Hemedti Crackdown: "People Power Takes a Big Hit"

In my recent post on Sudan, I expressed my dismay with the disinformation element in the "People Power" or the Arab Spring II narratives.

The removal of Omar al-Bashir was a basic coup d'etat orchestrated by Saudi Arabia. The goal was to bring malleable generals to power who will do anything to support Mohammed bin Salman's (MBS) adventures, including providing troops in a Saudi war with Iran.

In fact, the more I think about it and the more it looks like MBS is putting together an Arab military alliance comprised of Egypt and Sudan in order to challenge Iran.

I can see that al-Bashir was too old, too cynical and too vacillating for the bellicose young prince.

Yesterday, Khartoum witnessed the limits of the People Power. In fact, the quote in the title is from the BBC's coverage.

The leader of the Janjaweed militia and the architect of its crimes against humanity Hemedti ordered his Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to open fire on peaceful sit-in protesters in Khartoum.

The result? 

The Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors, which is close to the protesters, said 30 people - including an eight-year-old child - had been killed, and that the toll was likely to rise as not all casualties had been accounted for. 

Hundreds of people had been injured, it added.

As I noted in my previous post, the real power figure is Hemedti, because he has the complete backing of MBS.  And I am not the only one who suspects that he is the one pulling the strings in Sudan.

Once the carnage was completed and terror message was sent, the head of the Transitional Military Council (TMC) General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the one everyone praised for his moderate views as the ombudsman of the army, made a declaration:

(T)he TMC's head, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, said in a statement broadcast on state television that they had decided to "stop negotiating with the Alliance for Freedom and Change and cancel what had been agreed on". 

An election in nine months' time would take place under "regional and international supervision", he added.

Now, I have an issue with this, a question no one seems to want to ask.

Why the sudden change in the timeline?

TMC wanted two years to organize itself into an Algerian or Burmese or insert-country-name-here style election where they would retain levers of power. It takes time to terrorise your opponents, disrupt the formation of a cohesive opposition, write a bogus constitution and build a power block that can control media outlets, state institutions, the judiciary and everything else.

In nine months all you can do is to go with the previous people in those institutions, as the former British ambassador Rosalind Marsden argued.

It seems like the deadline was ordered from outside. Someone used Tim Gunn's immortal words and said "make it work" we have a war planned and we need someone in power to back us up

If I were a Middle East analyst trying to figure out if there is going to be a Sunni/Shia war, I would pay really close attention to Sudan.

Hemedti and MBS are your guys.

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UPDATE

BBC goes cynical but after the Hemedti massacre.

The plan is more than likely a fiction, not designed to produce civilian rule or anything like it. 

There is ample precedent in Africa and elsewhere these days for elections which go through the motions of democracy but deliver none of its substance.
Don't be surprised to see senior figures from the TMC "retiring" from the military and standing as civilian candidates. 

What will not change is military control of Sudanese life. 

This was written half a day after the "People power takes a big hit" piece.
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UPDATE 2

The death toll in now over 60.

A woman, identified only as Sulaima, told the BBC that troops from the Rapid Support Forces were "all over Khartoum".
"They're surrounding neighbourhoods, they're threatening people. They're also using live ammunition. They're everywhere. We're not feeling safe and we don't have trust in the security forces. It's complete chaos."

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UPDATE 3
They are now pulling bodies out of Nile, with the death toll having reached 100 people.

Interestingly the State Department asked Saudi Arabia to intervene, leaving no doubt who is behind the coup.

The US state department voiced concerns on Tuesday over the violence to Saudi Arabia - a key ally of Sudan's military rulers. A department official telephoned the Saudi deputy defence minister Khalid Bin Salman to stress the importance of a transition to a civilian-led government.

Khalid is MBS' brother, the guy who reassured Adnan Khashoggi to go to Turkey.