From forced partnership to war: The Historical Roots of the Burhan-Hemedti Conflict

The war between Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Daglo "Hemedti" broke out on April 15, 2023, but it was not a sudden explosion as it seems, but rather the inevitable end of a long path of military and political rivalry that began more than twenty years ago. to understand this war, it is not enough to look at what happened in Khartoum last year, but to return to the roots of power, weapons, gold and authority in Sudan.

When Omar al-Bashir created the RSF, he did not realize that he was planting within the regime a monster that would turn on everyone. Hemedti, who started as a fighter in the deserts of Darfur, became within a few years the most dangerous man in Sudan: he has an army, a parallel economy, and gold networks stretching from Jebel Amer to Dubai...Bashir thought he was a follower...only to become an irreplaceable partner.

The fall of Bashir's regime in 2019 put the two men-Burhan and Hamidti-into a strange equation: partnership without trust. They sat at the top of power with their hands on the trigger. After the October 25, 2021 coup, they seemed to have the country in one fist... but the truth is that they were waiting for the right moment to pounce.

The mine that blew everything up was the issue of integrating the RSF into the army. Al-Burhan saw it as an existential battle: one army... or no state. Hemedti understood that rapid integration meant his end, so he stipulated ten years and even demanded that the army be placed under civilian command temporarily. Al-Burhan felt that Hemedti was no longer just a militia leader... but a contender for power.

Military movements, control of airports, mutual mobilizations, fiery messages in the media... Then the decisive moment came. At dawn on Saturday, April 15, 2023, Khartoum turned into a war zone. Everything that was hidden came to light, and everything that was built on temporary compromises collapsed.

This war was the natural result of years of forced coexistence between two incompatible projects: an official army that seeks to regain the monopoly of power, and a parallel force that wants to remain a state within the state. As one Sudanese said bitterly: "A country cannot live with two armies...either they swallow each other or they swallow the state together."


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