Wake-up call: Succumb to Battle

By: Consultant/Eng. Omer Al-Bakri Abu Haraz

Sun Tzu was a Chinese military general, strategist, philosopher and writer who lived during the Eastern Zhou period of 771 to 256 B.C.. Sun Tzu is traditionally credited as the author of The Art of War. He wrote in that book a deep wisdom which is applicable till now after 2400 years.

Quote: “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the results of 100 battles. If you know yourself, but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither yourself nor the enemy you shall succumb to battle” Unquote

Now, let us apply Sun Tzu quote to our politicians and leaders since independence to date to see in which of the three categories in Sun Tzu we fall.

Our leaders since independence didn’t know how to fully make Sudan benefit from its strategic leverage in almost all fronts, which are:

• Geographically Sudan shares 6819 km of land borders with 7 countries – S. Sudan (2158 km), Chad (1403 km), Egypt (1276 km), Ethiopia (1744 km), Eritrea (682 km), Libya (382 km), and Central African Republic (174 km) plus 853 km coast line on the North East of Sudan the globally strategic Red Sea shared with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
• Population 48 million on 1,861,484 square km area, population density 26% which is very low that can accommodate more people to boost the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) many-fold.
• Arable land for agriculture is 275 million acres, only 44 million cultivated of which only 5 million irrigated and 40 million rain-fed.
• It has plenty of water resources from more than 10 rivers and tributaries with the main source of the River Nile running from the east, south and northern borders. Plenty of rain in almost all parts of Sudan. Confirmed and proved huge underground water.
• Sudan has a sustained 140 million of livestock, camels, cows, sheep and goat.
• It has sustained 100,000 tons of river and sea fish.
• 90% of its area is flat full of huge amounts of minerals – gold, chrome, copper, iron. Silver and sand.
• Sudan produces 85% of the global Gum Arabic.

All of the abovementioned elements and more are the overlooked leverage points of Sudan, mishandled by all politicians and leaders who ruled after independence to date. This puts us in the category of those who don’t know themselves as stated in Sun Tzu quote.

The second counterpart in the saying is the enemy. The enemy in the case of Sudan is the foreign interests. The enemy is a vested interest of battling countries in our region and outside. Egypt consistently considers Sudan as its backyard of security of both peace and food. This manifested by the close involvement of Egypt in all three coups in Sudan.

The ongoing workshop in Cairo fully sponsored by Egypt to offset and weaken the signed Framework Agreement between the Forces of Freedom and Change – Central Council (FFC-CC) with the military component of the December revolution. FFC-CC is aligning in the issue of the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

UAE is working hard to have a foot-hold on the ports of the Red Sea together with investing in agricultural scheme on the eastern border shared by Sudan and Ethiopia, especially on the highly fertile land of El-Fashaga of Sudan which is disputed between Sudan and Ethiopia.

America considers Sudan as part and parcel of its national security. There is a growing dispute between America and Russia about military bases on the Red Sea coast of Sudan. Russia had a green light from the ousted President of Sudan Al-Bashir to build bases and started mobilizing some military troops in the area. The Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov will visit Sudan this Wednesday.

Some European countries have strong interest to invest on the mineral resources of Sudan like gold, cooper, titanium, chrome and other.

France have the vested interest of maintaining its control on West African countries sharing borders with Sudan – Chad and Central African Republic.

The Russian controversial Wagner Group, also known as PMC Wagner, is a Russian paramilitary organization variously described as a private military company, is very active on countries sharing western borders with Sudan. They are also believed to have some activities in Sudan.

So, this clearly shows that the components of the incumbent ruling regime in Sudan are unaware of what they are doing and hence fall in the category of not knowing your enemy on Sun Tzu quote.

So, sadly enough we are in the worst category of Sun Tzu quote: “If you neither know yourself nor the enemy you shall succumb to battle.”

So, we are nowhere!