Sudan: Waiting and praying for news of victory after two years of war
From the crowded northwestern market spilling over with returnees, vendors and soldiers, to the barren stalls of central Omdurman still devastated by brutal battles, people here are praying for news of a military victory after almost two years of war.
Omdurman, along with Khartoum and Khartoum North (Bahri), are jointly called the tri-capital and constitute the national capital of the republic of Sudan.
The Sudanese army has now reclaimed Khartoum North and is moving quickly to liberate Khartoum – the heart of the capital – from all directions.
Its grass-roots support here is born out of sheer necessity – a need to release Sudan’s cities from a deadly occupation by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – the militia that was once trained and armed by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) is fighting it for absolute control.
RSF siege conditions, SAF airstrikes and shelling have killed tens of thousands of civilians in the capital alone, and now the final battles for its liberation are proving to be the most brutal.
“We have seen heads cut off bodies,” emergency response room (ERR) volunteer Momen Wad Zeinab tells us in the backyard of one of the few functioning hospitals, Al Nao hospital in Omdurman.
“We see a lot of things. We aren’t good, all of us. One of our fellow volunteers has gone mute for over a month now. We have tried to give him relaxants to help him but now we have had to keep him away from the hospital.”
Momen adds: “Nowadays, we are with the military because we see the RSF as the big enemy. First, we will finish with the RSF by attack or negotiation. Then, after the war, we will try to rebuild.”
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The wreckage of a vehicle in Kafouri, Sudan
The ERRs have been hailed for their life-saving work and nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. But their revolutionary roots as the neighbourhood resistance committees that planned pro-democracy demonstrations and treated injured protesters in Sudan’s 2019 revolution have left them vulnerable to arrests by the Sudanese authorities.
Under his breath, Momen tells us the intelligence officer escorting our team through the hospital has arrested him before. When I called to speak to him a day later, he’d just been released from detention after showing up to provide assistance at another health facility in Omdurman failing to keep patients alive.
“Our revolution has become another kind of revolution. It is not always about marches and fighting and saying no – sometimes it is by helping people here,” he says.
“After the war finishes, we will go back to the street and fight against the military and say to them we need civilians to rule this country.”
Car wreckage in Kafouri
Destruction at a market
One of his fellow volunteers was killed in the recent RSF shelling of Al Nao hospital. Four other members of this ERR have died from sickness or combat injuries. And after risking their lives since the start of the war in April 2023, their capacity has now been compromised by Donald Trump’s freezing of USAID funding.
Mohamed, 13, was caught in the latest RSF shelling of one of the largest surviving markets in SAF territory, Sabreen.
Past the dwindling ERR pharmacy giving out free medicine and the bustling blood bank, there is an outdoor waiting room where we find 13-year-old Mohamed.
He was caught in the latest RSF shelling of one of the largest surviving markets in SAF territory, Sabreen. Shrapnel broke Mohamed’s leg as he sold biscuits at a stall to help his family.
The strike was one of the deadliest single attacks in the capital since the start of the war, killing close to 60 people and injuring 200.
Soldiers in Kafouri
A soldier near the front
“I saw dead people and bodies torn apart. It was not a pretty sight,” Mohamed tells me with wide eyes.
“When I remember it, I feel shock.”
The bricks and cement that made up a two-storey building in Sabreen market are still crumbling at the site of the attack.
“People are just trying to eat. They have nothing to do with the military, nothing to do with this war,” the area commander tells us, pointing at the rubble.
“The RSF knows where the military sites are but they want to terrorise civilians.”
A child in a destroyed market
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Two weeks later, the streets of Sabreen market are heaving with people who have to make a living despite the risk, civilians and soldiers merging into a river of people.
As we approach the car to leave the market, a security officer yells in our direction: “No civilian rule, no nothing! Only dictatorship from now on!”
There is a tense silence of embarrassment and glares from the soldiers around him. For the first time, it is hard to tell who is a career officer and who could be a protester turned recruit.
“Revolutionaries have become military recruits, community volunteers have become military recruits, and Islamists have become military recruits,” a revolutionary turned soldier, Tewa, tells me after another day on the frontline.
“Whatever our background is and differences are, there is now a collective goal to defend the country.”
Banned from Eurovision after its invasion of Ukraine, Russia will hold a rival international song contest on Saturday, with an emphasis on “traditional values”.
