UK warned it is on brink of new migrant crisis | World | News
Water is collapsing and the world is watching. What started as a power struggle between two rival generals turned into a humanitarian disaster, displacing millions of people and destabilizing the wider Horn of Africa. But the international community, including Britain, blinked. Allowing this civil war to escalate creates a migration time bomb that will soon reach our shores.
Why will fleeing families come here? Because we have a deep history with Sudan. We were running it. We shaped the first governance structures, institutions and borders. We improved public service and established schools and universities, making Khartoum once a center of education in East Africa.
The Sudan Defense Force, the forerunner of today’s national army, was modeled on British traditions of military discipline and service. For decades, this has created an enduring closeness between our nations, underpinned by shared systems of governance, law, and leadership.
At independence in 1956, political, cultural and commercial ties with Britain were strong. But our post-independence disengagement helped create a vacuum in which military coups became the default mechanism of power. For decades, Sudan has endured dictatorship, division, and the imposition of sharia law, which has further torn apart its social fabric.
Omar al-Bashir, the last general to rule Sudan, remained in power for 30 years. One of modern Africa’s most brutal autocrats. He presided over systematic oppression, ethnic violence and economic exploitation that gutted Sudan’s institutions, injured its people and saw the breakaway of South Sudan in 2011. His eventual overthrow in another coup in 2019 brings us to today’s conflict.
Now two rival generals are fighting for control: General Hemedti, who formed the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) by rallying ethnic militias across the country, and General al-Burhan, head of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). Neighboring powers, from Egypt and the UAE to Russia’s Wagner network, have supported opposing sides, turning Sudan into a proxy battlefield.
Where is England in all this? We are Sudan’s UN pen-holder and are responsible for leading the Security Council strategy. “Fighting fires at their source” was once at the heart of UK foreign policy. England did this well; combined our international unifying power, development aid and moral clarity to build stability abroad.
Soft power should mean action, not coercion. To stabilize regions before crises reach us. It’s not a tragedy far from water; This is a test of whether Britain still has the will and wisdom to lead. If you fail this test, our immigration problem here will grow even bigger.
