Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio News.
Speaker 2: Two years into Sudan's civil war, the fighting has entered
Speaker 2: a new phase, with explosions ripping through the Red Sea
Speaker 2: City Port Sudan.
Speaker 1: Sudan has been witnessing over the past two years a
Speaker 1: crime of transgressions over its sovereignty and the unity of
Speaker 1: its land and the security of its citizens.
Speaker 2: The government has blamed the United Arab Emirates for allegedly
Speaker 2: arming its rival, the Rapid Support Forces, and has cut
Speaker 2: off diplomatic ties with Abu Dhabi.
Speaker 1: The Security and Defense Council has decided the following first
Speaker 1: the designation of the United Arab Emirates as an enemy state, second,
Speaker 1: cutting diplomatic ties with the UAE, Third with during the
Speaker 1: Sudanese Embassy and Consulate.
Speaker 2: The UAE strongly denies any involvement, and last week the
Speaker 2: ICE dismissed a case brought against the UAE by Sudan.
Speaker 2: On this week's Next Africa podcast, we look at what
Speaker 2: this new round of fighting tells us about the state
Speaker 2: of the war in Sudan and why the government is
Speaker 2: blaming the UAE for allegedly arming the RSF.
Speaker 3: I'm Jennifer's Abasajap and this is the Next Africa Podcast,
Speaker 3: bringing you one story each week from the continent driving
Speaker 3: the future of global growth with the context only Bloomberg
Speaker 3: can provide. Joining me to discuss this this week is
Speaker 3: Bloomberg Simon Marx, who's based in Nairobi but has been
Speaker 3: following this story very closely. Simon, thank you so much
Speaker 3: for joining us. It's great to have you back on
Speaker 3: the podcast. Let's just start here with a bit of
Speaker 3: context before we get into these most recent developments. Tell
Speaker 3: us about Port Sudan and how strategic this city really is.
Speaker 4: So first and foremost, Port Sudan is a vital entry
Speaker 4: for Sudan. It's also the de facto capital of the country.
Speaker 4: Since the war broke out there in twenty twenty three,
Speaker 4: there was no way that the military establishment was going
Speaker 4: to stay in Khartoum, capital of Sudan, due to the
Speaker 4: fact that place was completely overrun with conflict, and it
Speaker 4: has since become really the place where decisions are made
Speaker 4: by the Sudanese army. The likes of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, China, Iran,
Speaker 4: Russia have all set up diplomatic missions in Port Sudan
Speaker 4: and since the war broke out, have had good relations
Speaker 4: with the military backed government, and it's a vital place
Speaker 4: for the country based on the Red Sea, which is
Speaker 4: obviously a choke point for a.
Speaker 5: Lot of trade.
Speaker 4: And there's absolutely no way that the country could really
Speaker 4: survive if Port Sudan is shut down. It's already obviously
Speaker 4: in a very tricky situation from a humanitarian point of view,
Speaker 4: with widespread famine in many parts of the country.
Speaker 3: So then bring us to what's been happening over the
Speaker 3: past few days. There's quite a bit of accusations that
Speaker 3: are being held back and forth talk about what these
Speaker 3: latest attacks mean and what happened.
Speaker 4: I think it's important to note that since the outbreak
Speaker 4: of war in early twenty twenty three, Ports Sudan has
Speaker 4: remained unscathed from any of the conflict. The Rapid Support Forces,
Speaker 4: which is fighting the army, have not touched this place.
Speaker 4: They've been pretty much lobbied by the international community to
Speaker 4: take their hands off the city. It's where the UN
Speaker 4: have all its agencies, it's where the ministries are based,
Speaker 4: and it's where a lot of displaced people from the
Speaker 4: conflict have found some sort of refuge. Both in Port
Speaker 4: Sudan and the surrounding area. So it's really that one
Speaker 4: last little corner of the country where people can actually
Speaker 4: get work done to try and improve the livelihoods of
Speaker 4: Since Sunday of this week, we've seen drone attacks hit
Speaker 4: the city in various locations, and it appears to be
Speaker 4: barely targeted, looking towards infrastructure that the army is dependent on,
Speaker 4: be it fuel depots or major sites within the port,
Speaker 4: the various terminals where the containers are coming in, for example.
