UK Minister Andrew Mitchell once said ‘Hatred engenders violence, violence engenders further violence until the only “rights”, the only law, are whatever is willed by the most powerful’. No truer words were ever said that depict the notorious state of affairs of African nations that have succumbed to a cycle of violence – particularly post-colonial violence. Given its turbulent colonial history, there lies one such post-colonial African nation among others whose land, culture and diversity has been marred by internal conflict where competing visions of governance not only led to secession in 2011 but to an outbreak of civil war as we speak. That nation is Sudan –a land that was once a joint electorate of foreign powers like Britain and Egypt but since gaining independence in 1956 has fallen prey to local competing forces. Grasping the extent and origins of the crisis is something one must dwell on if we are to understand not only the causes of Sudan’s conflict but to answer why has most of greater Africa been plagued by an epidemic of generational violence and wars.
Sudan’s predicament does not have one cause. Initially, the roots of the longest-running civil war dates back to local ethnic and religious tensions between Northern Sudanese; primarily of Arab and Muslim descent versus the Southern Sudanese comprising of minority Christian and animist tribes that soon came into conflict. This resulted in the 2011 secession.
One must not make the mistake of confusing Africans as purely homogenous based on physical attributes, a mistake it seems colonial powers like Britain made while arbitrarily drawing up borders without taking into consideration how mixing diverse religious and cultural groups may exacerbate long-term regional tensions. This hallmark of colonial legacy is not just something that Sudan but the rest of Africa pays the price for.
Besides Sudan, this is seen by examples of the Biafran war in Nigeria between the Igbo, Yoruba and Fulani ethnic tribes who were forced to share one land after gaining independence from colonial powers. However, Sudan’s north-south ethnic divide was further compounded by economic unrest and a brutal dictatorship under Bashar- ul-Omar’s civilian regime that further heightened tensions under his strict orthodox interpretation of Shariah law leading to further minority persecution. This sowed the seeds for the 2003 Darfur conflict which still remains ongoing.
Omar’s reign of terror continued until his ousting in a joint coup led by the very Rapid Support Forces (RSF) whom he sought protection from and the opposing Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in 2019. However, the optimism of the Sudanese people who had hoped for a peaceful two-year transition to non-dictatorial style of civilian rule thereon was short lived. Instead, they were greeted by clashes that led to mass displacement of more than 8.6 million people; done by the very RSF and SAF forces who sought power and governance due to clashing interests. Interestingly, history showcases that violent rebellion to overhaul existing governments ironically generates more violence and unrest.
Frantz Fanon explains this phenomenon in the book Wretched of the Earth as violence being intrinsic to post-colonial African societies owing to the vicious cycle of ‘imperialism’ where he argues that violence may be a response to liberating oneself from oppression but its dehumanising impact is that it never ends even with the end of the colonial rule; given that the oppressors and stakeholders never end. Rather violence and oppressors transforms from external enemies to internal native enemies like the African elite and power-hungry militia leaders.
Fascinatingly, the power struggle in Sudan between SAF’s General Abdul Fattah al-Burhan and RSF’S General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo after the toppling of Bashar’s civilian but undemocratic regime also reflects the broader issue of weak democratic poltical institutions in the African continent. This is seen by the shifting power dynamics between civilian and military regimes that has given voice to social instability and a poor human rights record; similar to the ongoing crisis in the Republic of Congo (DRC) whereby political factions are vying for control. Weakened democratic structures overshadow the voice of the people while allowing the tyranny of the powerful elite and resourceful to run rampant.
Let’s not forget RSF and SAF have gained local support by harkening to sentiments of existing ethnic and religious divisions to ensure that civil infighting persists. Ethnic tensions still remain charged in Darfur given the Arab-dominated governments oppose African ethnic groups of Christian and animist descent; and it is no surprise this sentiment has been sabotaged by the militias to ensure the continuation of the conflict.
Furthermore, resource competition among local and foreign elites has also exacerbated Africa’s ongoing civil wars; whether it is desiring monopoly over oil and gold fields in South Sudan, controlling diamond mines in Sierra Leone, shares in Angola’s oil fields or retaining mineral control in DRC. Interestingly, this is one of the primary reasons why external actors have engaged in a proxy war of sorts by providing military support to local militias like the RSF and SAF in Sudan; with UAE supporting the former and Saudi Arabia supporting the latter despite both denying such allegations. Particularly, the militarisation of groups like RSF whose origins date back to the Janjaweed Arab militias also provides evidence and reflects the broader issue of armed groups operating in the region with the assistance of Arab nations. Not only does it reflect how external forces in the Arabian Peninsula vie for resource control in the long run as they continue to ally with local African militias of their choice but it also explains why these civil wars in Africa persist for decades and years given that external military and financial support is at play. This is not surprising as this phenomenon is not recent but dates back to the cold war era where superpowers would engage in proxy wars by backing different factions in African conflicts within Angola, Mozambique, let’s not all forget the Libyan civil war being a byproduct of external intervention.
Conclusively, Sudan’s enduring conflict is a microcosm of broader challenges faced by many African nations post-independence. Hardened colonial legacy, economic distress, religious and ethnic divisions, weak post-colonial institutions and external forces at play only complicate the concept of African peace and instead thrust the entire continent into the arms of civil violence. If one wishes to find any hope for peace, inclusive governance and democratic forces are vital to ensure stability is achieved, both in Sudan and across the African continent.
The writer is our Editorial Assistant and international affairs, political economy analyst.
