BEIRUT — The U.S. Treasury has imposed new sanctions on Sudan’s military commander, Lieutenant General Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan, for “destabilizing Sudan and undermining its democratic transition.”
The US government’s overt involvement in Sudan exposes the double standards of the US, which claims to promote human rights and democratic values while its main objective is to secure colonial interests.
An official spokesperson for Sudan’s armed forces said the US’s “unjustified” sanctions would not prevent the military from “fulfilling its legal and constitutional obligations to defend Sudan.”
The past few years have shown that every time there is a major development in the military field, the US government has intervened to thwart this progress, often coinciding with apparent Israeli intervention.
Based on past experience, the United States’ carrot-and-stick policy has no direct impact on the course of ongoing wars, whether at the political, security, or military level. Sanctions against Omar al-Bashir’s government have only complicated relations between Washington and Khartoum.
The sanctions came at the same time as the Sudanese army marched into Al-Jazeera state and took control of the strategic city of Wad Medani, and at the same time, despite the Sudanese military’s efforts to disband the insurgents, it forced Rapid Support Forces out of the capital Khartoum and towards Darfur state. I was in the middle of trying to sleep. They attacked the military by bombing residential areas and critical infrastructure.
The most realistic option, most Sudanese analysts agree, is to decide militarily to go to war against what they call the “insurgency.” This is because the main purpose of sanctions is to break the will of the Sudanese people, preventing them from achieving progress in critical areas. By keeping Sudan under the hegemony of Washington imperialism.
Sudanese military expert Maj. Gen. Abdel Hadi Abdel Bassit described the sanctions as “naive and worthless sanctions,” citing the Salvation Government’s experience in blocking similar sanctions for more than 30 years.
Abdel Bassit predicts that the sanctions will move Sudan toward greater independence and new partnerships, for example with Russia. Undoubtedly, what Washington is deeply concerned about is the growing rapprochement between Sudan and Russia, which would mean a dramatic shift in the balance of power in Africa.
What is happening in Sudan unfortunately reveals the dire state of Arab national security and the ineffectiveness of existing efforts to find a solution. Some Arab governments not only support warring parties, but also fight them against each other, as they do in Sudan.
These involved governments lack the slightest bit of political maturity. Sudan is not on their agenda at all. In Syria, Arab delegations began gathering in Damascus to meet al-Julani and his officials after Washington gave the government permission.
Sudan is being torn apart like Libya. This opens the door to further US and Israeli interference with the Sudanese people’s desire to return to security, stability and normal life. How long will the Arabs wait for an American signal to resolve their national security problems?