently control huge chunks of Sudan's economy. For example, the SAF's ownership of Sudan's biggest bank and agricultural company or Hemedti and the RSF's control over Sudan's most lucrative gold mines. Both generals also fear losing their freedom. Both Burhan and Hemedti have been accused of having ties to atrocities. Not only for the Khartoum Massacre in 2019, but for their roles in wars under Bashir, particularly the War in Darfur.
By Nicholas Maher, ABC
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[@eihabahmed2039]

Excellent explanation for the the situation. I know some people would say this report is missing some information. But we will probably need a one hour report to cover all the areas of the topic .

[@kingmoha8874]

God bless sudan people🙏☝️

[@omerelamien4990]

The coup attempt carried out by the Rapid Support Forces on April 15th serves as a legitimate and justified reason for the Sudanese National Army to defend the essence of the Sudanese state in all its components against a military rebellion, and to safeguard the country's sovereignty and security.

[@tajaldinkhalifa8335]

6:16 the boy who standing beside the spoker is really funny, 😂 Greeting brother

[@init_yeah]

So much for protecting the country

[@kadose]

This is a very good appraisal

[@dubcoyote]

This report is missing quite a bit. No mention of foreign influncers. Should been more on the rsf actions befors bashirs ousting.

[@abdelrahmanabdelmageed8985]

والله انا احيي قرار اليوتيوب ده يا أستاذ ذو النون

[@MOHAMEDOSMAN-if2df]

It is a great effort, however it is missing 2 key players on the scene. What you refer to as “civilian leaders” are not backed or supported by the people. Instead the second key player which was missed “the negative international intervention” was & stroll trying to back the so-called “civilian leaders” to enforce their agenda by passing a political agreement that will guarantee to the regional & western powers a controlled civil transition that they hope it will enforce dismantling the Army, pushing business interests, ideological agendas…etc. without being addressed or passed by an elected parliament. Whereas, the “civilian leaders” are allying themselves with RSF. As a Sudanese I can affirm that we are fighting back these unwanted weak parties, UN negative intervention, regional powers, western powers, lurking neighboring countries, remnants of the pervious regime & last but not least a postpone battle with the leaders of the Sudanese army generals. Despite of that, with God welling we will definitely winning this sovereignty battle.

[@benowen3399]

when has it not been in crisis?

[@lt2760]

There’s actually been several periods in history where Sudan has had peace and development it had the largest rail network in all of Africa , the 6th largest economy and Khartoum was once regarded a bustling economic hub in the Arab world in-fact it held most of the Arab league meetings in its formative years the real issues of Sudan began in the mid 80’s

[@woozyz2769]

2011 was when the conflict been insane, Sudan used to be Africas 3rd largest economy before that

[@dirghamishag9443]

You forgot the Halayeb and Shalateen triangle between Egypt and Sudan. He was Sudanese, with the recognition of the United Nations.

[@abdelrahmanabdelmageed8985]

أحسن الله عزائكم يا أستاذ ذو النون في خالك وأخوك من قبل

[@waeljallad671]

Background players Samantha power, administrator USAID Cindy McCain, World Food Program Coordinator- Nuland Victoria

[@davidharcot220]

there is proverb says " two robers they rob together and they fight when they part each ather"

[@theatheistmaniac4264]

Humanity is a Sad Joke.

[@abdelrahmanabdelmageed8985]

دا اللايف لمن لاقوك ناس في الشارع قدموا ليك عصير بالليل؟

[@brahimbmzo490]

I hope that the RSF wins this war because they are the ones that are in favor of a civilian-led government. The Sudanese army is full of hostile Jihadist and anti-democracy ideologies.