Speaker 4: So that is basically what's been going on, but as
Speaker 4: you say, shrouded in some mystery because the RSF have
Speaker 4: not claimed responsibility for these attacks and the Sudanese governments
Speaker 4: have blamed the United Arab Emirates for being.
Speaker 3: Involved, and Simon, I do want to get to those
Speaker 3: points and maybe some of the proxies behind these attacks
Speaker 3: in just a bit, but before that, can we talk
Speaker 3: about the RSF and what these you just mentioned. They
Speaker 3: are not claiming that they are involved. But does this
Speaker 3: suggest that the conflict is far from over?
Speaker 4: I think definitely yes. I mean we've seen various rounds
Speaker 4: and phases of this conflict, the latest being a couple
Speaker 4: of months ago. When the army managed to take back
Speaker 4: the capital Cartoon from the RSF, which had controlled the
Speaker 4: capital basically since the beginning of the conflict. And there's
Speaker 4: been several rounds of peace talks, both in Europe and
Speaker 4: in the Gulf to try and mediate between the two sides,
Speaker 4: but in the end, the two generals spearheading this conflict
Speaker 4: have not met face to face, and so really it's
Speaker 4: just continued to escalate in different corners of the country
Speaker 4: and now we're really homing in on the real center
Speaker 4: of power of the army, which no one thought was
Speaker 4: going to happen. I don't think this had remained a
Speaker 4: sort of unwritten rule that the conflict it would not
Speaker 4: come to this part of Sudan.
Speaker 3: Does it signal that the RSF, though potentially or both
Speaker 3: both the army and the RSF, are still quite strong
Speaker 3: in this conflict, and as you mentioned, are not willing
Speaker 3: to back down.
Speaker 5: I think so.
Speaker 4: But it also represents a slight shift in military tactics
Speaker 4: from the RSF, which have been very reliant on ground forces,
Speaker 4: heavily mobile units, often traveling using Toyota high luxters around
Speaker 4: especially western parts of Duff Or where they know the
Speaker 4: terrain very well an artillery, and I think more and
Speaker 4: more as this conflict has moved forward, they've become more
Speaker 4: dependent on drone technology to achieve their objectives. There's no way,
Speaker 4: really they were going to get soldiers to pource you
Speaker 4: down just due to the terrain there. It's very flat
Speaker 4: leading to the coast and the army are defending it
Speaker 4: very well, and so these drones obviously give it that
Speaker 4: strategic advantage where they can just fly in quickly undercover
Speaker 4: and take out key infrastructure sites such as the port
Speaker 4: and the fuel depots, etc.
Speaker 3: Stick with us, Simon when we come back. We're going
Speaker 3: to dig into this turning point as you mentioned in
Speaker 3: the conflict, and more about what you were alluding to earlier,
Speaker 3: who's potentially supporting the rival sides, and what attempts there
Speaker 3: are two broker piece deal. We'll be right back.
Speaker 2: Welcome back.
Speaker 3: Today. We're talking about the Sudanese Civil War as new
Speaker 3: explosions rip through the Red Sea city of Port Sudan.
Speaker 3: Our reporter Simon Marx is still with us and has
Speaker 3: been covering this story. The Sudanese government is blaming the
Speaker 3: UAE for allegedly arming the RSF what evidence is there
Speaker 3: that this is the case, though.
Speaker 5: Well, since the beginning of the conflict, you've had a
Speaker 5: number of outfits investigate these claims, including investigators working for
Speaker 5: the UN who released a report last.
