resource-rich, impoverished, and rife with corruption Currently, Sudan is involved in another battle. This time, a paramilitary group is opposing the nation’s military authorities.
The military itself established the so-called Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to put the Darfur-region uprising under control.
Power struggles between military ruler Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan and RSF Chief Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, the second-ranking member of the ruling council, are not the only thing fueling the dispute. The conflict over dominance between the United States and Russia is still obscured by the smoke from the battlefield. Sudan has been made to resemble a second Ukraine.
Despite having mineral riches including gold, uranium, chromite, and oil, the nation is one of the least developed in the world, coming in at number 172 on the 2022 Human Development Index. 59,000 barrels of oil are produced per day by Sudan’s oil fields annually. About US$ 320 million is generated from oil exports each year. Additionally, it receives a 14,000 barrel daily in-kind royalty payment from South Sudan, an autonomous landlocked country that seceded from Sudan in 2011 and is dependent on Sudan’s seaports for both oil export and import.
The country is one of the least developed in the world, ranking 172 on the 2022 Human Development Index, despite having mineral wealth like gold, uranium, chromite, and oil. Sudan’s oil fields annually produce 59,000 barrels of oil per day. Each year, oil exports yield about US$ 320 million. Additionally, South Sudan, a sovereign landlocked nation that broke away from Sudan in 2011 and is reliant on that nation’s seaports for both oil import and export, pays a royalty of 14,000 barrels per day in kind to Sudan.
Sudan is a classic example of how international sanctions affect the poor and the vulnerable the most while they leave leaders unaffected. Sudan was slapped with international sanctions following war crimes charges in the Darfur region and South Sudan. The military government of President Omar al-Bashir was accused of committing rape and genocide during the Darfur and South Sudan conflicts.
Sudan received independence in 1956 from Britain and Egypt. However, for more than 50 years of its 67-year post-independence existence, the country had been enmeshed in one internal conflict or another. The secessionist war in South Sudan dominated by Christians and animists ended in 2005 but not before bringing deaths to 2 million people and making six million people refugees. In Darfur, 16 years of the conflict left 16,000 civilians dead and some 2.5 million displaced.
On Transparency International’s corruption index, Sudan ranks 172nd out of 180 countries. According to the U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Center, corruption in Sudan is present in all sectors and across all branches and levels of government. “Public servants are known to demand bribes for services that individuals or companies are legally entitled to; government officials hold direct and indirect stakes in many enterprises, distorting the market through patronage and cronyism; and the head of state and government is believed to have embezzled up to US$9 billion from oil revenues.”
When President al-Bashir’s house was raided by the military after he was overthrown in a pro-democracy uprising in 2019, US$ 134 million stacked in suitcases was recovered. The 2019 pro-democracy uprising led to the formation of a transition-to-democracy council with a civilian prime minister, but the 2021 military coup put paid to Sudan’s democracy march.
What of Sudan’s gold? It is alleged that Russia’s private military company, the Wagner Group, is part of a corruption network that enables the ruling elite to profit from gold smuggling. The Wagner Group is at the forefront of Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine. Sudan sought Russian succor to overcome International sanctions. Sudanese military leaders visited Russia for high-level talks. Soon, Russian companies, including the Wagner Group, were working in Sudan’s gold mines and oil fields.
The present conflict erupted on April 15 against the backdrop of a US-Russia power struggle in parts of Africa. On a different plane, there exists a US-China cold war. But that is another matter.
