Sudan: Al-Qaeda resurgent, killing at genocide levels, yet the world is indifferent

This can’t be blamed on Jews or Israel, so as far as the establishment media is concerned, it ain’t happening.

“Sudan’s descent into chaos sets stage for al-Qaida to make a return to historic stronghold,” by Sara Harmouch, The Conversation, May 10, 2024:

“Sudan’s moment has come; chaos is our chance to sow the seeds of jihad,” warned Abu Hudhaifa al-Sudani, a high-ranking al-Qaida leader, in an October 2022 manifesto.

His words may have seemed premature at the time, but a year of brutal civil war has now plunged Sudan into the kind of chaos in which terrorist groups thrive. The risk of al-Qaida gaining ground in Sudan is now very real and imperils, I believe, not only the country itself but also regional – and potentially global – security.

In April 2023, fighting broke out in Sudan between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, creating a power vacuum that extremists are eager to fill.

At the same time, the Rapid Support Forces – a group that developed under and was once allied to Sudan’s al-Qaida-harboring former president Omar al-Bashir – has been solidifying its grip in strategic areas such as Darfur and southern Khartoum.

Don’t let yourself be misled. Understand issues with help from experts
Indeed, both the paramilitary group and the armed forces have been accused of recruiting Islamist fighters, fueling fears that the civil war will – regardless of the victor – prove a toehold for extremist groups.

As a defense policy researcher and counterterrorism expert, I’m concerned that Sudan risks becoming an al-Qaida stronghold – and a potential base for orchestrating attacks on the U.S. and its allies. A potential Rapid Support Forces takeover in Sudan could mirror pre-9/11 Afghanistan, where Taliban control facilitated al-Qaida’s rise.

Al-Qaida members, seeking opportunities to achieve what they couldn’t in the Middle East, are already heeding calls to head to Sudan….

“Children ‘piled up and shot’ in Sudan as UN envoy says world cannot ignore this ‘silent war and famine,’” by Bel Trew, Independent, May 10, 2024:

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has warned that genocide is likely to have been committed in Sudan, as the UN’s special envoy to the country has said that global indifference to the civil war has led to a “silent” conflict and famine.

Tom Perriello told The Independent that the world “simply will not engage” with Sudan despite the fact that it has been in the grip of a year-long, vicious civil war. Last April, simmering tensions between its military, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commanded by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, broke out into street battles in the capital, Khartoum.

Ferocious fighting has spread to other parts of the country, especially urban areas and the Darfur region. There the World Food Programme (WFP) warned that people are living off grass and peanut shells and that at least 1.7 million people are experiencing emergency levels of hunger. HRW has called for sanctions over the situation in West Darfur in a new report released on Thursday that alleged that RSF and its allied militias are committing crimes against humanity and widespread war crimes “in the context of an ethnic cleansing campaign”.

Mr Perriolo said that, despite the massive humanitarian crisis, soaring death toll and horrific violence, there had only been a “brief blip” in global attention around the anniversary of the conflict last month. Otherwise, interest had died down, with devastating effect….