Western fears from foreign interference in Sudan

Mustafa Mohamed

Fierce confrontations between the Sudanese army, on one hand, and the Rapid Support Force, on the other, have raised Western fears.

This is especially true with the confrontations being taken as a pretext for foreign interference in Sudan through southern Libya.

Western fears

The West fears that the current war in Sudan will stall the US strategy in Libya at a time when Libya is witnessing a security and a political deficit.

Washington pushes for resolving the situation in Libya before the end of the year.

It wants this to happen to prevent the conflict in Sudan from pushing the security situation in Libya to prevail over the political one.

If this happens, interest in the Libyan elections will get lost.

US ambassador to Libya, Richard Norland, has warned against using Libya as a platform for intervention in Sudan.

He said his country supports the political process led by the United Nations to calm the internal Libyan situation.

Norland also underscored during a conversation with Chairman of the Libyan Presidential Council, Mohamed Al-Manfi, the importance of forming a joint force to patrol Libya’s southern border and ensure that Libya is not used as a platform for intervention in Sudan.

The US envoy paid visits in the past period to both Chad and the Congo, during which he met Chadian interim president, Mahamat Idriss Déby,

He called for not exploiting Libyan territories by interested parties to fuel the conflict or sow the seeds of instability in the region.

Securing the Libyan south

Libyan affairs specialist, Mohamed Qeshout, referred to great fears from the use of the Libyan south as a zone for foreign interference in Sudan, to support one side of the conflict over the other.

“Those fears should not exist at the moment because of the vigilance of the Libyan National Army,” he told The Reference.

“The army has repeatedly called for the need to stop the conflict in Sudan and not let the country slide into civil war,” he added.