The speed with which the peace in Sudan collapsed was the first indication that the current events are the result of a long process. The country’s collapse is the result of a series of failures, complicities and omissions that have been operating in the background for so long that those who lived with them assumed they would continue indefinitely. But they lasted only until the paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Force (RSF), and the army entered the war for control of the country – and the Sudanese people found themselves at the center, writes The Guardian, citing Rador.

The capital, Khartoum, was transformed into a theater of war, with surreal scenes of tanks, rocket fire and plumes of smoke scattered across the city. The conflict erupted exactly four years after a colossal revolution managed, against all odds, to remove President Omar al-Bashir from power after nearly 30 years of dictatorship, economic looting and genocide, creating a power vacuum that both forces now struggling to fill.

The tragedy of Sudan is the tragedy of a country that dared to demand more and is now being punished for it. It joins a grim procession of Arab states that have ousted their dictators over the past 10 years, only to see their hopes for democracy dashed.

If a post-revolutionary country is as lucky as Egypt under Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the old regime simply regained control, only this time it was even more brutal and paranoid.

In the worst case, as we see in Libya, Yemen and Syria, the state has fallen victim to civil war, which has caused a massive exodus of refugees who make the perilous route to Europe.

But the tragedy of Sudan is also the tragedy of a country where coups should have taken place a long time ago. Last week’s events began 20 years ago in the marginalized western province of Darfur. The uprising against the government was brutally suppressed by a group of militants and robbers called the Janjaweed.

Bashir, a military man who came to power in an Islamist-backed coup in 1989, didn’t want to throw his beloved army into battle, so he instead started stoking tribal and ethnic feuds and had the Janjaweed fight in his place. Hundreds of thousands of people died, women were systematically raped, and the number of refugees reached millions.

The genocide attracted the attention and sanctions of the international community, and the International Criminal Court indicted Bashir. But nothing has changed in Sudan. The Janjaweed became a formal force called the RSF and gained even more power under the leadership of military magnate Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (known as Hemedti), whose ambitions grew when Bashir gave him free rein to amass influence and wealth if it protected him.

But Hemedti did not fulfill his promise and, taking advantage of the pro-democracy demands of 2019, united with the army and overthrew Bashir.

There are other heroes, thanks to whom the fate of Sudan was decided. International sanctions were so inappropriate that they only weakened the Sudanese people’s ability to resist the despotic government; a cynical array of undemocratic governments and monarchies in North Africa and the Middle East backed the army and militia after the 2019 revolution to stifle any prospect of democracy flourishing in their own backyard; and more recently, Russia has partnered with militias to be able to mine gold and secure certain security interests.

It is very painful to admit, but the responsibility lies not only with Sudanese leaders and international actors. Among those now at the center of the conflict, there was mutual interest and a borderline belief that what happened outside the capital did not matter. Bashir’s regime created a vast class that thrived under his rule, and his patronage led them to willingly ignore events.

The war currently ravaging the capital is only a small sign of what several regions of the country have had to endure for years while Khartoum enjoyed peace and prosperity. This divide fueled intense discontent, eroded national identity, and supported vast regions of lawlessness where mercenaries and local military oligarchs rose to power.

Thus, the brief period of hope that Sudan experienced after the 2019 revolution was soon dashed by reality. Pro-democracy slogans, even if they were once chanted across the country, were quickly eclipsed by the demands of various factions, insurgent groups, civil parties and elite interest groups, each with their own vision of what it should look like. after the revolution.

All this risks bringing too much with an obituary dedicated to the country in which I was born. But it is an attempt, perhaps naïve, to plan some kind of future for Sudan, placing this conflict in a wider context of global irresponsibility and local indifference.

I dare to think about the future after the war, because the revolution of 2019 actually showed a new element: the determination of the Sudanese people to no longer accept the rule of the military, no matter how numerous the privileged class it creates. This decision was paid with the lives of hundreds of people killed by the security forces during the last four years as they demanded the army and all militias to rule.

Now, hundreds more dead are added to this number, as Sudanese celebrate the Eid holiday, hiding from the bullets and bombs of the two camps, which have never cared about the interests of the population. It’s a dark time, no doubt. But perhaps there is some hope if the Sudanese people understand once and for all that peace for some can never last unless it becomes peace for all, writes The Guardian, citing Rador.