Sudan Intel (part 1 )

 Both Burhan and Hemedti have worked to encourage the U.S. to continue its counter-terrorism cooperation with Sudan. Their aim is to convince the U.S. to drop its support for popular calls for democracy and accept their autocratic military rule. 

These goals encouraged Burhan and Hemedti to send high-level military envoys to Israel before carrying out their military coup on Oct. 25, 2021. On the security front, the aim of these meetings was to establish joint intelligence and security relations. It was agreed that the Sudan office of Hamas, identified by both Israel and the U.S. as a terrorist organization, would be closed. Politically, the meetings were part of the military’s effort to get Israel to lobby the U.S. to accept the upcoming coup in Sudan. The Sudanese military has deepened its security relations with Israel in the hope that Israel will press Washington to restart its financial assistance to Khartoum, worth $850 million, and for the international community to reinstate its forgiveness of Sudan’s $60 billion debt.

The Biden administration has also stepped up U.S. involvement in East Africa to protect its interests and allies from al-Shabaab, deploying 450 soldiers into Somalia following a spike in al-Shabaab attacks, which rose 17% in 2021 and were projected to rise by 71% this year

Burhan and Hemedti have also used the potential establishment of a Russian naval base in Port Sudan, in eastern Sudan’s Red Sea coast, as another means of pressuring the U.S. to acquiesce in backing their rule, rather than supporting democracy.

The divisions between Burhan and Hemedti have come into play here as well. Hemedti, who visited Russia on the eve of its invasion of Ukraine, has welcomed Moscow’s bid to build a naval base in Sudan. The Russian private security company Wagner Group has been operating in Sudan with the support of Hemedti’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), extracting minerals for export back home; it is also believed that Wagner is supporting and training the RSF to spread disinformation on social media to counter calls for democracy. 

Sudan and China have deep economic ties in various fields, including agriculture, energy, and mining. Sudan’s exports to China in 2020 reached $766 million, accounting for 19% of its total exports and making China its second-largest trading partner. The strength of bilateral relations explains China’s veto of U.N. Security Council resolutions against Burhan and Hemedti’s coup.

https://www.mei.edu/publications/us-priorities-sudan-stability-or-democracy