Sudan reacts: army offensive in Khartoum

Sudan reacts: army offensive in Khartoum

On the morning of the 26 September 2024, Sudan’s army launched a counter-offensive aiming to take back the capital city Khartoum from the Rapid Support militia

But how did the Sudanese people offline and online react to this, and why is it relevant?

OFFLINE REACTIONS

In similar scenes to when the army liberated the Radio & TV HQ in Omdurman earlier this year, citizens celebrated the army’s advances in Khartoum.

In keeping with Islamic traditions in response to good news, God was praised from the mosque loudspeakers, as women ululated in the background.

Army soldiers were greeted by Khartoum residents crying tears of joy, with citizens celebrating with soldiers to the sound of army anthems.

Outside of Khartoum, those displaced by the RSF also celebrated the army offensive, as women and children chanted “we’re returning” and “one army one people”

In eastern Sudan’s Kassala, which hosts many displaced by the RSF, pro-army chants also erupted.

Similarly, Sudanese people celebrated the army’s advances in Port Sudan, the eastern port city that is currently Sudan’s temporary capital.

Pro-army celebrations also took place in the northern Sudanese city of Atbara, which is regarded as the birthplace of the civilian uprising against ex-president Omar al-Bashir’s regime.

On the same day, the army’s commander-in-chief Abdulfattah Al-Burhan was in New York for the UN general assembly.

Activists from Darfur in western Sudan, where the RSF is conducting a genocidal campaign, greeted Al-Burhan with chants of One Army One People.

There were even patriotic chants in the neighbourhood of Faisal in Cairo, Egypt, which hosts many of Khartoum’s displaced.

Having noted the reactions of Sudanese people across Sudan and abroad, what about online?

ONLINE REACTIONS

On Twitter, we searched the word “the army” in Arabic, without specifying a country.

The top three most shared tweets all reflected positive sentiments about the Sudanese army.

Shared almost 2,000 times was a tweet that read “the Sudanese army from the heart of Khartoum after the escape of the criminal Janjaweed”.

The accompanying video showed soldiers dancing to an army anthem that translates to “the SOBs ran away”.  

Shared over 2,000 times was a video posted by the influencer Yasir Mostafa showing army troops in control of Alkadroo in Khartoum Bahri.

But the most telling tweet was a response to an Islamist rebel leader allied to the RSF called Suleiman Sandal who said: “the army deluded everyone into believing that they are capable of resolving the war militarily…stopping the war is the choice of Sudanese people.” Sandal was then ratioed by a tweet that shared almost 2,000 times which said “anyone happy about the army’s progress, retweet here”.

Then we typed in “Sudan” in Arabic, where the most shared tweets also reflected positive sentiments towards the army’s offensive.

Shared over 3,000 times was a tweet using the hashtag “Battles of Liberation”, with a video of a soldier wearing a green headband praising God as he entered Khartoum.

The headbands became a source of misinformation and speculation.

RSF advisor Albasha Tibeq, who was a government official for Omar Al-Bashir’s Islamist regime, suggested that the yellow headbands reflect solidarity with Lebanese militant group Hizbollah.

Meanwhile, a Sudan-focused media outlet with a history of unproven speculation suggested that the green headbands reflect martyrdom.

However, Sudanese observers noted that the colour of the headband distinguish what forces the soldiers came from.

Shared over 2,000 times was a tweet from influencer Zuellkefl which said that RSF is being crushed, concluding with the slogan of Bal Bas that advocates the militia’s defeat.

The same searches on Facebook provided the similar results.

Liked almost 12,000 times was a meme showing a family eagerly watching Sudan TV with the caption “us waiting for the army to announce the liberation of Khartoum”. The song playing translates to “I have packed the bags”.

Watched over a million times was a stream by Al-Insirafi, the most popular Sudanese political commentator. He often starts his streams with a song by the late Mahmoud Abdelaziz which translates to “when will we return”. Al-Insirafi also praised God for the army’s advances.

On the night the army launched the offensive in Khartoum, there was a spike in views for arguably the most popular Sudanese political commentator Al-Insirafi.

