The seeds of Sudan's civil war started with a coup on October 25, 2021. However, the timing of a February 23, 2022 visit to Moscow from the deputy head of Sudan's ruling Sovereign Council, Rapid Support Forces (RSF) General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti), shows there is much more at play than a localized coup.
Hemedti's eight-day visit with Putin just happened to coincide with U.S. sanctions against Russia for Putin's "threatening actions" and "unprovoked aggression" in Ukraine, according to a press release from the White House. The U.S. and other countries placed a first round of sanctions on Russia a day after Hemedti's visit on February 24, 2022.
White House Press Release/February 24, 2023, Russian Sanctions
UncoverDC has reported on the plight of one American family's efforts to bring their father home from Sudan. He is an American worker trapped in Khartoum and effectively abandoned by the U.S. government while all embassy personnel was efficiently evacuated. The French were the ones who evacuated him and others to Djibouti on Monday. All this as intensified fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) is on its ninth day, with many Americans still trapped in Sudan and mounting local casualties.
The Sudanese ceasefire agreement is all but useless because clashes between the two forces continue to erupt daily. "At least 427 people have been killed nationwide, and more than 3,700 people are injured, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), as of April 21." Last week, three World Food Programme workers were killed as a result of the conflict.
UN Reports Sudan/https://reports.unocha.org/en/country/sudan/flash-update/22e1htA4a9Ut35uq2izUBq/
Sudan: Outside Influence, Intervention Often Cause Conflict and Death
Civil wars and coups that erupt in countries like Sudan are rarely superficial or entirely locally-driven events. There are almost always geopolitical interests inserting themselves into internal conflicts because of strategic routes and valuable local resources. Sudan and other impoverished countries may be exploited by world powers because they do not have the means to build infrastructure, grow food or provide medical aid for their own people. In many cases, while mutually beneficial arrangements are brokered, advancing infrastructure and important resources, those arrangements can also usher in conflict and the death of innocents, as we are now watching unfold in Sudan.
Sudan gets much of its grain from Ukraine and Russia—more than 85 percent of its wheat comes from those two countries. Almost half the country (about 20 million people), according to the UN, is "food insecure." Gold is a major resource in Sudan and is a "strategic route to the rest of Africa," according to reporting from Al Jazeera.
So how does Russia serve Sudanese interests? Why did Hemedti visit Moscow? Hemedti and his superior and rival general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who heads the Sovereign Council and the Sudanese military, are vying for control of the country. Burhan was noticeably absent from the eight-day meeting with Putin.
As is often the case in countries like Sudan, the two were once allies. Together they toppled President Omar al-Bashir in 2019. However, the military coup also produced negotiations "to integrate the RSF into the country's military as part of plans to restore civilian life." At the same time, there was a push both internally from the Transitional Military Council and from the United States to install a more "democratic" civilian administration. The two sides then agreed to form a Sovereign Council that would govern for approximately three years. However, the question quickly became which of the two factions would become "subordinate under the new hierarchy?"
In September 2021, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan spoke on behalf of the Biden administration in "support of the civilian-led transition to democracy in Sudan," opposing "any attempts to derail or disrupt the will of the Sudanese people." The U.S. also lifted Sudan's state sponsor of terrorism designation in December 2020. Per an agreement brokered by the Trump administration, the settlement required Sudan to pay $335 million for victims of the 1998 twin bombings against the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya. Trump posted remarks about the agreement on Twitter in October 2020.
The U.S. also supported $50 billion in debt relief to Sudan under the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative in June 2021.
Some analysts contend "Russia has exploited the tensions by enhancing cooperation with Hemeti" in February 2022. It is almost certain Hemedti's visit was planned to "leverage relations" with Russia, elevate his status with the RSF, and "bolster his internal position" relative to Burhan.
Russia has formed other alliances in Sudan. The former Sudanese President, Omar al Bashir, formed an alliance with Russia in 2017. During Bashir's visit to Russia, he sought to ramp up military ties and praised Moscow's military campaign in Syria. Russia was more than happy to help Bashir modernize its armed forces and to "intensify economic ties including agriculture and energy... The visit came a month after the United States lifted a trade embargo imposed on the impoverished African state in 1997 over Khartoum's alleged backing of Islamist militant groups."
Hemedti continued the alliance with Russia through the Wagner Group, a private Russian military company (PMC) with a network of mercenaries identified by the United States as an outside threat to Sudan's interests. Hemedti also supported the installation of a Russian naval base "capable of mooring nuclear-powered surface vessels" in Port Sudan. John Godfrey, the first U.S. ambassador to Sudan, warned against the Russian naval installation. Nevertheless, an agreement between Sudan and Russia was confirmed in February 2023. The U.S. has also voiced its desire to increase its strategic presence on the Red Sea.
