SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Financial Times – Khartoum on tenterhooks after week of brutal violence

9/6/19: Financial Times – Khartoum on tenterhooks after week of brutal violence, by Tom Wilson

 Tom Wilson’s feature piece examines the possibility of what happens next in Sudan, after “hopes of peaceful transition are crushed,” with the Rapid Support Forces presence in Khartoum said to be “as if [Khartoum] had been conquered by an occupying force.”

 Wilson highlights the possibility of a “debilitating stalemate” if the military leaders refuse to cede power and the civilian opposition sustains its resistance.

 On the other hand, former Sudanese government peace negotiator Hussein Karshoum warns that violence “far worse” than that witnessed during the June 3 massacre may occur if elements of Sudan’s armed forces, such as the RSF, began competing for power.

 Karshoum explained that the RSF is a “merciless, unpredictable force” integrated into the armed forces in 2013 as a paramilitary group, with most of their fighters “very young, battle-hardened men drawn from different militias across the country.”