Mat Nashed

For months, I spoke to 3 Sudanese women about the #Sudan war. In anticipation for the 1 year mark of this devastating war, I tried to tell the story of the country through their eyes. Here is my attempt below. My long read for @AJEnglish aljazeera.com/features/longf…

Earlier this month, on 14 July, clashes took place between two suspected drug trafficking groups in the Palm Farm area west of Al-Dabba Market, Northern State. The clashes in Al-Dabba expose a dangerous spike in security risks far from the main SAF-RSF frontlines, as reported by the Sudan Conflict Monitor. Heavy fighting between drug-trafficking networks near a densely populated market left an estimated 17 dead and over 30 civilians injured before joint security forces intervened to control the security breakdown. This incident highlights a critical wartime shift: as state authority weakens, illicit economies are becoming highly militarised and visible. According to the Sudan Conflict Monitor, these armed criminal networks are no longer confined to the shadows, proving increasingly capable of disrupting vital transport hubs and fragile local security arrangements across Sudan. (Photo: Al-Fadh IDP Camp, Al Dabba, UN) #Sudan #KeepEyesOnSudan @infosudantrans1

On behalf of all Egyptians, thank you Spain ♥️🇪🇸

🚨 Roy Keane on Nico Williams disallowed goal against Argentina: “I’ve just seen the biggest robbery of this World Cup. The ball comes into the box, nobody touches anybody, everyone goes up for it, then one Argentina player starts shouting. The next thing you know, two defenders are on the floor appealing, Nico Williams has scored, and Emiliano Martinez … who wasn’t even touched… is somehow lying there as well asking for a foul. The referee blows immediately. No VAR review. No replay. No check to see if there was actually any contact. Just disallowed. Apparently if enough Argentina players fall over at the same time, that’s now considered conclusive evidence. If we’re being honest, Paredes shouldn’t even still be on the pitch after some of the tackles he’s made today. Yet somehow the only thing the referee managed to spot instantly was an invisible foul.”

Argentina didn't deserve the status/privileges awarded to them throughout the WC. Their total impunity violated the integrity of the game. When they finally got penalised and lost, they resorted to "baltigya" tactics. The WC was a reflection of our world, not an escape from it.

My controversial WC take is there's more honour in having a nightmare game where nothing works & you lose 7-1 than getting to the final in controversy, fail to make a single shot on goal, try to get rival players expelled after making awful fouls & beat them up at the end

Spain won. Finally, some justice in the world. Alhamdulilah.

Hard to believe the police will crack down on members of aligned militias and men in uniform operating with total impunity. This seems more like an attempt to wage a campaign of "law and order," effectively targeting the poor and vulnerable. #Sudan

Sudanese police have arrested more than 2,000 suspects and established 473 fixed checkpoints across Khartoum state. The massive security sweep aims to curb a post-war surge in looting, armed robberies, and gang activity as residents return. sudantribune.com/article/316374

@ReemRifai_ I'm so sorry for your loss Reem. Sending you so much warmth.

I apologize to those asking me to comment on current events. I lost my younger brother recently. I’m navigating through this chaotic place in my own personal context. With a lot of mixed emotions.

Everyone i know with decades of research and reporting experience in the Arabic speaking world are so cautious - sometimes to a fault -- with what they share and tweet, hoping to capture the nuance Meanwhile, those that know nothing tweet with shameless confidence. Exhibit A 👇

Also, a lot more eyes needed on South Kordofan.

#Sudan's war is the GRIFT that keeps on giving for its proponents. Why would these people want it to end when they make a literal and figurative killing during wartime? In peace time they'd have to, at the very least, share. Ignoring the economics is folly. #KeepEyesOnSudan

Whether #Syria will intervene remains to be seen. Yet a limited military operation inside the Lebanese border areas seems plausible as #US pressure mounts. Such an operation would be a grave mistake and could open a Pandora box that could destabilise the entire region. 5

What matters here is that al-Tali has experience fighting Hizbullah and the Lebanese army. He fought both in 2013-14 and was behind the kidnapping of Lebanese soldiers security members in 2014. He is also well known among local fighters in al-Qusayr and the Qalamoun region. 4/5

The latest political analysis via the Sudan Conflict Monitor: On one side, the army-aligned authorities in Sudan are attempting to project a false narrative of administrative recovery. By reviving Bashir-era media restrictions, forcing unfeasible university reopenings, and ignoring protests from unpaid teachers, the military is merely masking systemic dysfunction with authoritarian control. This "state restoration" is a thin veil for continued military dominance designed to sideline democratic aspirations and secure a blank check for transition-era rule. On the other side, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are accelerating a de facto partition of Sudan, establishing a parallel central bank, imposing taxes, and refining oil in Darfur. Yet, strict travel restrictions on their own officials and leadership rifts expose a deeply strained administration. The international community must stop rewarding elite fragmentation and throw its full support behind broad-based, anti-war civilian coordination that rejects both military rule and impunity for atrocities. #Sudan, #KeepEyesOnSudan Read more via: sudantransparency.org/sudan-conflict… @infosudantrans1 @AyinSudan

Egyptian nationalism was not formed only in resistance to British occupation. It was also formed through claims to mastery over Sudan. open.substack.com/pub/barracks/p…

There are French and German companies implicated in this war through their processing of Sudanese gum arabic exported from neighboring countries and often via the UAE.

"Data centers are the CAFOs & meatpacking plants of the internet. Like their flesh-harvesting brethren... tech giants like Amazon, Google, & Meta are sinking their roots into the countryside, externalizing extraordinary social and environmental costs onto rural elsewheres."

@Alihashem Welcome!

13 years since I last visited Egypt, hello Cairo 👋🏻

As of late June more than half of American ambassadorships were vacant, including high-status posts from Germany to Saudi Arabia. For would-be Africa hands there is a particular opportunity: nearly 80 per cent of US embassies on the continent do not have an ambassador. Trump has made his foreign policy hierarchy clear in his second term by his choice of mediators for global crises: business friends and donors, such as Steve Witkoff and Tom Barrack, and people with close ties to the Trump family, such as Jared Kushner, his son-in-law.