Secret Minutes of Sudan President Bashir Reveal State Support for Islamic Terrorism

by Lt. Gen. Abakar M. Abdallah, Jerome B. Gordon, Deborah P. Martin

Sudan’s President Bashir is caught up in an ongoing campaign of deceit and deception in the face of roiling domestic and regional problems threatening the long-term viability of his Muslim Brotherhood regime. He has engaged in phony threats of regional war against Egypt and Eritrea to deflect attention of riots of bread, high unemployment and his foreign adventures in Yemen, support for Islamists and Muslim Brothers seeking to overthrow regimes in Libya and Chad, giving away Red Sea ports to Turkey’s Erdogan to further his Ottoman revival hegemony in Africa. Then, he gets caught fostering enslavement of Sudan migrants in the slave markets in Libya violating his deal with the EU to monitor and intercept migrants.

It is all part of his Arab Coalition Plan to ethnically cleanse the conflict areas of Darfur, South Kordofan and the Blue Nile of indigenous African people. In addition to exploiting the natural resources, especially gold and crude oil, he is bringing in Arab jihadists granting them Sudanese citizenship and nationality to attain his ultimate goal of recruiting a 150,000 man Rapid Support Force/Janjaweed Army. This would fulfill the grand design of overthrowing adjacent regimes in the Sahel of Africa creating a Caliphate ruled from Khartoum under Islamic Sharia Law. The toll to date of his nefarious plan has been more than 600,000 killed, over 5 million displaced internally and several hundred thousand who have fled to UNHCR camps in Chad, Central African Republic and elsewhere in Africa. We have provided copious details in our book, Genocide in Sudan: Caliphate threatens Africa and the World that highlighted secret National Congress Party (NCP)/Islamic Movement plans and memos. 

The latest example of how Bashir and the NCP regime deception plans are found in Presidential Minutes of December 11, 2017 signed by Dr. Abdallah Fodul Minister of Presidential Affairs. This document is not complete as we have obtained only three pages.  However, the information is important because it describes how President Bashir’s Muslim Brotherhood regime supports Islamic extremist terrorism in Libya, Egypt, Syria, Somalia and other African countries. We have translated the document from the original Arabic to English.  See here.

Among the secret memo contents covered in this review are:

• Sudan Debt and Economic Realities;
• The commitment to the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen;
• Support for Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic State resistance in Libya and Somalia
• The charade that war against indigenous African people in Darfur is over.
• Efforts to  convince US to delist Sudan from  State Sponsors of Terrorism
• The SITREP that  lies
• Recommendations

Sudan Debt and Economic Realities.  The Minutes addressed the economic bind the country is in and suggestions by the EU and others, especially the IMF about priority areas for development. It states:

As for European countries, they requested 3 projects from us during the African Union Summit. They are democracy, human rights and good governance. And these projects we should complete them through ‘elastic’ measurements. One who accept should be committed with these measurements and the one who did not accept it should be treated him as breached the international law. Anyone who accept should be committed with these measurements and the one who did not accept it should be treated him as breached the international law.

“Elastic measurements “refers to the rules and regulations established by the regime during the National Dialogue Conference and modified by the President Bashir to suit the NCP policy and strategy.

An IMF report issued in September 2017 cited the country’s difficult straits:

In 2016, economic activity grew at a modest rate of 3.5 percent while inflation increased to 17.8 percent. The fiscal deficit was stable at 1.6 percent of GDP despite shortfalls in oil related revenues, and the external trade deficit moderated owing largely to the depreciation of the real exchange rate. In 2017, weaker domestic demand—partly due to a reduction in energy subsidies by the government in late 2016—is expected limit growth to 3.2 percent. The impact of higher energy prices and rapid monetary expansion to help finance large remaining subsidies pushed inflation to 34 percent in July. The fiscal deficit is expected to widen to 2 percent of GDP. While the external current deficit is moderating due to the impact of higher energy prices and a depreciated real exchange rate, international reserves remain low.

The report of IMF Article 5 team echoed the EU recommendations:

• “Economic conditions in Sudan remain challenging in the face of persistent fiscal deficits, high inflation, and economic sanctions.
• The economic outlook hinges on implementing bold and broad-based reforms to stabilize the economy and strengthen growth.
• The expansion of social safety nets to support the most vulnerable and reforms to improve the business environment to engender strong, broad-based growth are critical.”

