Thread by @RomanDeckert

A 🧵 with some thoughts on #Sudan & how we got here:

Many rightly blame Bashir for creating Himedti & his militia as well as Burhan as Islamist SAF officer. No excuses for Bashir - but who created him? I first came to #Khartoum in 1997 & NOBODY took him seriously then. 1/10

Of course, it was Turabi who ruled #Sudan back then rather than Bashir & had planned for it strategically for decades. So who paved the way for the Sheikh? Yes, Nimeiri elevated him since late '70s with Saudi support, but before it was: Sadiq al Mahdi & his UMMA. 2/10

As I raged in my Twitter obituary for His Royal Holiness, never forget: it was Sadiq's UMMA who pushed for an Islamist constitution in the late 1960s. He ignored the Supreme Court ruling to reverse his ban of #Sudan's Communist Party & thus undermined the judiciary. 3/10

Once again: diplomatic records show that Sadiq took support from West Germany to topple the first transitional government after the 1964 October Revolution, because it was too progressive for them. And he started arming Rizeigat militias in #Darfur already back then. 4/10

Undisputedly, Sadiq's corrupt regime expanded arming #Darfur militias in late 1980s & escalated the war in #SouthSudan then as before in late 1960s. And never forget: THE original sin of UMMA was to hand over power to Islamist generals of Abboud (👇in West Germany) in 1958. 5/10

Now, I am the first to criticize my own country for its historical role in #Sudan's plight: it was mainly West Germany which for three decades beefed up the Sudanese Army & intel apparatus, including training Nimeiri himself. His soldiers used German guns for his coup👇6/10

Surely, #Sudan's conflicts are very complex, but can be boiled down to 1 main root cause: the militarisation of the political marketplace (de Waal). And it was my country that played a key role in breeding this scourge. 👇Anyanya rebels with German guns captured from #SAF 7/10

In the Cold War, which was a hot proxy war in the HoA, Sudan's "Security" thanks to West German intel crushed #Sudan's Communist Party. You reap what you sow: Islamists firmly in power + IS-terrorists like El Shafee Elsheikh.👇SAF pointing German guns at Babiker Al Nur. 8/10

Worst of all, in addition to delivering huge loads of arms, ammo & military vehicles, constructing Wadi Seidna airbase, training officers etc., West Germany's state-owned company Fritz-Werner set up the ammo plant in Sheggera, nucleus of #Sudan's own arms industry. 9/10

So let me make two points:
1) many foreign countries should question their own role in #Sudan, not just in recent years, but decades.
2) I understand many want SAF to finish RSF. But please, never forget: SAF ever only fought its own people, it's the biggest killer of all. 10/10