Will the Sudanese Succeed in Saving What Remains of Their Country?

Faisal Awad Hassan



A year into Sudan’s devastating civil war, more than 8 million people have been displaced, cities lie in ruins, and a generation’s hope for democracy is all but crushed. Yet much of the world, especially the West, has turned away.

As someone who stood against Sudan’s generals long before the first shot was fired, I’ve long warned that Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (commonly known as Hemedti) are not reformers. They are warlords products of Omar Al-Bashir’s brutal regime, and they are executing a plan not just to seize power, but to permanently reshape Sudan.

This war is not a mistake. It is a deliberate campaign to terrorize the Sudanese people, rehabilitate Islamist power, and fragment the nation. And it’s happening with foreign backing and international indifference.



A Manufactured Catastrophe

The current war in Sudan is not simply a rivalry between two generals. It is a deliberately engineered catastrophe with three strategic goals:

To terrorize and displace the Sudanese people, crushing hopes for democratic transformation.
To absolve Islamist actors of past crimes and pave their return to power.
To implement the "Hamdi Triangle" strategy an Islamist blue-print- for consolidating power in central Sudan while abandoning the peripheries.

These goals are being realized with chilling efficiency. Aerial bombardments, sexual violence, mass displacement, and sophisticated disinformation campaigns have broken the backbone of Sudanese resistance. Inside and outside the country, millions have lost homes, livelihoods, and hope.

And yet, Burhan is still seen by some as a potential savior. This is the oldest tactic in the authoritarian playbook: create chaos, then offer false stability. The people, exhausted and disillusioned, cling to illusions without realizing they are being deceived once more.



The Quiet Return of the Islamists

The return of Sudan’s Islamist regime is no longer a possibility it is a reality unfolding in plain sight.

After the 2019 revolution, some Sudanese entrusted the Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC) with guiding the transition. Instead, the FFC partnered with the very generals responsible for the Khartoum massacre. That decision gave the old regime a lifeline.

Soon after, Islamist forces regrouped under the banner of the "Broad Islamic Movement." They held public rallies, mocked the revolution, and openly threatened a return to power. In truth, they never left. They governed through Burhan and Hemedti, using them as a facade while consolidating influence.

What we are witnessing is not a return it is a continuation. The uniforms have changed. The agenda has not.



The Hamdi Triangle Strategy: Fragmenting the Nation

The third objective territorial fragmentation is playing out through the "Hamdi Triangle," a plan first proposed in 2005 by Islamist economist Abdel Rahim Hamdi.

The strategy advocates concentrating power and resources within a triangle defined by Khartoum, Kordofan, and the Nile River, while effectively abandoning Sudan’s vast peripheries.

In Darfur, indigenous communities are being systematically displaced, often replaced by migrants from West and Central Africa. The Sudanese Armed Forces withdraw from key towns-;- the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) move in. Only Al-Fashir, bolstered by extraordinary local resistance, remains beyond RSF control.

In South Kordofan and Blue Nile, internal conflicts have splintered the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement–North (SPLM-N). A faction led by Abdulaziz Al-Hilu has aligned with Hemedti, serving as a deputy in what increasingly resembles a parallel western government.

Elsewhere, Sudan’s borders are eroding. Egypt has expanded its control into the Halayeb Triangle and Nubian lands, securing over a million acres of farmland under the Kenana Project and assuming de facto control of Red Sea ports, including Port Sudan and Sawakin. Ethiopian forces push from Al-Fashaga to Al-Din-dir-, looting and attacking civilians. Meanwhile, foreign actors the UAE, Turkey, Russia, and Saudi Arabia quietly acquire land and strategic assets, exploiting the chaos for long-term gain.



A Quiet, Long-Term Threat in the East

In eastern Sudan, a more insidious threat has quietly taken root. Since the 1990s, Sudanese Islamist regimes have naturalized hundreds of thousands of Eritrean refugees, primarily from the Bani Amer group in exchange for political loyalty.

Today, this demographic shift plays a key role in suppressing indigenous voices and preserving Islamist influence across the region. It is a long game of control, and it is working.



A Historic Crossroads

Sudan now stands at a precipice. Its collapse is not accidental. It is the outcome of a meticulously coordinated campaign designed by Islamists, executed by Burhan and Hemedti, and enabled by the FFC and the signatories of the Juba Agreement.

Sudan’s future cannot be entrusted to those who have already compromised with tyranny. A new, independent popular front must rise one led by principled Sudanese untainted by corruption´-or-opportunism.

This movement must reclaim national control over Sudan’s resources its ports, lands, and institutions and halt the erosion of sovereignty. It must ignite a grassroots transformation rooted in justice, equity, and national dignity.

Above all, it must answer three urgent questions:

What must be done?
How will it be done?
When will it begin?

Progress must be comprehensive: political, economic, security-based, educational, cultural, and diplomatic. Piecemeal reforms will not suffice. Nor will foreign-brokered deals´-or-elite compromises.



The World Cannot Remain Silent

Time is running out. If Sudan is to survive as a unified, sovereign, and dignified nation, its people must reject the warlords, the Islamists, and their civilian enablers.

But Sudan cannot do this alone, nor should it have to. The United States and its allies helped shape the post-2019 transition. Today, their failure to act´-or-even pay attention is enabling Sudan’s destruction.

Sudanese voices must lead the way. But international silence must end. The alternative is not just the death of a nation. It is the triumph of tyranny at a cost the region, and the world, cannot afford.

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