Amsterdam - Radio Dabanga — The speeches of Lt Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan, commander of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and chair of Sudan's Sovereignty Council, and Lt Gen Mohamed 'Hemedti' Dagalo, commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), to the Sudanese people on Sunday, triggered widespread criticism.
Human rights defender Majdi El Naeem described the speech of El Burhan, on the eve of the 68th anniversary of the country's independence, as "contradictory".
The army commander "fluctuates in his positions from welcoming peace to calling for war," El Naeem told in an interview Radio Dabanga yesterday. "He denounced advocates for stopping the war and at the same time he said that he supports calls for peace.
"Moreover, he criticised countries that recently received Hemedti within the framework of the mandate of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to organise peace negotiations between the warring parties, and at the same time kept silent about countries providing the RSF with weapons."
No explanations
"El Burhan directed his speech to the Sudanese people, who want to see an end to the war, whether it comes with the victory of the army or in agreement with the RSF, but his words did not confirm either path. It seems that El Burhan and his army commanders are neither capable of achieving victory nor able to decide to enter into negotiations that achieve peace and restore safety to civilians."
His address to the Sudanese confirms that he is to a large extent disconnected from reality, the human rights defender stated.
El Burhan appears to be a leader unable to unite his people and even his army, who has no plan to stop the war and no plan to win it - Majdi El Naeem
"The cost of war on the Sudanese increases daily, and that according to data, an average of four deaths occurs in each battle between the SAF and the RSF, most of them civilians. Furthermore, crimes are being committed against civilians daily in the areas under control of the RSF, but El Burhan did not say anything about this."
El Naeem further criticised the speech for not explaining the reasons for "the weak performance of the SAF, the abominable political performance of the Sovereignty Council and the acting government, and the fluctuation of its leader between one position and its opposite.
"Thus, he appears to be a leader unable to unite his people and even his army, who has no plan to stop the war and no plan to win it."
Civil war
The lawyer warned of a civil war. "The worst of the future scenarios is the loss of both parties' control over their forces and the expansion of the armament of tribal warriors.
"What makes it even worse is that El Burhan's speech seems to want to incite the people against each other. If the leadership style presented by El Burhan and his allies continues as it is, this will only prolong the war with very strong possibilities of it turning into a civil war.
"El Burhan calls for more armament of specific political groups, some of which brag about violating the instructions of the army commanders. This just confirms the loss of his command over the army forces."
If the leadership style presented by El Burhan and his allies continues as it is, this will only prolong the war with very strong possibilities of it turning into a civil war
'Denial of reality'
Journalist and activist Shamayel El Nour called El Burhan and Hemedti "completely disconnected from the reality the Sudanese are now experiencing in all parts of the country.
She told Radio Dabanga yesterday that "both speeches contain an evasion of responsibility and a denial of reality in a way that hardly deserves comment.
"I was surprised by El Burhan's talk about Sudanese rallying around army forces and encouraging them to carry weapons to protect them, which is the responsibility of the army in the first place. At the same time there is hardly no army left for the Sudanese people to rally around," she said.
"Although speeches are routine on such occasions, the Sudanese were waiting for courageous decisions from the two generals to move forward to achieve an agreement that would stop this hell in which all Sudanese live."
What is wanted now from Hemedti is not an apology but a ceasefire, even unilateral - Shamayel El Nour
RSF apologies
El Nour described Hemedti's apology to the residents of El Gezira, West Darfur, and other areas that were subjected to widespread human rights violations, as "irresponsible in the literal sense.
"Talking about attackers and armed robbers not belonging to the RSF is completely unacceptable, because what the RSF paramilitaries did in Khartoum is what they did in Darfur is what he did in some areas of Kordofan and are now doing in El Gezira with the highest level of ugliness.
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"What is wanted now from Hemedti is not an apology but a ceasefire, even unilateral," she stressed.
"Stopping the war and the disastrous situation the Sudanese are experiencing now is in the hands of the RSF. They can halt their operations and stop expansion on the ground, and this, at the very least, could represent a practical apology. But issuing a speech each time carrying an apology to the Sudanese, while the violations continue, and whoever dies, whoever kills, whoever kills, and whoever rapes, is unacceptable."
'War of gangs'
She repeated "what the Sudanese are asking now and that is for the two generals to take serious steps and courageous decisions to stop this hell in which we live.
"This is what the two generals could do at this time, at the very least. No more procrastination, no more apologies, and no more SAF calls for armed resistance against the RSF on grassroots level that is now happening throughout Sudan, headless and leaderless, which may make the matter slip away from everyone and becomes a gangs-fighting-gangs-war in the country."
