The Islamists in Sudan are out of favor and powerless after once being the force behind the country’s military rulers.
But they are now using advanced social media networks and AI to try and fight their way back to a position of influence amid the country’s turmoil.
Sudan’s top two military leaders have spent most of the past two weeks battling for control of Africa’s third-largest nation, prompting the US and other foreign nations to evacuate diplomats and nationals.
Islamic groups are using that imagery to claim that the West is retreating and ready for victory, just like the Taliban in Afghanistan, according to research by a social media monitoring group.
Their online networks have even used AI technology to distribute fake audio recordings suggesting that the US is trying to reduce Islam’s influence on the country.
Islamists are using a sophisticated social media operation to gain influence in Sudan. That includes using AI to fake a plot by US Ambassador John Godfrey to intervene in the country
The Sudanese capital of Khartoum has been rocked by two weeks of fighting between rival generals. Smoke was seen rising from the city’s international airport last week
Amil Khan, founder of Valent Projects, which examines the impact of social media, said Islamists had a powerful network of accounts spreading images of Western-led evacuations and civilian leaders fleeing Khartoum.
“They then use that opportunistically to say this is the collapse of the West, and by linking it to Kabul they can try to portray themselves as victors in the same way they view the Taliban,” he said.
“It echoes messages around the word that the Taliban have won over the US. The US left in disarray.
“The Islamists are trying to say that we are the people who conquered them.”
In their heyday, the Islamists in Sudan turned the country into a haven for terrorists. Osama bin Laden lived in Khartoum from 1991 to 1996.
Khan said that while they had lost influence after the overthrow of longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2019, they had built a powerful online presence.
“What they did have was this very extensive manipulation, digital infrastructure by hundreds and hundreds of mass accounts that could just spread a coordinated message and dominate the digital space,” he said.
At the same time, they claimed that fleeing Sudanese leaders left with their foreign paymasters – all part of an effort to undermine the popularity of civilian rule.
But he added that there was little evidence that the tired people of Sudan were guided by such blatant propaganda.
On Sunday, US special forces carried out a precarious evacuation of the US embassy in Sudan. Images of fleeing foreigners are used by Islamists to say they are winning the war against the West, just like the Taliban did in Afghanistan when Americans fled in 2021
The Marine Security Guard detachment assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum, Sudan, holds the U.S. flag during a flag folding ceremony at the U.S. Embassy, April 22, 2023
Pictured: British nationals about to board an RAF aircraft in Sudan, for evacuation to Larnaca International Airport in Cyprus
Still, Republican Representative Mike Waltz, a former Green Beret who sits on the House intelligence committee, said the development was deeply concerning.
“It is definitely a concern and we are going to lose even more visibility and intelligence gathering now that the State Department has had to withdraw its embassy staff,” he said.
For example, messages on social media celebrated the departure of former foreign minister Omar Qamar al-Din.
“This is how the customers fall one after another,” said a post reviewed by DailyMail.com, comparing his early morning departure to the flight of officials from the western-backed government in Kabul in 2021 when the Taliban troops captured the Afghan capital.
Valent also concluded that Islamist accounts were behind a forged audio message purportedly from US Ambassador John Godfrey apparently outlining strategies for imposing secularism on Sudan.
The fighting pits army chief General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, who has allied himself with the country’s Islamists, against General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo (better known as Hemedti) who heads the Rapid Support Forces
Grenades are seen on the ground near damaged buildings in the Central Market during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum North
“The first is to intervene internationally with military force and to impose a new reality on this people by force of arms. That is now out of the question in light of the weak world order,” says the fake voice.
As for the other option, support us in the process of subduing the quick-support militias and exploiting the two brothers’ lust for power and using them as a deterrent and guardian of the secular democratic state, cruel as it may be .’
Western governments used a ceasefire this week to bring their diplomats home and rescue as many nationals as possible.
It came after the restive African nation plunged into violence two years after a coup d’état sidelined its civilian prime minister.
Talks to return the country to civilian rule appeared to be reaching a deal in December, but hopes for a peaceful transition were dashed by fighting that erupted two weeks ago between the chief of the army and the chief of Rapid Support Force (RSF).
RSF chief General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (better known as Hemedti) had been deputy to General Abdel Fattah Burhan until the two fell out over plans to integrate his militia into the army.
Islamists helped bring an army colonel to power in 1989. They were the power behind the throne under Omar al-Bashir until he was removed from power in 2019.
Sudanese army soldiers, loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, pose for a photo at the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) base in the Red Sea city of Port Sudan
Witnesses have described seeing bodies in the streets of the capital and that more than 500 people were killed nationwide.
While Hemedti, who rose to prominence during the Darfur war crimes campaign, claims to promote democracy, Burhan has aligned himself with Islamists as part of his strategy to emerge victorious.
“He actually made a deal with the devil,” says Cameron Hudson, a senior associate in the Africa program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
And that deal was, I’m allowing you to resurface and gain a foothold in this country, and you must support me politically and use your networks and you, your deep state influence to support me against the RFS.
He said notorious figures like Salah Gosh, the former leader of the dreaded National Intelligence and Security Agency, waited in the wings to return in the event of an army victory.
“We know what their rule over the land was like,” he said. “And these are bad guys.
“These are these are all the boys who were responsible for the worst abuses of the Bashir regime.”