By Mohamed Osman Adam

Four trucks tainted with dark green guerrilla camouflage -mud, mounted with machine guns, pulled up with such deliberate cracking noise outside the building.

Armed men, pointing the barrels of their death breathing guns at the house, shouted for the occupants of the office to come out, especially Dr Mohamed Gizouli, lest they be gunned down.

Gizouli is a hardline islamist politician, with track record of being against the revolution that brought down Omar Bashir in 2019. He is also a scholar and fervent advocate of implementation of the Islamic sharia laws in the Sudan.

The outspoken islamist has been advocating a total defeat of the militia Rapid Support Forces, currently at loggerhead fighting with the Sudanese regular army, the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), since April 15th,2023.

And like the western movie, Gizouli and his entourage came out, hands up and legs apart. They were shoveled into the back seats and the four armed pickups veered to run away leaving behind clouds of dust and bewilder.

The incident indicates that the Sudanese conflict is taking another U-turn, but to the worse, as more and more people are now being kidnapped in broad day light. Gizouli is the second politician opposed to a truce in the Sudan before the total crushing of the Rapid Support Forces, to be arrested and taken away.

"Four fully armed pick-ups encircled the residence where Dr Gizouli was staying and, threatening to open fire, they ordered him and his entourage to come out" the Executive officer for Dr Gizouli office said in a statement following the kidnapping Wednesday of Dr Gizouli Mohamed.

Last week Anas Omar, also a controversial politician and a leading member in the dissolved National Congress party, of former president Omar Bashir, was kidnapped and his whereabouts is still unknown.

The office explained that Dr Gizouli, his executive secretary and three other companions came out and were whisked away in those trucks “to an unknown destination.”

“The Rapid Support Forces have to bear full responsibly for this act” said Gibair Al Sadiq, Executive officer said in the statement.

Both men are known to have been opposed to a government peace deal with the rebels. They argued that if a deal is reached without the waning of the militia then the whole ploy would be repeated once again in the future. They also are of the view that the Rapid Support Forces which are built around the legacy of one family would only help nurture the nasty aspect of tribalism and regionalism.

A war broke in the Sudan between the Sudanese /Armed Forces and its once offshoot the RSF, a mighty force of whooping over 100,000 forces and huge financial resources. Since April the 15th the fighting continued in Khartoum and at least three major towns in the country: Genaina, El Obied and Merowe.

According to the UN and other western humanitarian organization operating in the field almost three hundred people were killed over the weekend in West Darfur State, near the border with Chad, partially as spillover of the fighting in Khartoum between the Sudanese government Armed Forces and the Militia Rapid Support Forces. Almost 800 people are reported in the hospital records to have been killed and over 5000 injured.

The UNHCR is saying almost one million people either left the country or relocated from Khartoum to other regions which are relatively calm and secure.

Under huge western and regional pressure representatives of the two sides sat for talks in Saudi Arabia, and signed a declaration vowing to protect civilians, refrain from any human rights violations and secure passage for humanitarian assistance.

Before Gizouli and Omar, over 220 people have also disappeared since the outbreak of the fighting in Khartoum and other area.

As of recently, Social media grouping and Facebook accounts are full of announcement about people who went missing since the war erupted in the country, over a month ago, but rarely has there been a note saying a family has recovered.

A Sudanese group active in Facebook under the name of Mafgood (Arabic for missing) said it was able to trace and unite 25 with their families, the rest are still missing. In most of these cases the first thing noted was that the phone goes dead.

It said among those who went missing 22 were officers in the regular forces, 198 were civilians, and the organization was also able to identity 5 dead. The majority of the missing are aged 25 to 30 years.

According to UN estimated and doctors’ reports, at least 800 people have been killed so far, mostly in Khartoum and in Genaina, capital of West Darfur region scene for communal fighting on the lining of backing the national army or the RSF, while over 5000 are injured.

The UN also estimated that some 700 thousand are displaced within the Sudan, many from Khartoum to relatively calm states, and almost 250 thousand left the country, to Egypt, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea.

UN on Wednesday called for 3 billion dollars to secure badly needed humanitarian and health aid to the Sudan, with almost 18 million people in urgent need of assistance out of the population of 40 million. The Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has also launched a fervent appeal to international and regional communities calling for assistance before the situation slips into catastrophe.