Hundreds of thousands flee new attacks as discussions fail to halt the violence.
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa This week, the people of Sudan have been subjected to biblical-scale misery, as some have accused the Biden administration of being “idle.” Despite the conflict, Russia’s Wagner Group continues to mine and export Sudanese gold in order to fund the Kremlin’s assault against Ukraine.
According to eyewitnesses who spoke to Fox News Digital, rebel militias from the Rapid Support Force, or RSF, are intimidating civilians and plundering everything they can get their hands on in the regional capital of Wad Madina.
According to U.N. officials, at least a quarter-million people have fled the area in the last few days, on top of the six million who have already been forced to leave their homes.
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Many of these people had only lately fled conflict in Khartoum’s capital to a spot where they thought they’d be safe.
“This is a terrible and traumatic turn of events,” Mathilde Vu, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Sudan advocacy manager, told Fox News Digital. “Wad Madani has been a safe haven for 84,000 people who fled Khartoum just a few months ago.”
“Many of them have already lost everything: their homes, their assets, and in some cases, even their relatives.” They are now enduring this nightmare once more, but with considerably less.
“Sudan is a state that has collapsed,” Fox News digital intelligence expert Jasmine Opperman said.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier this month accused both parties in Sudan’s conflict, the government’s Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the rebel Rapid Support Forces (RSF), of war crimes, with the RSF specifically accused of “crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.”
He went on to say that both sides “have unleashed horrific violence, death, and destruction across Sudan.”
“Across Sudan,” Blinken added, “the RSF and allied militias have terrorized women and girls by attacking them in their homes, kidnapping them from the streets, or targeting those fleeing.” We have witnessed an eruption of violence in Darfur, echoing the genocide that began nearly 20 years ago.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), over 12,000 people have been murdered since the violence began on April 15.
Furthermore, a State Department spokeswoman told Fox News Digital that Sudan is experiencing “one of the world’s largest displacement crises.”
According to the International Organization for Migration Displacement Tracking Matrix, “approximately 5.3 million people have been displaced within Sudan,” OCHA announced this week. It further stated that approximately 1.3 million people crossed into neighboring countries.
“Achieving a sustainable solution requires ending violence and resuming a civilian-owned political process to form a civilian government and restore Sudan’s democratic transition,” a representative for the State Department said.
“Our message is clear and consistent: The United States and our regional and international partners are unified in calling for the parties to immediately end the fighting in Sudan and for the SAF and the RSF to silence the guns.”
The message may be apparent, but detractors argue that it is not being communicated persuasively enough.
“It is difficult to end such a war without the direct intervention of a powerful regional or international force,” Walid Phares told Fox News Digital. Phares is a foreign policy analyst residing in Washington, DC, and the secretary general of the Transatlantic Parliamentary Group. He has written 15 books, including “Iran and the Imperialist Republic and U.S. Policy.”
“But no neighboring government, Arab country, or international party was willing to partake in such a mission,” he said.
“During the Ukraine war, and now since Oct. 7 and the Gaza war, literally all players have been focused on their national interests rather than peacemaking in a difficult and large country.” Sudan is far too huge and intricate to comprehend.”
“As the election season approaches, the Biden administration is dealing with far too many crises.” From today’s attacks on civilian ships in the Red Sea by the Houthi Iran-backed militia to the Ukraine conflict, the handover of power to the Taliban, and, finally, the Gaza conflict, the Biden administration is viewed as weak and incapable of acting internationally.
Enter the Russians, posing as the Wagner Group, a nefarious conglomerate of mercenaries and precious metal extractors.
According to Phares, “The Wagner group now seems to have chosen a partner in Sudan, the (rebel) RSF, complicating the situation further.”
Opperman continued, “Wagner cannot be ignored in Sudan.” The Wagner Group mines and exports gold in Sudan, with the revenues being used to fund the country’s war against Ukraine. Wagner apparently backs the anti-government RSF and, according to Opperman, wants the African struggle to continue: “Wagner will counter any attempt at seeking democratic consolidation within Sudan because of the economic profits they make from the mining industry.” Ignoring the darkening Sudan will be a grave error.”
Sudan is an important country for Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Rebekah Koffler of Fox News Digital. Koffler is the president of Doctrine & Strategy Consulting and a former member of the Defense Intelligence Agency. “Moscow regards Sudan as an important ‘gateway to Africa.'” Top priorities include gold mining and the development of a Red Sea naval base at Port Sudan.”
“Now that Iranian proxies have turned the Red Sea into a battlefield, disrupting maritime traffic through the Suez Canal,” he said, “Putin wants to make sure Russia is positioned well in this geographic choke point.”
“Putin is not necessarily pulling the strings in Sudan, but Russia is taking advantage of the conflict and is fueling it to some extent by flowing new weapons, riot gear, and fighters through the Wagner Group.”
“Wagner is not acting on its own,” asserts Koffler. “They are a Russian government proxy force that directs its operations at the strategic, rather than tactical, level.” Wagner is successfully carrying out Putin’s ‘Great Game’ in Africa.”
Meanwhile, many ordinary Sudanese men, women, and children are homeless and hungry. “The humanitarian appeals for Sudan are largely unfunded,” said Vu of the Norwegian Refugee Council to Fox News Digital. “After nine months of constant violence and displacement, we have reached our breaking point.” International solidarity must be strengthened.
Opperman sees a bleak future: “Sudan, once again, is repeating its own history and proclivity to destroy itself through warlords.”
As a solution, Phares believes the United States should act decisively and quickly. “Washington should have at least moved to stop the most recent massacres in West Darfur perpetrated by the old Jihadi Janjaweed, who were responsible, according to the U.N., for a genocide against black Africans in 2004–2005,” stated Mr. Obama. “The U.S. should lead a peace force, enter Geneina, the capital of Darfur, and establish a safe zone.”
However, Phares has reservations: “One could believe that, absent a massive change in US foreign policy by early 2025, the Sudan conflict, and possibly all other tensions in the region, will still be raging.” Once again, there is a presidential election in the United States that could have an impact on Sudan and the rest of the world.”
