Mahmoud Elhadary
More than 32 years ago, the features of our region began to change, especially after the aftermath of the Gulf War, which officially began on January 17, 1991.
During that period, I participated in a documentary film produced by one of the international channels, which is still being broadcasted in various occasions until now, because I was one of the
who covered the events of that war, accompanying the Egyptian forces in Hafar Al Batin. The presenter asked me about my observations of the war, and I said a phrase that the channel used in the film’s promo.
I said, “The size of the forces along the front lines in Hafar Al Batin in Saudi Arabia was like watching a documentary about World War II.” I continued, “stupidity and recklessness were behind the invasion of Kuwait and the placement of the region in a comprehensive process of change and a new map, with our region and Arab nation being the losers in it”.
The military situation was very terrifying, and the intensity of foreign forces hinted that the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait came as an opportunity for external powers to achieve their plans and manipulate the region, which indeed happened during the years after the liberation of Kuwait, completed after the events of September 11th, and the accusation of Iraq possessing nuclear and chemical weapons, leading to the US invasion of Iraq, ending up in the situation that we still suffer from in Iraq and the region today.
I remembered my words in the documentary film and how a 43-day war changed the future of our Arab region. We are now experiencing a war in Sudan, with parties from one country, and the authority being the axis of the conflict, without considering the risks that such a war could lead to. Personally, I believe that it is meaningless and that the victim in it is the Sudanese people. It will have serious repercussions added to what the region has already been affected by, such as the conflicts and changes that we are still experiencing after the American invasion of Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, and what the Arab Spring revolutions have led to in many of our countries in Libya, Yemen, and Syria, and other repercussions in Tunisia, and the brief period of the Muslim Brotherhood’s rise to power in Egypt.
The ongoing war in Sudan between the regular armed forces and the Rapid Support Forces, classified in political analyses as a militia, must come to a stop. The wise people on both sides of the Sudanese conflict, before any Arab or foreign party, bear the primary responsibility for ending this war to spare Sudan from further problems. What has happened over the course of almost four decades of crises is a valuable lesson for our people to avoid the dangers that come after wars. We do not need more fools to repeat what happened in Iraq and other countries.