Manyof theRSFfighters belongedto the“Janja-
weed”militiathatfoughtalongside governmentforces
in thecivilwarin Darfur.TheVicePresidentin the
interim militarygovernment, 41-year-old Mohamed
Hamdan Dagalo,alias“Hemedti”, wasa formerheadof
theJanjaweed andhasbeen accused of war crimes
relatingto the military campaignin Darfur.Hewas
madetheboss of all the paramilitary groupsoperating
in variouspartsof Sudanby the formerPresidentOmar
al-Bashir. Thereare reportsthatthe armyraidedhospit-
als lookingfor pro-democracyactivistswhowerebeing
treated for woundssustained in thebrutalcrackdown.
Morethan 400 civilianswereinjured in themilitary
action.
Dagaloinitially triedto masquerade as a friendof the
civilianprotesters.In a television interviewin May,Da-
galoclaimedthathe hadrefusedordersfromPresident
Bashirto shoot at thousands of unarmedprotesters. He
wasamongthoseseniormilitaryandsecurityofficials
whoeventually decidedto dumptheirlong-timepatron
Bashir. TheparamilitaryRSFwasspecificallycreated to
provideprotection forthePresident fromattempted
coupsfromwithin the army.
FAILEDAGREEMENT
Thearmy’s intentwas to removethe thousandsof pro-
testers fromthe streets of the capital andnegotiatewith
themfroma position of strengthon the future course of
the country.So far, the militaryhas failed to achieve this
goalandtheoppositionseemsunited in its resolve to
reinstate civilian rulein the country. Theprotestersand
thepolitical parties andgroupssupportingthemhave
vowedto continuetheir protestsuntilthelastvestiges
of militaryruledisappear. Afterthe heavy-handeddis-
persalof the peaceful protesters, the headof the milit-
aryjunta,Lt Gen.AbdelFattahal-Burhan,requested
theoppositionto onceagain resume
talksfora roadmapfor a return to
civilianrule. Theopposition parties
andthegroupscallingfor democracy
didnotwastetime in rejecting the
latest offer.
TheKhartoummassacreon June 3
tookplacejustweeksafterthearmy
leadershipandtheAllianceforFree-
domandChangehadsigneda prelimin-
ary agreement thatappearedto pavethe
wayfor the creationof an interimcivil-
ian government. Underthe agreement,
therewasto be a three-tiergovernment
consistingof a sovereigncouncilcom-
posedof members of themilitaryand
civilians, an executivecouncilconsist-
ing of membersof the civilianalliance,
anda nationalassembly in which two-
thirdsof the 300seats wereto be allot-
ted to civilians. Theagreementfell apart
as the twosidescouldnotresolve their
differences on thecomposition and
chairmanship of the sovereigncouncil.In retrospect,the
militarywasnotreally serious aboutcedinggroundto
civiliansandwerepreparingthegroundfor theJune 3
crackdown.
TheAfricanUnion(A.U.), underthe chairmanship of
anothermilitarystrongman, Gen.AbdelFatahEl-Sisiof
Egypt, wasquickto suspendSudanfromthegrouping
afterthemilitary government’s useof excessiveforce
againstunarmedcivilians.TheA.U.’s PeaceandSecurity
Council announcedthatSudan’s“suspension”wouldlast
until“theeffectiveestablishment”of a civilian-led trans-
itionalauthority. TheUnitedNations
and many governments have also
stronglycriticisedthegovernment of
Sudan.Saudi Arabia,Egypt andthe
United Arab Emirates (UAE) were
amongthefewcountries thattacitly
supportedthe militaryaction.
Themassacrehappened justdays
afterLt Gen.Burhanreturnedfroma
visit to SaudiArabia,theUAE and
Egypt.Dagalo,theRSFchief, wasalso
in Jeddah a fewdaysbeforethemas-
sacrein Khartoum.He hada longmeet-
ing with the Saudi Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Salman. Dagalo
pledgedhis loyaltyto the CrownPrince
andpromised to back Saudi Arabia
“againstall threats andattacks” fromits
enemies.He alsoreiterated his commit-
ment to keepSudanesefightersin Ye-
mentofightSaudi Arabia’sproxywar.
Lt Gen.Burhanwasnominally in charge
of Sudanesetroopoperationsin Yemen.ETHIOPIAN PRIMEMINISTERAbiy Ahmed (left)
meetsSudan’s Head of TransitionalMilitary Council
LieutenantGeneral AbdelFattahal-Burhanto mediate in
the politicalcrisis,in Khartoum on June 7.MOHAMEDNURELDINABDALLAH/REUTERSDEPOSEDSUDANESE
PRESIDENTOmaral-Bashir
in the Parliamentin Khartoum
on April1.MOHAMEDNURELDINABDALLAH/REUTERS