Sudan’s war of two generals: Lates updates and the role of Chad’s infamous warriors

The ongoing fight between Sudan’s Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has entered its second week.

Here are the latest updates that reveal the struggle of two infamous generals and the plight of people caught in the crossfire.

Several countries have started evacuating their citizens from Sudan with the help of neighbouring countries above them Saudi Arabia and then Egypt.

It is a priority for them as it seems the Sudanese citizens are not the priority for anyone, especially for Abdel Fattah Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dalago.

Sudanese citizens are fleeing Khartoum with no estimate of the number of people leaving.

Buses heading to Egypt from AFP 

The majority are heading to Port Sudan or Wadi Halfa to cross the border into Egypt.

Satellite imagery shows long queues of cars, trucks, and buses on highways leading to the border crossings.

The three-day-ceasefire between the RSF and the Sudanese army, imposed by the US from midnight on 25 April, is fragile with violations from both sides.

Egypt has eased visa requirements, and over 9,000 Sudanese citizens have crossed into Egypt through the Arqeen border crossing (around 8,000) and the Qustul border crossing (more than 1,200).

Women, children, and the elderly over 50 years old can enter Egypt without a visa. In the past 24 hours, there have been reports that men can get temporary visas at the border crossings.

Thousands more are waiting at the Arqeen border crossing, where the Egyptian Red Crescent has established a relief centre.

More relief efforts are needed, especially during an economic crisis.

International organizations like the UN, WHO, International Committee for Red Cross, WFP, and UNHCR are required to assist in this humanitarian crisis.

It's worth noting that Egypt and Sudan signed the Four Freedoms Agreement in 2004, allowing citizens of both countries to move, live, work, and own property without restrictions.

Despite being signed and ratified in 2004, the agreement has not been fully implemented, particularly regarding freedom of movement, due to national security concerns from both countries.

On Sunday, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry called for Egyptian citizens living outside Khartoum to head to either the city of Wadi Halfa in Northern Sudan or Port Sudan in Eastern Sudan to be evacuated.

In the past 48 hours, over 1,000 Egyptians have returned aboard military planes.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry urged Egyptian citizens in Khartoum to stay safe until they receive instructions from the Egyptian Embassy on evacuation due to the volatile situation.

Egyptian and Sudanese armed forces are coordinating to begin these evacuation operations as Sudan has provided Egypt with details of safe corridors to designated evacuation sites in Sudan.

According to news reports, the Sudanese army is accompanying convoys of Egyptians who will be evacuated from Sudan to the border crossings between the two countries.

So far, Egypt has lost two of its citizens in Khartoum.

Administrative Assistant Mohamed El-Gharawy, working at the Egyptian Embassy in Khartoum, was killed while in his car on Monday on his way to the embassy.

The Sudanese Army has accused the RSF of being responsible for the attack, while the RSF has claimed it will cooperate with the Egyptian authorities to identify the culprit.

Saber Nasr El-Din, a student at Khartoum University's Faculty of Medicine, passed away on Sunday due to a severe drop in blood pressure.

His roommates reported that he suffered due to his diabetes and was unable to find insulin because of the ongoing conflict.

The young Egyptian student was one of many Sudanese citizens who have died due to the collapse of the health sector in the capital, with over 30 hospitals in Khartoum completely out of service due to the lack of power and medical supplies.

Nasr El-Din's family in Assuit's Dayrout was unable to transfer his body from the apartment where he was staying because of the ongoing fighting, despite his mother's social media pleas for him to be brought back to Egypt to be buried in his hometown in Upper Egypt.

Eventually, Nasr El-Din's father, Mohamed Nasr, announced that his son had been buried in a cemetery in Khartoum for the time being.

The Chadian connection

According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), in the past few days, 10,000 to 20,000 Sudanese refugees have crossed the border into Chad.

However, the media has been more focused on this than the influx of Chadian mercenaries joining the RSF as fighters in Sudan. Chadian IDs have been found on the bodies of RSF soldiers in Khartoum.

The Council of Arab Tribes of Chad issued on Friday a statement mourning the hundreds of Chadian citizens who were recruited by the RSF under the pretext of sending them to Yemen but were led to their death in Sudan. 

The council is urging those remaining in the ongoing battles to surrender and appealing to Sudanese leaders, specifically Burhan and the commander of the Sudanese Liberation Army of North Darfur, Minni Minnawi, to play a positive role in releasing detained and captive Chadian citizens.

Warlord Hemediti belongs to the Rezeigat tribe, which is located in Sudan’s Darfur and Kordofan, Chad, and Mali.

The Rezeigat were a source of recruitment for the Janjaweed when it was founded by Musa Hilal during the Darfur war, and the recruitment extended to Chad.

The history of Dalago and his brother's rise to power and their control of cross-border mercenaries for the wealthy Gulf is well-known.

I think the African Union and the UN must raise this issue for real. The influx of Chad’s mercenaries must be stopped because it is the real cause of the influx of refugees.