Port Sudan/AFP graphic/https://www.ibtimes.com/
Notably, the civilian protest movement has railed against any Russian encroachment in the country. Reports from the ground in Sudan are that the local people want neither the RSF nor the Sudanese Military Forces to take final control over the country.
Fast forward to 2023 and the timeline pictured below in a Tweet by VRosen on Sunday. There seems to have been a flurry of U.S. interest in Sudan since August 2022:
Given Biden's animosity toward Russia, the U.S. government's lavish tax-payer-funded support of Ukraine, and the flurry of recent activity in Sudan, U.S. interests in Sudan may not be entirely above board. It may be just another proxy war.
Nuland's Fingerprints in Ukraine and Sudan
So why does Nuland care about "democracy in Sudan", you ask? Look no further than U.S. interest in Ukraine and its wish to subvert Russian prospects globally. Recall Nuland's involvement in regime change in Ukraine in 2014, also in the name of "democracy." According to globalresearch.ca:
"Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs 'Toria' Nuland was the 'mastermind' behind the Feb. 22, 2014 'regime change' in Ukraine, plotting the overthrow of the democratically elected government of President Viktor Yanukovych while convincing the ever-gullible U.S. mainstream media that the coup wasn’t really a coup but a victory for 'democracy'."
A leaked call from a conversation between Nuland and Geoffrey Pyatt, the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine shows clear evidence of her influence in Ukrainian politics when Vice President Biden was sending his son Hunter Biden as a proxy to Ukraine to peddle influence with corrupt leaders and energy companies like Burisma. The call and timeline of events referencing regime change and Burisma details posted by @themarketswork (Jeff Carlson) can be found below:
Nuland's telling exchange with Sen. Marco Rubio on March 8, 2022 about bio labs in Ukraine also helps justify U.S. interference in the Ukraine/Russian conflict. Russia had claimed there were U.S. bio labs in Ukraine, largely thought of as a conspiracy theory at the time. However, Nuland's answer may have inadvertently confirmed Russia's claims. Notably, Russia also asserted Hunter Biden was funding the bio labs there to help "a California defense contractor analyze killer diseases and bioweapons in Ukraine," per reporting from the NY Post.
During the exchange, Nuland admitted Ukraine has "biological research facilities" but skirted the meat of the question from Rubio. He asked whether there were U.S. labs containing biological weapons. Nuland made it clear she was "quite concerned Russian troops and Russian forces may be seeking to gain control of" them.
To be clear, prior to Rubio's questions, the existence of such facilities was written off by most as speculation. Rubio asked about biological weapons but her answer was carefully crafted to describe the bio labs as "research"-oriented only. After her answer, Rubio seemed to pivot—to try to clean up his question—maybe to help divert Nuland's answers back to the Russians, not the U.S., as the bad actors. Excerpts from the exchange are below:
Rubio: "It seems that the Russian propaganda groups are already putting out all kinds of information about how they've uncovered a plot by the Ukrainians to release biological weapons in the country and remove that coordination. If there were a biological or chemical weapon incident or attack inside of Ukraine, is there any doubt in your mind that 100% it would be the Russians that would be behind it?"
Nuland: "There is no doubt in my mind Senator, and it is no doubt a classic Russian technique to blame on the other guy with they are planning to do themselves."
Well, now there is word from WHO that there is a "high risk of biological hazard" in Sudan as Sudanese fighters occupy a bio lab there. It seems the U.S. may also have gain-of-function research operations in Sudan as well. Cofer Black also served on the Board of Burisma. Whatever one might think about this allegation, there is almost no doubt Nuland has an interest in destroying Russian operations wherever they might be. It also seems she is protecting Joe Biden.
Do African Countries Really Want Democracy?
UncoverDC spoke with the co-founder Raju Shaulis of CADG. The NGO is currently helping with evacuations in Sudan. CADG played a role in evacuating Americans and other nationalities from Afghanistan. CADG specializes in "delivering complex engineering, construction, facilities management, and logistics solutions in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
Shaulis told UncoverDC that countries like Sudan often do not really want "democracy" but are beholden to powerful outside interests because of poverty, a need for roads, and critical resources like medicine, food, and water. Shaulis said these geopolitical relationships are "complex, with countries like China and Russia playing a long-term approach without worry for democracy or human rights. Unfortunately, in many of these countries, democracy does not work. And powerful countries like the U.S., China, and Russia are paying and doing things locally because they know local governments will take the cash."
