Sudanese paramilitary group says its forming a rival government
[April 16, 2025]
BY SAMY MAGDY
CAIRO (AP) — A notorious paramilitary group fighting against the
Sudanese military announced that it was forming a rival government,
which will rule parts of the country controlled by the group including
the western Darfur region where the United Nations says recent attacks
by the group have killed over 400 people.
Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, commander of the Rapid Support Forces,
announced the move in a speech on Tuesday as the northeastern African
nation marked two years of civil war.
“On this anniversary, we proudly declare the establishment of the
Government of Peace and Unity,” Dagalo said in a recorded speech, adding
that other groups have joined the RSF-led administration, including a
faction of the Sudan’s Liberation Movement, which controls parts of
Kordofan region.
Dagalo, who is sanctioned by the U.S. over accusations that his forces
committed genocide in Darfur, said that he and his allies were also
establishing “a 15-member Presidential Council” representing all of
Sudan’s regions.
The move came as the RSF suffered multiple battlefield setbacks, losing
the capital, Khartoum and other urban cities in recent months. The
paramilitary group has since regrouped in its stronghold in the
sprawling region of Darfur.
It raises concerns that Sudan is heading towards partition, or a
prolonged conflict like that one in neighboring Libya where two rival
administrations have been fighting for power for over a decade. The
nation of South Sudan won independence from Sudan in a 2011 referendum
that followed a war in which Janjaweed militias, a predecessor to the
RSF, fought on behalf of the government.
The Janjaweed were accused of mass killings, rapes and other atrocities.
Many countries, including the U.S., have rejected the RSF efforts to
establish an administration in areas they control.
“Attempts to establish a parallel government are unhelpful for peace &
security for the country, and risk further instability & de facto
partition of the country,” the State Department’s Bureau of African
Affairs posted on X in March when the RSF and its allies signed what
they called “transitional constitution” in a Kenya-hosted conference.
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Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the deputy head of the military council
speaks at a ceremony in the capital Khartoum, Sudan, on Aug. 4,
2019. (AP Photo, File)
Sudan was plunged into chaos on April 15, 2023 when simmering
tensions between the military and the RSF exploded into open warfare
across the country.
Since then, at least 24,000 people have been killed, though the
number is likely far higher. The war has driven about 13 million
people from their homes, including 4 million who have crossed into
neighboring countries, and pushed parts of the country into famine.
The fighting has been marked by atrocities including mass rape and
ethnically motivated killings that amount to war crimes and crimes
against humanity, especially in Darfur, according to the U.N. and
international rights groups.
Dagalo’s announcement has come a few days after his forces and
allied militias rampaged through two famine-hit camps, which shelter
some 700,000 Sudanese who fled their homes, in North Darfur
province.
The multi-day attack on the Zamzam and Abu Shouk camps killed more
than 400 people, including 12 aid workers and dozens of children,
the U.N. humanitarian office said, citing local sources.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Tuesday the attack forced up
to 400,000 people to flee the Zamzam camp in recent days.
He said the camp has become inaccessible after the RSF and its
allied militias took control of it, “restricting the movement of
those remaining, especially young people.”
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