Russia’s Role in the Sudan Conflict

Sudanese army soldiers, loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, man a position in the Red Sea city of Port Sudan, on April 20, 2023. - More than 300 people have been killed since the fighting erupted on April 15 between forces loyal to al-Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). AFP via Getty Images

Commentary

Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin of the infamous Wagner mercenary group also owns a U.S.-sanctioned company called Meroe Gold. This company extracts gold from Sudan, supporting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.

Fighting broke out in Sudan on April 15 between two generals who led previous coup battles to consolidate control over the country. As of April 18, 180 people have been killed and over 1,800 wounded, with civilians making up a large share of the casualties. The combatants have been accused of shelling hospitals and killing aid workers.

The two main players in the conflict are Sudan’s military leader, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The two were once compatriots and instrumental in the 2019 overthrow of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, as well as the 2021 coup that led to the establishment of a military government. Now, the two are fighting to see who will gain overall control of the country.

Bashir also came to power through a coup and ruled for 30 years (1989–2019). His administration was plagued by corruption, human rights abuse, and economic crisis. Fighting broke out in the country’s Darfur region in 2003, which resulted in 300,000 deaths and over 2.5 million people displaced.

Both Burhan and Dagalo led troops in Darfur. Dagalo headed the Janjaweed forces, which became notorious and were repeatedly accused of war crimes and atrocities. Unperturbed by international outrage, Bashir formalized the Janjaweed into the national Border Intelligence Units. And in 2013, Bashir commissioned the group’s transition to the RSF. In 2004 and again in 2010 and 2015, the International Criminal Court (ICC) charged Bashir with war crimes, including genocide, relating to the Darfur conflict.

Burhan avoided ICC charges for his role in Darfur, but in 2007, ICC issued an arrest warrant for Dagalo. But the two continued their military careers, and both men commanded units of the Saudi-led coalition forces in Yemen from 2015 to 2019. In 2018, Burhan was appointed inspector general of the Sudanese Armed Forces.

Unrest continued as a result of Bashir’s mismanagement of the country. In 2011, South Sudan declared independence and was recognized by the United Nations as a separate country. The end finally came for Bashir in 2019 when a 70 percent inflation rate caused the country to erupt into riots as people could no longer afford food.

Dagalo and the RSF turned on Bashir, but not until after shooting and killing 118 pro-democracy protesters. Both Dagalo and Burhan then controlled the country as part of a military-civil coalition known as the Transitional Military Council (TMC). The TMC was meant to be a temporary arrangement until the country could transition to a civil government. But, in 2021, the army and the RSF led a coup and established full military rule.

Sudanese people carry their national flag and chant slogans as they celebrate the signing of a constitutional declaration between Deputy Head of Sudanese Transitional Military Council Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo and Sudan's opposition alliance coalition's leader, Ahmad al-Rabiah, outside the Friendship Hall, in Khartoum, Sudan, on Aug. 4, 2019. Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/Reuters

The current fight is now a battle for ultimate control of the country. Burhan blames Dagalo for the coup. The Sudanese army under Burhan has between 210,000 and 220,000 troops, while the RSF has only 70,000. Even though the army has greater numbers, the RSF is better trained and better equipped, thanks to the Russians.

The fact that Sudan is rich in resources and is strategically located makes it interesting to larger foreign powers. China is a key trading and investment partner in numerous sectors, including telecommunications, oil, and infrastructure. Russia, on the other hand, is interested in establishing a military foothold and benefiting from the country’s gold.

Russia has been smuggling gold out of Sudan for years, colluding with the Sudanese military leadership. In return for allowing Putin to remove gold from Sudan, he provided weapons, training, intelligence support for the army, and a cut of the gold proceeds.

Behind Russian oligarch Prigozhin is Russia’s gold and military operations in Sudan. He is a longtime Putin-ally and leader of the Wagner Group, a Russian private military company that fights as mercenaries in Sudan, the Central African Republic (CAR), Mali, Syria, and other parts of Africa and the Middle East. Wagner has also been active in Ukraine. Allegations of war crimes, rape, human trafficking, torture, and intentionally targeting civilians have been made everywhere Wagner has operated.

Prigozhin owns a U.S.-sanctioned company called Meroe Gold, which has had a contract in Sudan since 2017. At that time, former dictator Bashir, fearing a coup, met with Putin and offered Sudan as Russia’s gateway to Africa. Soon after this meeting, Russian experts and Wagner security arrived in the country.

The gold extracted by Meroe is flown from Sudan to the Syrian port city of Latakia, where Russia has an airbase, and then on to Russia. Gold is also transported overland through the CAR, where Wagner has supported a brutal regime.

Wagner established a relationship with the RSF commander Dagalo in order to create a smuggling route to transport gold from Sudan to Russia via Dubai. In exchange, Dagalo and the RSF have received training and equipment. Despite their small numbers, these have made them a more formidable army than the Sudanese regular army.

The Sudan gold operations are helping the Kremlin bypass U.S. sanctions, and some of the proceeds are being used to fund Wagner’s operations in Ukraine. Dagalo flew to Moscow the day after Ukraine was invaded last year to renew the relationship between the RSF and Wagner.

In addition to gold contracts, Russia has a pending agreement with Sudan to build a military base in Port Sudan on the Red Sea. The completion of this base would raise the security stakes for the United States and its allies, as Russia could use it as a base of operations throughout the region.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.