Instead of camp, think conservative – patriotic pop with a PG-rating.
“Intervision” was launched under the order of Vladimir Putin, with the hope it would serve as an expression of Moscow’s international pulling power.
Intervision decorations in Red Square, Moscow, ahead of the contest
There are contestants from 23 countries, which are a mixture of Russia’s allies old and new, including Belarus, Cuba and Tajikistan as well as China, India and Saudi Arabia.
The odd one out is the United States, who’ll be represented by an artist called “Vassy”. She’s not part of an official delegation, but an American voice is still a coup for the Kremlin, which will seek to use this contest as proof of the West’s failure to isolate Russia on the global stage.
‘War whitewash’
Intervision is not entirely new. It was originally launched in the 1960s as an instrument of Soviet soft power, before largely fading from view in the 1980s.
According to Moscow, its revival has nothing to do with politics. But Ukraine has condemned it as propaganda, and an attempt to whitewash Russia’s war.
It was a point I put to some contestants after their final press conferences, but it didn’t go down well.
“We don’t think like that, we are here to spread peace,” India’s Rauhan Malik told me, when I asked if his participation was a show of support for Russia’s invasion.
Malik, one of the contestants
“Are you not turning a blind eye to Russia’s aggression?” I countered.
“I have no idea about it,” he said. “I have no idea about the current situation that’s happening. I don’t want to speak about that as well.”
Eurovision legends Abba would almost certainly not make the Russian contest guest list. Pic: AP
Really? He had no idea? But before I could go on, I felt a forceful hand on my shoulder and a minder stepped in.
The intervention was even quicker when it came to speaking to Brazil’s act. As soon as I mentioned the word Ukraine, I was drowned out by shouts of “no, no, no, no” and the duo were ushered away.
Brazilian contestants, duo Luciano Calazans and Thais Nader
Where’s the glitter?
Intervision is not just a reaction to Russia’s recent exclusion from Eurosivion, however, it’s also a reaction to the contest’s values and what it’s come to represent.
Its celebration of sexual diversity and LGBTQ+ rights are seen as a symbol of what the Kremlin calls the West’s moral decline. In contrast, Intervision organisers say their contest will promote “traditional, family values.”
Judging by the costumes on show ahead of last week’s draw, that translates to less glitter, more embroidery, with a thematic emphasis on national heritage.
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So what do Russians think of Intervision’s resurrection? Can it replace Eurovision?
“We don’t miss Eurovision,” Galina and Tatiana say, underneath a collection of purple and pink ‘Intervision’ flags near Red Square.
“It was so horrible, especially lately. We didn’t like watching it at all.”
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Why are countries boycotting Eurovision?
Polina agrees, believing Russia’s version will be “more interesting”.
“Many countries that participated in Eurovision want to boycott it, so it’s interesting to see a more peaceful event now,” she says.
Igor is more circumspect. “I’d like to believe that this isn’t a political event,” he says, “but rather an event that unites nations and people.”
Intervision will succeed in uniting some nations. But at the same time, it may only deepen divisions with others – further evidence that Russia and the West are singing very different tunes.
Donald Trump will introduce a new $100,000 application fee for foreign worker visas.
A White House official said the US President is preparing to sign a proclamation today that will require a $100,000 application fee for H-1B visa, which covers highly-skilled foreign workers.
The charge is part of a broader immigration crackdown.
H-1B visas are meant to bring the best and brightest foreigners for high-skilled jobs that tech companies find difficult to fill with qualified Americans and other permanent residents.
The programme has drawn criticism for becoming a pipeline for overseas workers who are often willing to work for wages lower than those typically paid to US technology workers. Critics also argue that companies use H-1B visas to overlook Americans for jobs.
First lady Melania Trump, the former Melania Knauss, was granted an H1-B work visa in October 1996 to work as a model. She was born in Slovenia.
What is a H-1B visa?
The H-1B programme has been crucial for technology and staffing companies who rely on foreign workers.
Historically, these visas – 85,000 per year – have been doled out through a lottery system.
Donald Trump will introduce the charge as part of an immigration crackdown
India, the largest beneficiary of H-1B visas last year, accounted for 71% of approved beneficiaries.
China was second with 11.7%, according to government data.
Shares of IT services company, Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp, fell by over 5% on Friday.
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