Sudan Prime Minister General Backri Hassan Salih blames it all on the war in Darfur on the conflict zones of South Kordofan. He is cited in this Presidential Minutes saying:

The war delayed us greatly and one of its consequences is the economic problems that we are living in today and political differences that we are witnessing. The government spent huge amounts of money over the past few years with the aim of bringing security in Darfur region. Praise be to Allah! Darfur is now secured. In the next phase, we should speak about adopting the dialogue as a method of solving the problems. We say that the strategy of international community is to achieve peace through dialogue and agreement not fighting. The overall reform stands at the head of economic reform that strengthening its structure and social reform to resolve the confrontation with vulnerable groups affected by the program of economic reform. The reform of the civil service, the development of human resources, review of its legislation and the mechanism because the treatment of economic sector even during the past years did not produce tangible results after reduction of exports and the rise in the price of gold and the dollar.

The explosion of domestic violence in early 2018 triggered by economic protests over lack of bread, high unemployment and hyperinflation indicate that the Bashir regime had ignored the warnings of international agencies that this would be the result. Added to that was the $7.3 billion court award by a US Federal appeals court in Washington DC in July 2017 for Sudan’s role in facilitating the August 1998 US Embassies bombing by Al Qaeda that killed 224 and 5,000 injured in Kenya and Tanzania.

The commitment to the faltering Saudi-led Yemen campaign that Qatar pays for.

When Bashir cut a deal with the Saudi King Salman to supply troops and air support in the Kingdom campaign in Yemen in 2015 against the Houthi rebels-backed by Sudan’s ally Iran, it was for a desperately needed $6 billion. Three years along, the war in Yemen is in a virtual stalemate, fraught with missile attacks, heavy air bombardment, a massive Cholera epidemic outbreak and competing Sunni internal factions on the cusp of dividing the country on north south lines.

Nevertheless, as attested by comments cited in the secret Minutes, Bashir was willing to continue participation for pay:

The rapid developments witnessed by Yemen put the Arab alliance in a critical situation (impasse) and increased pressure on Sudan because it sided with Qatar or the states of boycott (Saudi Arabia, Emirates, Egypt, Bahrain) use it (the Qatar problem) as a weapon and they are aware of besieging the people not the regime. Whatever situations, we will not withdraw our forces from Yemen; although Emirate and Saudi Arabia have not fulfilled all their obligations.

Bashir wanted to avoid the squabble between the UAE and Qatar, while committing his forces to the Yemen conflict, although he alleges that neither the UAE nor Saudis have fulfilled “obligations.” It is illustrative of Bashir playing the double game in terms of preserving relations with key financier and Muslim Brother ally in the Islamic movement, the Emir of Qatar, while keeping a line out to both the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Illustrative of the Islamic Movement agenda is the close cooperation with Qatar on Islamic Movement activities in Africa while having Qatar pay for Sudan’s military commitment to the UAE-Saudi Yemen foray. That effectively amounts to Bashir’s contribution to ‘curbing’ Iran’s influence in the region. Rather cynical, as the regime June 2017 Secret Political Crisis Committee minutes say it would reach out to Tehran, its former terrorism partner. The Presidential Memo notes:

We have to contribute to curbing Iran’s influence and look strongly at the region and work to stabilize Yemen and the return of the legitimate government. And we have participated in the Assif-al-Hazem (Saudi-led Coalition) from the beginning with aircrafts and presence of forces in the ground. We must continue our active and strong participation. And on the other hand, we work with Qatar to cover the portion of payments that Saudi Arabia and Emirate have not paid.

Support for Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic State resistance in Egypt, Libya, Syria and Somalia

In Genocide in Sudan we documented Bashir’s support for Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic State activities in both Libya and Chad. These Presidential Minutes extends that to include support for Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic State in Syria and affiliate Al Shabaab in Somalia.  Note this citation:

We have now become an influential force in the region. We have done our duty for our brothers in Libya and we have provided support to the revolutionaries with all that we could and opened Jihad door for our children in the Islamic Movement. They joined hands with their brothers from Egypt and African countries; and they have gone out together with their brothers from Sudan to perform a duty in Libya and Syria. As we have managed and provided aid to our Somali brothers, we have opened all our educational institutions to their students when their country collapsed. Our brothers in the Islamic Movement requested us to take care of the Islamists in the land of Somalia. We sent to them some medical doctors; even now we are striving to achieve unity, security and stability in Somalia. Helping them does not harm us, because there is no tribe in Africa that has no presence in our land.

