Put Your Kadmool on Straight, Othman!

By: Amjad Farid Al-Tayyib

Now that all the media cards have burned in the hands of what remains of the Taqaddum/Sumood coalition, the media illusionist finds himself with few options as he stares down his bankruptcy—frantically rummaging through the ledger of the proverbial bankrupt merchant in search of any voice he can weaponise in defence of a new PR line: justifying the UAE’s complicity in killing Sudanese people. The formula is simple: anyone who objects to this criminality or condemns the destruction of Sudan and the mass displacement of its people must, by default, be an “Islamist” or a “Muslim Brotherhood agent”!
It seems this desperate search has recently settled on Othman Fadlallah, Editor-in-Chief of Afaq Jadeeda (New Horizons), the official journal of the “Friends of Hamdok” fan club. Thankfully, there’s still some horizon left… though Abdel Khaliq (Mahjoub) must be turning in his grave at what’s been done in the name of his legacy.
No edition of this magazine is complete without a feature from Al-Nur Hamad—the “towering intellectual” who makes it his mission to justify the atrocities of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). For Al-Nur, there is no issue with the killing of Sudanese civilians, the rape of their women, or the looting of their homes—as long as it’s done under the noble guise of “settling historic scores with the Islamists”! As if Al-Nur has forgotten that he is standing in the very midst of Islamists, opportunists, and killers—surrounded on all sides. (And Mahmoud Mohamed Taha must also be turning in his grave at the acts of his followers, carried out in the name of his teachings.) But clearly, Othman and the Hamdok circle of magazine patrons see no problem with this. “Retroactive struggle against the Islamists” is convenient in this age of political decay—especially when you’re hitched to the UAE’s winning horse… and the times are lean.
In recent days, Othman Fadlallah has kept up his laughable chatter, warning of an impending “Islamist threat” coming from Port Sudan—parroting Hamdok’s talking points, the editorials of The Jerusalem Post, and other Emirati-aligned echo chambers. All to play on Western fears of political Islam, without pausing—if he ever did—to ask: what happens if they succeed in this deception? How many more Sudanese must die or be displaced if they manage to provoke the West—and the Trump campaign—against Sudan, all to cover up the UAE’s crimes of rape, murder, and forced displacement?
And what of the UAE’s bombing of the Merowe Dam, the Gedaref power station, Dongola, and critical infrastructure across the country? These didn’t merit even a whisper of objection from Othman and his colleagues. They stayed silent—like the dead. To them, Sudanese blood is cheap, and national destruction is a game. Such nobility!
What Othman fails to grasp is that those who fought the Islamists in the past did so because they harmed Sudan—caused the very destruction that he and his circle now strive to justify. But never mind… this is an age of farce.
Othman reached peak melodrama in the climax of his “brilliant analysis” of the factions within the Umma Party. He tried to absolve the wealthier wing of its ties to the Janjaweed, despite Burhan Nasser publicly dragging them into that mud. Yet this wing is the one most deeply entrenched in the bloodbath. Stranger still was Othman’s reference to “war crimes” when criticising the Port Sudan faction—without even mentioning that, according to independent reports, 77% of those crimes were committed by the RSF. But this, of course, is a forgivable sin in the eyes of Othman and his peers—if not a virtuous act altogether.
The comic relief came in his description of the “third faction,” in which he dares to speak of (Dr.) Al-Wathiq Al-Birair’s bloc as “the voice of the historic party aligned with the December Revolution”! A bold distortion indeed—one that would draw laughter from anyone who actually knows Al-Wathiq, the Umma Party, or Sudan for that matter. What December Revolution is he talking about? Is it not Al-Wathiq Al-Barir who helped engineer Hamdok’s infamous deal with the coup leaders in November 2021, and who was part of the delegation that persuaded Hamdok to sign it—alongside Burhan Nasser?
More laughably still, Othman attributes to Al-Wathiq a stance on “ending the war and restoring the civilian path,” while conveniently omitting the fact that Al-Wathiq himself nominated a candidate for head of the civilian administration in Gezira State under the January 2024 Hemedti-Hamdok deal! And speaking of that—what became of Al-Wathiq’s poor nominee, Sidiq Mawiya? Has your faction asked about him, Othman? Or is he just another piece of “collateral damage” not worth mentioning in your grand patriotic PR spin about the Umma Party’s internal factions?
Othman’s article goes beyond peddling illusions—it was a full-blown comedy sketch attempting to turn spoiled fish into sherbet. As if saying to readers: “Just accept whatever we feed you; we’ll keep repeating it until you believe it. We’ve wrapped it up nicely in pretty slogans!”
But no perfume of Arabia will cleanse the stain of blood from that little hand, Othman.
So put your kadmool (the mask worn by RSF militia) on straight… its mark is plain across your face.

Shortlink: https://sudanhorizon.com/?p=6388