[@nurudeen2881]

This is sad

[@salam602003]

This very poor information reporting not mentioning, it doesn't mention the External interference from major and regional powers that have interests in destroying Sudan,and the RSF military coup, and many other reasons... the Sudanese supporting the national military against RSF

[@maniaphobia4719]

Why not UN intervene with force instead of talking about Humanitarian Catastrophe; Living in a camp is hell on earth ; Children , aged are affected most ; people have the right to live ;

[@zina22ful]

As a Sudanese, I tell you, u know nothing about our country. Our pro democracy movement was destroyed by the same people who pretended to be civilian leaders, but, in fact, they were influenced by foreign powers. We, the people, need Western countries to stay away from us because they are the ones who resulted in the war our families suffer from now

[@bsdiceman]

Okay please explain how I can learn about this.

[@zina22ful]

@Brandon Stephan Davis As I stated in my comment that the revolution was and still is about a pro democracy system. However, after taking down Abashir, the political parties took over and started fighting over powers and positions during the transition period. The laber unions and other parties that didn't like what they saw at the time stated that the military must intervene to save the country. So they did and took over. Then US*, UK*, UAE*, UN*and the Saudis* proposed a framework that will allow to merge the RSF into the Sudanese Army and gradually transition the country to a civilian lead government. There, when the war started, because most civilian leaders have financial dealings with the RSF leader, "who smuggles golds outside the country to the UAE the to Russian to get weapons and CIA reported that, (Sudanese wealth that supposed to benefit the Sudanese people) " so now to make the framework agreement into reality, they have have to agree to a time-line to merge the RSF but none of the mentioned above seam to agree to that and the talk fights wear public on TV, and all social media sites the military said they have to merge in two years so they get enough time to appropriately assess the soldiers according to military rules and either accept or reject who does not meet the requirement, the RSF said 5years , and civilian leaders said 10years(this raised eyebrows between the military leaders) and UN reportedly were biased along with UAE *. Meanwhile, the RSF were adding to their numbers thousands of new recruiters and traveling from Russia to UAE to Israel and other countries, making weapon deals.the days ahead of the fighting started the RSF surrendered a military air port in the north, the military asked them to leave in 48 hours because they got no orders from the military to do so since they are part of then and still get orders from them. The night before, some soldiers were fighting in another base in the South of Khartoum. So, the military leader and RSF leader agreed to meet at the government palace to discuss all matters, but instead, the RSF surrendered the palace and attached. They killed 30+ of special forces that protect Alburhan even Burhan himself fought for his life that day. All the starts above represent the special interest to every country in Sudan. They all have satellite images that prove how everything started, but no one want to say.

[@jonh9561]

Both the North and South Sudan are fighting between themselves now and any intervention from the West just seems to either draw out or exacerbate these conflicts.

[@woozyz2769]

You should know that Sudan is one of the 7 countries that was listed for the US to topple, the others are Libya, Iraq, Yemen, Syria and so on. Sudan used to be one of Africas greatest economic power as it was listed 3rd as Africas largest economy by 2010. Sudan was an upper middle income country until the US decided to sanction it because an islamic country with a prosperous economy would be a threat to the west. Now the Sudanese people never really cared about civil conflict in other parts of Sudan as long as THOSE IN KHARTOUM are economically and financially stable. The genocide in Darfur which killed about 200k people and nobody really batted an eye because that didn't affect the economy, Bashir was an islamic extremist but you have to give him credit for his economic genius. Now the Military leaders haven't cracked the code on how to gain full power which is by ECONOMIC STABILIZATION. What frustrates me the most is that Sudan has all the natural resources it needs to become a developed nation, but due to lack of basic economic intelligence, mismanagement, corruption and piling debt, it is impossible. Sudan's inflation is at 400% but has so much Gold, Sudan has lots of Agricultural land but has no food, Sudan still has decent oil but the lines for petrol take at least 7 hours and prices are off the roof. Gold can be used to back currency but all it's gold is laundered in Dubai and is sent to Russia. Sudan's Agricultural lands is owned by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt. What's left of Sudan's oil is all exported to China.

[@bosegiel2417]

Nah for South Sudan they are all good no more fighting since peace was signed in 2018

[@woozyz2769]

@@bosegiel2417 It's like winning the war but losing the battle, this means that South Sudan still faces economic obstacles, because of its oil South Sudan should be a middle income nation but due to corruption, mismanagement and lack of intelligence, South Sudan still has a long way to go.