The last sentence refers to the Bashir regime’s doctrinal belief that every tribe in Africa is represented in Sudan. No one in western media, diplomatic or intelligence sources reveals Bashir’s strong support of Jihadists in Africa, which includes the Somalis. Khartoum’s belief more than suggests that Africa belongs exclusively to Muslim communities and they should help the Jihadists everywhere. This whole paragraph validates our findings in Genocide in Sudan that Sudan is part of the Islamic State affiliate resistance in Syria, Libya and Sudan. The Bashir regime sees its duty to support Islamic revolutions and jihad. This means that ‘helping with the war on terror’ means helping to ‘fuel’ that war and justifies keeping Sudan’s designation by the US as a state sponsor of terrorism.

The charade that war against indigenous African people in Darfur is over.

One glaring item of self-serving propaganda is that Darfur has been “pacified” and that the staged disarmament campaign has been successful.  Note this from the Presidential Minutes:

Praise be to Allah (God). Darfur is secured now. There is no rebellion and the disarmament plan has succeeded; even the weapons that are not handed over are hidden. The use of weapons is prohibited in Darfur and now they are completely disappeared. And whoever remained of the rebels, we are not afraid of them and prepared for them if they come peacefully or as a warrior. We suggested that whoever wanted to return from displaced camps we would provide them all their needs from security to basic services and have a complete program of development in Darfur through the initiative and contribution of Qatar establishing Darfur Development Bank in Darfur with the participation of the Islamic Development Bank.

In Genocide in Sudan we documented that the “disarmament” campaigns against Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in Darfur were staged by the Bashir regime. It was a patent cover-up to please the Americans.  These faux campaigns against the backdrop of protests by camp residents often concluded with rampages by Rapid Support Force (RSF)/Janjaweed with resulting killings and rapes.  The UNAMID forces deployed at IDP camps, as attested to by a former UN official, were neutralized. “Providing IDP camp residents needs” is typically Orwellian argot by the Bashir regime. The real plan is to take IDP residents out by fighting or scattering elsewhere.

The regime offers revitalization packages for people who want to leave the IDP camps and go back to their land. The regime is suggesting that the instability is over, so the IDP’s believe they can go home safely. However, according to sources on the ground, the RSF/Janjaweed continues to terrorize indigenous African farmers both on their land and on their way home. The attacks prevent them from returning to their villages and land. Even if they make it, staying safe is impossible.  Some IDPs are killed; others are beaten. It is especially true in South Darfur. Then, when the land is abandoned, it is handed over to the families of RSF Janjaweed recruits and ISIS émigrés from the Islamic Movement (IM) in Africa and the Middle East as reward for their cooperation and service to the IM. The farmers are left jobless in the cities.

 The spin on getting state sponsorship of terrorism lifted by the US

When the Trump Administration lifted Sanctions on October 6, 2017 that was followed a meeting with US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan and team arriving in Khartoum on November 16, 2017 to hold discussion on outstanding issues.  That ended with the matter of gaining evidence to support the lifting by the US of the Sudan designation as a state sponsor of terrorism. Hence this Presidential Minutes of December 11, 2017 addressed how the Bashir regime would address that. 

Here is the spin the Minutes put on it:

Because of our relations with the US Administration, there is a lot of change following the visit that we have well prepared; in which we have provided an insight on the development that the country is witnessing and the National Dialogue and the entry of the country into a new phase. We could say that this stage made relationship between the two countries go forward, which would lead to the lifting the name of Sudan from the list of states supporting terrorism; especially as they witnessed our cooperation with them and relations with CIA since the end of 1990s.

And we have provided security clarifications that contribute to attracting economic investments, reassuring the members of Congress that mostly belong to the class of businessmen to see Sudan is the land of opportunities, and we speak about the discontent of US companies from the boycott system to motivate Washington to lift sanctions or to make exceptions to granting licenses through the Office of American Assets Control.

