Global Courant 2023-04-28 18:09:35
This Q&A was originally published on Reddit and has been edited for length and clarity
I am Hiba Morgan and I have been on the ground in the Sudanese capital since fighting broke out on April 15 between two rival Sudanese generals.
I have been a reporter for Al Jazeera for over eight years and have been a reporter for Sudan since 2009. My reports come from the middle of the war zone; a city so dangerous that the US has difficulty evacuating Americans. Ask me anything:
Lost_Fun7095: According to an Al Jazeera reporter, is the conflict a symbol of deeper flaws and the inability of African nations to unite for a common good?
Hiba Morgan: The conflict is the result of a lack of checks and balances in an institution like the military. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) originated from the Janjaweed (government-backed militia), which killed and terrorized (people) in Darfur during the war years. There was no question about how they were recruited, how they conducted their operations, or why they did the military’s job. It is also the result of Western migration policies. The West was so focused and determined to keep people out that they didn’t care who they sent their money to, even if it was a group accused of gross human rights violations, such as the RSF.
PolemicBender: How do we get the international community to care?
Morgan: The international community should view the refugees in the same way as the Ukrainian refugees. Open safe routes for them, give humanitarian aid. And their main concern is the refugees arriving on their shores. These fights are already creating refugees who do not stop at neighboring countries. If that doesn’t get them to give, I don’t know what will.
UnlikelyBicycle1: Are the people at the airport safe? The people waiting to travel home.
Morgan: There are no people at the airport right now, at least not at the main international airport. The airport people are evacuating through is to the east, 800 km (1,500 mi) away from the capital where the fighting is concentrated. But thousands are still trapped in Khartoum.
Feck5: Is there any reason to suspect that the current ceasefire will hold? Does it hold now?
Morgan: The truces have been described as shaky. I would say they have been in the right place at the right time to get the foreigners out. But the fighting never stopped. A hospital was hit on Tuesday when a ceasefire was supposed to be in effect. There were air strikes today. So no, the ceasefire on the ground and for people who are cut off from water and electricity and unable to leave their homes to meet their basic needs, the ceasefire has not lasted.
9Wind: Countries seem to want to avoid anything related to the conflict other than a ceasefire to evacuate. Why is this?
Morgan: The reason countries are pushing for a ceasefire instead of negotiating immediately is because neither side has shown a willingness to negotiate. The army and paramilitary commanders were supposed to meet to avoid the military confrontation before it happened, but things went downhill after that. There are so many versions of who fired the first shots, but it was impossible to get the two sides together and talk, so the focus was on a ceasefire as the first step.
StudioTwilldee: Are there social, ideological or ethnic components to this conflict, or is it a power struggle entirely?
Morgan: In Khartoum, it’s a battle for power and resources. In Darfur it becomes ethnic. The Arabs have been armed to fight Darfuri tribes for two decades and a majority of the RSF has come from Arab tribes in Darfur. The recent fighting that has spread there has included torching houses of ethnic Darfuris, robbing markets and then setting them on fire. These are all reminders of the war in Darfur, which was largely an ethnic war.
Slatedtoprone: how are ordinary people doing? Does everyone take sides or do they just wait for the fighting to end so life can resume without the warfare?
Morgan: People in Sudan have made it clear that it’s not their war. It’s a power struggle that will end their dreams of a democratic transition, no matter who wins. They will have to demand justice and democracy from the start after it took them months to end Omar al-Bashir’s 30-year rule. Yes, they want this to end, but they don’t want to end their dreams of another Sudan.
IAstrikeforce: How is the food and water situation for the people of Khartoum?
Morgan: The situation is bad, there’s no other way to put it. People have been without running water and electricity for almost two weeks now. They have been denied access to banks, market prices are rising day by day and raw materials are running out. Hospitals have been bombed. Access to health care is so difficult to obtain that patients with kidney failure or diabetes are dying.
m64: Is this just a power struggle between the generals, or is there a deeper ideological conflict behind it? What do you think would be the best ending to this situation?
Morgan: It’s an internal conflict fueled by regional and international interests. Both sides want to control Sudan’s resources and there are countries that now have access to those resources. There is no clear evidence that they are directly involved, but they supported and funded both sides in various capacities before the conflict. When the conflict started, both sides were ready with weapons and soldiers.
Piggywonkle: Was the rivalry between the generals evident in any way before the conflict erupted this month? Are there other major factions involved, or is everyone mostly rallying around one or the other?
Morgan: Yes, the warning signs that conflict was coming were there. The movement of troops from the RSF side, the walls built around the general command of the army and the statements from both sides contradicting each other. Both allied to overthrow a civilian government, but things didn’t go as planned because they couldn’t form a new government to replace it, and the international community cut donor money. It was only a question of when, not if this would happen.
