Caught flatfooted in a civil war between rival factions in Sudan, U.S. embassy personnel were told to shelter in place, unable to get the Pentagon to help evacuate some 16,000 Americans frozen in the crossfire. “Shelter in place until further notice,” the State Department told U.S. embassy personnel in Sudan. Unable to get U.S. troops into he war zone for evacuations, the Pentagon has its hands tied in Ukraine, where a majority of U.S. military assets have been directed. Whether admitted to or not by the White House, Ukraine has taken precedent over the many hot spots around the globe requiring intense U.S. diplomacy. Sudan was allowed to simmer to the boiling point, with State Department officials consumed by the Ukraine War. Everything else around the planet takes a backseat to the Ukraine conflict. Now U.S. personnel in Sudan find themselves caught in the crosshairs of civil war.
Sudan’s armed forces led by 63-year-old Abdel Fattah al-Burnhan, who came to power in a 2019 coup, finds himself in a life-and-death battle with 48-year-old Rapid Support Forces Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, demanding that his armed group be integrated into Sudan’s regular army. Al-Burhan agreed to coordinate evacuations with the U.S. military, should the Pentagon manage to send U.S. troops to evacuate some 16,000 U.S. citizens in Sudan. “The embassy is unable to assist convoys. Traveling in any convoy is at your own risk,” said Khartoun authorities. “The United Stats, Britain, France and China will evacuate their diplomats and citizens by air with military transport aircraft belonging to their armed forces from Khartoun,” said the government communiqué. Al-Burhan said his forces will do everything possible to coordinate evacuations with foreign armies.
Seeking to travel to the city of Port Sudan to evacuate embassy personnel, convoys come under fire by rival forces, most likely Dagalo’s Rapid Support Servies or some other renegade group. Pentagon officials are so mired in Ukraine that resources are not readily available to handle hot spots like Sudan around the globe. To make matters worse, 80-year-old President Joe Biden has burnt all bridges with Russia, normally a reliable asset in foreign policy with the U.S. Going to war against the Russian Federation over Ukraine has been a nightmare for U.S. foreign policy. If relations were still tight between the U.S. and Moscow, Russia could assist in helping put assets in place to help evacuate American personnel, or, at the very least, buy the Pentagon more time to evacuate diplomat employees. How the Pentagon plans to get U.S. troops into Sudan is anyone’s guess.
Britain for its part said they were doing everything possible to protect their diplomatic personnel in Khartoun. French officials said the same, but, like with Britain, there are no assets in place to pull off any evacuations. Al-Burhan said he agreed to a three-day ceasefire to facilitate evacuations of foreign diplomats and their families. Al-Burhan said he would halt fighting to celebrate the Muslim end of Ramadan Eid al-Fitrand. Whatever the ceasefire requests, fighting resumed in Khartoun World Health Organization officials confirmed that at least 400 people had been killed in fighting, seeing the actual death toll much higher. Ceasefire attempts based on agreement between Burhnan and Dagalo show that they have little control of other factions looking to capitalize on the civil war. Dagalo demanded the Burhan incorporate his Rapid Support Services in the Sudan military.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, 60, mired in the Ukraine War and escalating tensions with China, called the fighting “reckless” and “irresponsible,” the same language usually reserved for Russian President Vladimir Putin and China’s President Xi Jinping. Blinken offers little practical hope for the 16,000 U.S. citizens trapped in Sudan. Burhan agreed in principle to incorporate Dagalo’s Rapid Support Forces into Sudan’s armed forces. Burhan came to power in 2005 when Sudan’s dictator Omar al-Bashir was indicted by the Hague’s International Criminal Court for genocide. Sudan’s Omar al-Bashur presided over the 3 million genocide in Dafur, starting in 2003 and ending in 2020. Burhan and Dagalo both worked toward ousting al-Bashir in 2019, despite currently in a civil war. State Department and Pentagon officials would ordinarily provide more rapid resolution.
If there were ever a case for ending the Ukraine War, the State Department and Pentagon find their hands tied trying to deal with urgent crises around the globe. No one wants to see Sudan’s current civil war turn into the next Darfur, because the U.S. has its hands tied in Ukraine. Both Burnhan and Dagalo joined together to rid Sudan of U.S.-backed Prime Minister Abdalla Handock in 2021. Burnhan and Dagalo have little trust of the U.S. government because of backing Handock’s government. Getting U.S. troops safely into Kharoun to evacuate U.S. diplomatic personnel won’t be easy because of the Ukraine War. Whether admitted to or not, the State Department and Pentagon don’t have the resources and commitment to help protect U.S. diplomats in Sudan. Blinken has shows zero charisma needed for a U.S. Secretary of State to win the confidence of both sides in the Sudan conflict.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