Affectionately known as Sarfa, he is a Sudanese nationalist who rose to prominence around the time of the December 2018 revolution where in faceless live streams, he would criticise Sudan’s entire political spectrum who he viewed as democratic spoilers: army, RSF, armed movements, the Islamic Movement and the Forces of Freedom and Change (now known as Taqadum).

Since the war erupted, he has been unwaveringly supportive of the Sudanese army and extensively critical of Taqadum and the RSF.

His nightly streams have become a part of the routine of Sudanese people across the world.

In the days leading up to the army’s offensive, his viewing figures ranged from around 200 to 800 thousand views.

However, on the day of the offensive in Khartoum, over 1 million tuned into his stream on Facebook alone.

RELEVANCE

But why are Sudanese sentiments towards the army’s advances relevant?

We must refer to an essay written by the Indian postcolonial theorist Gayatri Spivak called ‘Can the subaltern speak?’

Spivak argues that while the people of the Third World have their own voices, they are silenced by Western intellectuals who, through access to knowledge production institutions, claim to speak on their behalf.

In the case of Sudan, it is observable how articles published in western publications often propose solutions that claim to benefit the Sudanese people, while being at odds with Sudanese public opinion.

Political officials also aim to portray their solutions as the will of Sudanese civil society, despite receiving considerable pushback from Sudanese people on social media.

For example, the contentious US-mediated Geneva peace talks sourced data on Sudanese public opinion from polls taken by an organisation called Taharuk.

Its findings were widely questioned by Sudanese people, with a common theme being that it was not an accurate reflection of Sudanese public opinion.

The most popular response to the findings, shared almost 40 times, noted the absence of demands to dismantle the genocidal RSF militia.

Taharuk’s findings also implied that Sudanese public priorities revolve around reforming or withdrawing the military.

But the proliferation of positive reactions to the army’s counteroffensive against the RSF show how the Sudanese will for an army victory cannot be hidden.

TAQADUM REACTIONS

But the happiness of Sudanese people was not shared by the Taqadum coalition.

Taqadum are portrayed as representative of Sudanese civil society by international actors despite widespread allegations from Sudanese people that Taqadum is the political wing of the RSF.

International analysts and media have portrayed Taqadum as an anti-war and pro-democracy coalition that offer the Sudanese people a “glimmer of hope”.

However, since the war erupted, this was the latest incident whereby Taqadum’s stance contradicted that of the masses they claim to represent.

Taqadum were initially slow to react to army’s advances and subsequent public happiness, leading to a tweet from DJ Zangoola, one of the most popular artists among Sudanese youth, that joked “[Taqadum] politicians are pretending that they do not have internet” being shared over 500 times.

Nonetheless, Taqadum spokesperson Rasha Awad, who is said to be married to an RSF employee, eventually criticised and mocked celebrations over the army’s advances. She suggested that those happy have been fooled by Islamist propaganda.

On Facebook, Awad wrote: “the happiness of the grass-fed sheep”.

When she was asked whether the happy citizens are irrational, she responded by saying that “there are no happy civilians, those happy are not citizens but grass-fed sheep of the Kezan [former regime Islamists]. Happy about what? There is nothing to be happy about as [the army] are being defeated badly. [The happy people] are not citizens, they are Kezan”.

Similarly, in a tweet that received considerable public backlash, Taqadum leader Khalid Omar Yousif suggested that the happy masses are foolish and deceived by propaganda.

Sudanese social media users then characterised Taqadum as “irrelevant” or “incompetent” elites that are out of touch with the masses.

In a tweet shared almost 30 times, @MinanYousif wrote: “Taqadum members patronizing, ridiculing and guilt tripping sudanese folks for their happiness about getting rid of RSF terrorists in their areas is disgusting to say the least. This elite is ALWAYS irrelevant and constantly, deliberately on the wrong side”.

In a tweet shared over 30 times, Reem Abbas wrote: “[Army] advances are making members of Taqadum hysterical as they are hurling insults at war victims. They have become irrelevant after their failure to come back to power on the back of 4*4 trucks. I see this as an opportunity to replace this corrupt and incompetent elite”. 

This is why these social media monitors are important, as they reveal the gap between the Sudanese people and unelected groups who claim to represent them.