[@alhssanejallow5544]

BG lie the parara is truly good because the general to the government sides is being Der for long time and do nothing for Sudan evry one knows that but they still what conflict

[@angelobkoljenovic9528]

This is so unfortunate that this to garbage man in uniform are destroying country

[@georgettebadr4749]

Because one is an official army and the other who is non Sudanese head of multy west African national militia the majority of the Sudanese people consider Himedty an invad or who committed genocides and they consider Him an invadr and they want those thugsst out of the whole country the Sudanese people consider Himedty Dagalo Ann invador from West African

[@samtheresearcher]

Australian journalists always go beyond the political correctness limits to tell the story as it is! Sudan and most parts of our continent are not even at the beginning of the beginning.

[@zina22ful]

The UN got involved and supported the RSF against the Sudanese Army. there are lots of counties that won't benefit from us having civilian government because they have financial ties with RSF Militia leader. Why does this report not mention Russia and its involvement?

[@zina22ful]

Ask yourselves Sudan with all our gold and all sorts of resources under the ground(and yet to be discovered) , our agriculture, and petroleum, why are we still a country that buried in billions of debts, why almost half the population is poor, and why we have hunger? Ask ??????

[@zina22ful]

You always report about our world as of the war is just between us for power, but all reporters neglect to mention why the Western world and developed countries always wanted our countries to be buried in conflicts and wars.

[@FASTProMedia]

Hemeti has more soft reason but Burham want more and won't share the power. Both leaders should have a fare share of power and safety guarantee under civilian government because if not these 2 leaders will not give up for their own survival (safety from trial and future wars to each other)

[@dirghamishag9443]

You forgot the Halayeb and Shalateen triangle between Egypt and Sudan. He was Sudanese, with the recognition of the United Nations.

[@dirghamishag9443]

You forgot the Halayeb and Shalateen triangle between Egypt and Sudan. He was Sudanese, with the recognition of the United Nations.

[@dirghamishag9443]

You forgot the Halayeb and Shalateen triangle between Egypt and Sudan. He was Sudanese, with the recognition of the United Nations.

[@dirghamishag9443]

You forgot the Halayeb and Shalateen triangle between Egypt and Sudan. He was Sudanese, with the recognition of the United Nations.

[@dirghamishag9443]

You forgot the Halayeb and Shalateen triangle between Egypt and Sudan. He was Sudanese, with the recognition of the United Nations.

[@dirghamishag9443]

You forgot the Halayeb and Shalateen triangle between Egypt and Sudan. He was Sudanese, with the recognition of the United Nations.

[@dirghamishag9443]

You forgot the Halayeb and Shalateen triangle between Egypt and Sudan. He was Sudanese, with the recognition of the United Nations.

[@dirghamishag9443]

You forgot the Halayeb and Shalateen triangle between Egypt and Sudan. He was Sudanese, with the recognition of the United Nations.

[@dirghamishag9443]

You forgot the Halayeb and Shalateen triangle between Egypt and Sudan. He was Sudanese, with the recognition of the United Nations.

[@dirghamishag9443]

You forgot the Halayeb and Shalateen triangle between Egypt and Sudan. He was Sudanese, with the recognition of the United Nations.

[@dirghamishag9443]

You forgot the Halayeb and Shalateen triangle between Egypt and Sudan. He was Sudanese, with the recognition of the United Nations.

[@dirghamishag9443]

You forgot the Halayeb and Shalateen triangle between Egypt and Sudan. He was Sudanese, with the recognition of the United Nations.

[@dirghamishag9443]

You forgot the Halayeb and Shalateen triangle between Egypt and Sudan. He was Sudanese, with the recognition of the United Nations.

[@dirghamishag9443]

You forgot the Halayeb and Shalateen triangle between Egypt and Sudan. He was Sudanese, with the recognition of the United Nations.