The reality is that there was little of value the Bashir regime gave to the CIA in the 1990’s, except perhaps allowing Carlos the Jackal to be seized by French Intelligence agents in 1994 in Khartoum and whisked for prosecution in France. Moreover, one of the authors had the experience of receiving a publically distributed 2007 document signed by President Bashir allowing mujahedeen to kill US aid workers in Khartoum. A USAID official and his driver were killed four months later in January 2008. No reprimand of the Bashir regime was made.

 Moreover, alleged counterterrorism information on the whereabouts of terrorist Joseph Kony of the Lord’s Resistance Army was a thin reed. The specific location of Kony was actually obtained by co-author, General Abdallah and provided to US Army who subsequently did nothing with it. Finally, the information on state support for Islamic Movement terrorism revealed earlier makes it unlikely that the State Department ‘state sponsor of terrorism ‘ designation should  be lifted.

The SITEP that lies

The Presidential Minutes then puts out a SITREP on how it managed with the National Intelligence Security Service to buttress internal security in spite of the internal resistance groups. It goes to great lengths to portray Sudan as pacified. Note some of its citations of alleged successes:

As for attempts of obfuscation, it is propaganda and rumors with no purpose but to target and disrupt our plan. The armed movements are behind it in order to destabilize security and stability, because they know that organization (National Intelligence and Security Services) has played a huge role in supporting security stability and development alongside its participation in the armed forces and other regular forces in all theatres of operations and have achieved great victories in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile. Also the NISS has contributed to the achievement of internal security in cooperation with police forces and other regular forces.

This amounts to confirming genocide in Darfur and the major conflict zones

The ceasefire has been declared on all fronts in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, and we are working to attract some of the movements and bring them in the homeland to join the peace in line with the conditions of Dialogue and the National Reconciliation witnessed by the Sudan.

The regime has repeatedly made and broken ceasefires with resistance groups to its advantage.

There is importance of continuing the proceedings of current political and economic measures to ensure the weakening of the regime of Juba (South Sudan) and make it preoccupied with internal issues with a balance that is not prejudicial to regional strategic stability and does not produce negative affect to Sudan.

This is an admission by the regime of its intent to destabilize South Sudan.

Recommendations.

These recommendations from this secret meeting reveal the strategy that the Bashir Regime intends to follow in its information Jihad war of deception. It demonstrates why lifting sanctions was premature and why Sudan is still a ‘state sponsor’ of Islamic terrorism.

• Maintaining relationship with US and exploiting relations with Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirate, Qatar, Kuwait and Ethiopia to lift Sudan from the list of states supporting terrorism
• Benefit from the relationship with Italy to put pressure on European Union countries and invite investors and businessmen to exploit opportunities existing in Sudan
• Assign the concerned parties to provide necessary requirements to finance the required military deals demanded from Russia.
• The First Deputy Prime Minister, the Prime Minister, directs the ministers not to make any statements which would interfere with Sudan’s external relations; and to activate a mechanism of coordination between the foreign minister and press minister regarding to foreign relations
• The National Intelligence and Security Services to continue to control the press releases that affect Sudan foreign relations and activities of the Sudan government external and internal.
• Direct press to provide positive aspects for the visit of the US Deputy Secretary of State to Sudan to cover up the impression left by the lack of meeting the president and the impact on the development of relations with the clarification that the meeting did not occur because the date of the visit coincided with the President’s interior visits to the states.
• Direct the press and the media to talk about the Egyptian role in South Sudan and other neighboring countries that is directed against the Sudan and Ethiopia
• Direct the media to ignore any decisions or declarations from the International Criminal Court
• Continue to ban Egyptian manufactured products regardless of their ‘validity’ and seek to limit the flow of Sudanese travelling to Egypt for treatment in the Arab Republic of Egypt
• Support situations of Egyptian opposition when Presidential election is near and activate its role
• Work to neutralize Marshal Khalifa Hafter and his aides to disrupt his relations with Egypt and United Arab Emirate
• Direct the media to highlight the advantages of economic reforms and to prepare for the consequences of the increase of the prices caused by damages happening to the other countries caused by demonstrations and out of public order.