When Manchester City thrashed Arsenal on Wednesday to put one hand on the Premier League title, few fans would have been thinking of those caught up in the fighting in Khartoum.
Yet there is a direct link between the Etihad Stadium, named after the state airline of Abu Dhabi, the emirate that controls the Manchester club, and the fate of Sudan. It is a thread through a web of warlords, factions and foreign powers — including Russia — with a stake in the outcome, picking sides in a fight for control of Africa’s third largest state that sits at the intersection of the Indian Ocean, the Horn of Africa and the Arab world.
Also stoking tensions are some of the most sinister figures from the
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