Sudan civil war: A brutal civil war has ravaged Sudan for the last two years as the Sudanese Armed Forces are battling the Rapid Support Force, the country’s paramilitary force, in a bid to capture power in the northeastern African nation, while common citizens are paying a heavy toll in the conflict.
However, the Sudanese army and paramilitary forces are not the only ones responsible for the horror that has befallen the country’s citizens, as there are other nations, including Chad, Egypt, Iran, Libya, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), that have added fuel to the raging Sudan civil war by lending support to one of the two warring factions.
While several countries are guilty of fueling the Sudan civil war, geopolitical experts believe that Saudi Arabia and the UAE are providing financial and military support to the warring parties, a claim both nations have vehemently refuted.
According to geopolitical analysts, the Sudan civil war was triggered due to the power tussle between Saudi Arabia and UAE in the Horn of Africa, essentially making it a proxy war between the two Gulf monarchies, even as several other Muslim world nations like Iran, Egypt, and Qatar are also indirectly involved.
While Sudan has interacted with most Central Asian countries in the last two decades, the African nation has had close ties with both Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, who are vying to increase their influence in the region.
Federico Donelli, a political scientist who studies the influence of these Gulf monarchies in Sudan, has exposed the intervention of these countries and their objectives. In such a situation, know how the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia got involved in Sudan’s civil war and what benefits these countries are going to get from this.
Saudi Arabia and Sudan have had decades-long political, cultural, and economic relations since the African country became an independent sovereign nation in 1956, while people-to-people ties between the two countries have existed for centuries, primarily due to Sudan’s geographical proximity to the desert Kingdom, and the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.
On the other hand, the UAE has gradually increased its economic and financial influence in Africa over the past two decades, making giant investments in key sectors like port logistics, which drive the economy of these impoverished nation. Sudan emerged as a priority for the Emirati Kingdom in the late 2010s when the regional balance changed before and after the Arab uprisings.
Between 2014 and 2015, both Riyadh and Abu Dhabi expanded their influence over Sudanese politics under former President Omar al-Bashir, as both Gulf Kingdoms made efforts to counter Iran growing influence in the Red Sea and Yemen. In 2015, Sudan broke diplomatic ties with Iran, and contributed 10,000 troops to the Saudi-led military operation in Yemen to fight the Tehran-backed Houthi rebels.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE’s influence in Sudanese politics grew under the leadership of President Omar al-Bashir. Both monarchies wanted to counter Iran’s ability to extend its power in the Red Sea and Yemen. In 2015, after breaking ties with Iran, Sudan contributed 10,000 troops to the Saudi-led military operation in Yemen to fight Houthi rebels. Both the Sudanese military and paramilitary forces participated, and personal ties were forged with Saudi Arabia.
After Omar al-Bashir was deposed in a 2019 coup, and subsequently jailed on charges of corruption, Saudi Arabia and UAE continued to expand their influence in Sudan, as both monarchies vied to become the preeminent power in the region.
According to experts, both Saudi and UAE consider Sudan as a sort of “testing ground” to test their ability to influence and shape future political agreements in a rapidly changing global power structure. The cash-rich Gulf kingdoms say the post-al Bashir era as an opportunity to influence Sudan’s regional position, and chose to support different factions within Sudan’s security apparatus, which exacerbated internal competition, ultimately leading to the Sudan civil war.
While Saudi Arabia has close ties with, and providing military and financial support to Sudanese army leader and the country’s de facto ruler, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the UAE has aligned with Mohamed Hamdan ‘Hemedti’ Dagalo, the powerful chief of Sudan’s feared Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Notably, the power tussle in Sudan has also drastically changed the nature of relations between the UAE and Saudi Arabia on the whole, as both monarchies have divergent views on matter such as political Islam.
Experts say that while the two Gulf nations did not directly trigger the Sudan civil war, and probably never intended to, but their overt support to warring factions in the Sudanese security establishment certainly made turned a hostile situation into a full-blown war.
Once the conflict erupted, both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were reluctant to withdraw support from their respective Sudanese allies, as it would have made them look weak, they say.
For breaking news and live news updates, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Read more on Latest World News on India.com.