Israel Seeking Peace in Sudan, and the Warlords May Be Listening

Peace in Sudan is unlikely, but at least Israel’s foreign minister, Eli Cohen, is trying. He is inviting the two generals who are fighting viciously for control at Khartoum to a Jerusalem sit-down. Mediation between two warlords on scorched-earth missions to destroy each other certainly is an uphill battle. Anticipating prolonged fighting in Sudan, Washington and several other Western capitals, as well as the United Nations, are evacuating embassy personnel and aid workers.President Biden ordered the staff evacuation from Khartoum, leaving behind up to 16,000 Americans who are registered with the embassy. Some 500 Sudanese have been killed so far in the week-long fighting. Food, medicine, and other necessities are increasingly scarce, endangering the lives of all noncombatants in the country.As of yet, no end seems in sight to the war between forces loyal to the Sudanese army chief, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the commander of the Rapid Support Force, Mohamed Hamdan Dagolo. The Israeli news site Walla reports that the two generals are considering Mr. Cohen’s summit proposal. The Israeli Defense Force maintains good ties with the Sudanese army, while the Mossad has good ties with the RSF and General Dagolo, who is known as “Little Mohamed,” or Hemedti. “Sudan’s geostrategic location makes it a very important spot for us and for the world and stability there is crucial,” a former Israeli ambassador to South Sudan, Haim Koren, told Israel Radio recently. While the two generals are “problematic,” he added, “we must lower tensions.”Israel is far from alone. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, and other regional powers with ties in Sudan are attempting to mediate an end to the war. The Department of State announced Monday that the sides agreed to a 72-hour ceasefire — though similar agreements last week quickly broke down.“The Sudanese people are not giving up on their aspirations for a secure, free, and democratic future. Neither will we,” Secretary Blinken said earlier Monday. “The United States will work with all parties in coordination with regional and international partners to bring an end to the fighting and a return to the transition to a civilian government.”Sudan was a signatory to the 2020 Abraham Accords with Israel. Yet, unlike other signatories — the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco — Khartoum failed to finalize a peace treaty, as it struggled to make the transition away from military rule.In February, Mr. Cohen made a surprise visit to Khartoum in an attempt to end the impasse. “The most important thing is that Sudan will not return to a situation in which Islamists are in the driver’s seat, as they were at Omar al-Bashir’s time,” the foreign minister told the Israeli reporter Tal Schneider last week. Al-Bashir, who ruled Sudan for 30 years, is wanted by the International Criminal Court for his role in the Darfur genocide. He’s been incarcerated at Sudan’s Kober prison since he was overthrown in 2019. Many inmates escaped the prison after the RSF attacked it Saturday, but reports that claimed al-Bashir was among them were disputed by others. Either way, his current location is unknown. “The police have taken necessary measures to secure the safety of former President Omar al-Bashir and members of his regime, who have been moved to a secure location,” the Sudan Post website quoted an unidentified police source as saying. “This move is also aimed at preventing them from fleeing the prison,” the source added. Al-Bashir maintains a following in Sudan, and if freed he could add yet another dimension to the bloody contest between the two generals. Although both were under his command, they are now striving to distance themselves from the al-Bashir legacy.“Al-Bashir has been vilified enough that each side is accusing the other of siding with the former regime,” an Arab affairs watcher at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Hussain Abdul-Hussain, tells the Sun. “These were his guys, but now I’m not sure they need him.” The RSF was born out of the infamous Janjaweed, the group responsible for most of the Darfur atrocities in the 1990s. Since then, General Dagolo, or Hemedti, has managed to significantly beef up the militia, transforming the one-time camel trader into a top regional player in the process. One of Hemedti’s top allies is the Russia-based private army known as the Wagner Group. According to a Washington Post report, based on recent intelligence leaks, Wagner is surging in various spots in Africa where America’s influence is fading. General Dagolo, who controls Darfur’s gold mines, is closely allied with the Wagner Group, which supplies him arms in return for gold that helps finance the Ukraine war. “It’s a militia in cahoots with another militia,” Mr. Abdul-Hussain says. Having lived in Lebanon through the civil war there, he adds that wars among militias don’t easily lend themselves to mediation. Specifically, “America, a late-comer to Sudan, has limited influence over either side.”Israel and other regional players may have more sway than Washington, but they too are unlikely to help end the fighting before one side completely defeats the other. Meanwhile, the Wagner group and other nefarious players are aiming to prolong the war.

Israel Seeking Peace in Sudan, and the Warlords May Be Listening

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