Speaker 4: Year where they said that ever that the UAE were
Speaker 4: backing the RSF is quote unquote credible. They have used
Speaker 4: a whole host of different elements to back that up,
Speaker 4: including like data, including sources on the ground, particularly in
Speaker 4: Chad and Darfur, who are telling them that flights have
Speaker 4: come in from the UAE and other countries also with
Speaker 4: military equipment allegedly from the United Arab Emirates, but Abu
Speaker 4: Dhabi has repeatedly denied this and said they don't back
Speaker 4: any side. It's very difficult obviously to track weapons deliveries,
Speaker 4: especially when third parties are involved, companies traffickers, so that
Speaker 4: the debate is ongoing. However, UN investigators, the European Union, Amnesty, International,
Speaker 4: top US politicians, and also many of my diplomatic and
Speaker 4: international intelligence sources all say that the United Arab Emirates
Speaker 4: point during this war did help facilitate bring arms to
Speaker 4: the rss That's, of course, something Abu Dhabi sternly denies
Speaker 4: and has repeatedly pointed out is not true.
Speaker 3: Considering all of this, Simon and all of the various
Speaker 3: players that may or may not reportedly be involved, what
Speaker 3: does this mean for peace talks and ultimately what does
Speaker 3: this mean for the Sudanese people and the humanitarian crisis
Speaker 3: that is already the situation at this point.
Speaker 4: Well, as we speak, there are efforts once again for
Speaker 4: the unpteethed time from the Saudi Arabia and the US
Speaker 4: to try and get peace talks back on the road again.
Speaker 4: They've so far proved quite infamous. A lot of people
Speaker 4: expected to change in tactics under the new Trump administration
Speaker 4: and the officials that he's appointed. So far though we've
Speaker 4: not seen a huge amount of focused actually from the US. Obviously,
Speaker 4: things have been very focused.
Speaker 5: On Ukraine, on Israel.
Speaker 4: Gaza, and even the Democratic Republic of Congo with a
Speaker 4: potential minerals deal. So the focused honestly on Sudan has
Speaker 4: once again fallen by the wayside to some extent, and
Speaker 4: really it's anyone's guess when one of these sides will
Speaker 4: realize that the game's up. But if proxies continue to
Speaker 4: fuel it, it could honestly go on and.
Speaker 3: On and on, Yeah, which means for the people on
Speaker 3: the ground, it's even more and more dire of a situation. Yeah.
Speaker 4: Absolutely.
Speaker 5: I think the number of areas under famine according to
Speaker 5: the UN, there.
Speaker 4: Was ten regions last month and that's expected to almost
Speaker 4: double to seventeen in just a few weeks.
Speaker 5: So it's extremely dire.
Speaker 4: And you know, access for humanitarians journalists is pretty limited,
Speaker 4: especially in the west of the country where there's a
Speaker 4: lot of conflict, so the public aren't even being exposed
Speaker 4: to really die a situation to put pressure on the
Speaker 4: generals to stop this war.
Speaker 3: And you can read more of our reporting on Sudan
Speaker 3: on Bloomberg platforms right now. Here's some of the other
Speaker 3: stories we've been following across the region this week. South
Speaker 3: African President Sira Ramaposa has unveiled the second phase of
Speaker 3: a reform program aimed at firing up an economy that's
Speaker 3: grown by an average of less than one percent annually
Speaker 3: over the past decade, and Nigerian senators on Wednesday backed
Speaker 3: four tax bills that are part of President bullet To
Speaker 3: Naboo's efforts to lift government revenue, but join lawmakers in
Speaker 3: the Lower National Assembly in rejecting his plan to increase
Speaker 3: the value added tax rate. You can follow these stories
Speaker 3: across Bloomberg platforms, including the Next African Newsletter. We'll put
Speaker 3: a link to that in the show notes. This program
Speaker 3: was produced by Adrian Bradley and tiwa Adebayo. Don't forget
Speaker 3: to follow and review this show wherever you usually get
Speaker 3: your podcasts, But for now, I'm Jennifer Zabasanja. Thanks as
Speaker 3: always for listening.