Nigeria’s former Chief of Defence Staff and former Force Commander of United Nations–African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), General Martin Luther Agwai (rtd) has blamed the turmoil in Sudan on power mongering and indiscipline within the ranks of country’s military and paramilitary forces.
Describing them as a ‘bunch’ of “people picked from all over the place, and they’re only power mongers,” General Agwai noted that the current political turmoil Sudan found itself is unfortunate.
Regretting that this is not the first time the country was faced with such a crisis, Agawi told Trust TV on Thursday that the powers that be in Sudan want power at all costs and would not mind grabbing it through the barrel of a gun.
According to Agwai, who led one of the biggest peacekeeping operations in the world with approximately 20,000 troops and 6,000 police under his command at UNAMID, Sudan, global, regional and especially events around the Red Sea were the major forces behind the crisis in the crisis-torn nation.
Said Agwai: “That’s why you can see that every group that feels they’re strong enough wants to march on Khartoum and seize power.
“Sudan was actually the largest country in Africa and we thought with the independence of South Sudan, that things would improve. Unfortunately, power play has come into it.
“It’s very clear that it’s going to take a long time to get democracy in Sudan because military rule has been there for so long. And some feel that the easiest way to remain in political power is to use the military.”
He noted that the current situation in the East African country had started for a long time, predating to 2003, which he said had come to play out now.
He added that this was because some Sudanese have gained economic power and military was behind them, hence using the same military to remain in power perpetually, “not really wanting democratic forces to take its course.’’
The highly decorated General also explained that behind the internal challenges in the country, regional challenges and instability around the region were other contributing factors to the crisis.
He recalled an interview he granted the BBC in 2009 when he was leaving Sudan as UNAMID Force Commander.
“I stated that if the situation in Sudan continues the way it is at that time and if there are no real efforts to go back to the democracy, crisis in Sudan will continue in the next decade. That was in 2009.
“And after 2019, we’re now seeing a situation that is worse than it’s before,” he added.
General Agwai likened the crisis with a situation whereby two captains operating an aircraft.
“You know that the aircraft heads for disaster and this is exactly what’s happening in Sudan,’’ he said.
“Also, remember that the military has a longer history than the Rapid Development Force. They are at the centre of activities. They’re at the institutions of government. They’re recognised by everybody. They’ve people who have got some discipline and training to be where they’re. You cannot say the same with the Rapid Forces.’’
He said “Sudan’s military are ‘bunch’ of people picked from all over the place, and they’re only power mongers. They’ve gained economic power and little military training and discipline. Their end product is power.”
He said a similar scenario played out when he was commanding UNAMID where the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) rebel group went as far as Omdurman, almost getting to the centre to take over the government.