The Vice President of Sudan’s Sovereign Transitional Council, General Mohammad Hamdan Dagalo, aka Hemetti, visited Moscow on February 23, for an official visit where he met with representatives of institutions and senior officers of the armed forces.
The purpose of the visit, as indicated by Dagalo himself on his Twitter profile, was to strengthen relations with Russia “with which we have historical relations of friendship and through which we hope to advance relations between the two countries towards broader horizons, to strengthen the existing cooperation between us in various fields.”
During his visit to Moscow, General Dagalo supported Russia’s reasons in the conflict in Ukraine, saying that “it has the right to act in the interests of its fellow citizens and to protect its people.”
The visit to Russia of General Dagalo, and the tenor of the statements made during the meetings in Moscow, raise questions about the balance of power at the top of the Sudanese political system.
Dagalo has always been notoriously inclined towards the establishment of a more intense relationship with Russia, although this position has been moderated and softened on several occasions by the president of the Sovereign Council of Transition, General Abdel Fattah al Burhan, formally the top exponent of Sudanese politics.
The organization of an official trip in such a crucial moment for Russian politics, and the manifestation of such a blatant support, therefore, let observers suppose the possibility of two scenarios. The first is characterized by a change of address at the top of the country’s institutions, endorsed by President al Burhan himself, in the search for a greater relationship with Moscow in a phase of deep crisis with the United States and the international financial organizations. The second, on the contrary, is that of a progressive rise of General Dagalo to the top of the power system of the armed forces, which could lead to the determination of a fracture with the president and favor the consolidation of the power group connected to the Rapid Support Forces.
According to some local press, General Dagalo would have started a cooperation with the formations of PMC Wagner, which according to some is already present in the country with the aim of training local forces and providing equipment.
