Whose House Is This? The Political Economy of Khartoum’s Occupation by the RSF

Whose House Is This? The Political Economy of Khartoum’s Occupation by the RSF

Date: Wednesday October 2nd, 2024
Time: 12am
Speakers: Raga Makawi (Researcher – LSE/Alameda Institute)

Abstract:

Khartoum, considered to be the theater of hostilities between RSF and SAF is more than an empty-out battle zone. Its transformation in the last 16 months to a highly successful RSF governance center sheds some light on the operational politics and technical aspects of RSF management of their territories. Beyond the conceptualization of Khartoum in the ‘return’ ode of the forced-to-exit diaspora as both an imaginary and an act of reminiscence, this presentation explores an alternative definition of Sudan’s abandoned capital as a site of political and economic reconstitution of identities that manage to escape the influence of the national narrative. Who occupied Khartoum after the war and how their presence is accommodated despite the looming death and starvation reflects a larger and longer debate on rights, representation and access with implications for post-war reconstruction.

Biography of the Speaker:

Raga Makawi is a researcher at the London School of Economics and an editor at African Arguments and the Small Arms Survey, she is a research affiliate at Alameda Institute.