RSF leader Hemedti announced the new rival government on the second anniversary of the war [Getty]
Two years into a war that has left tens of thousands dead, Sudan’s paramilitary force on announced its own government to rival the army-backed administration it is battling.
The United Nations has said that the conflict that erupted on 15 April, 2023 is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with 13 million people displaced — including more than 3.5 million to other countries — and no sign of peace on the horizon.
The Rapid Support Forces, headed by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the former deputy to the regular army leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, announced the rival government amid growing international fears that Sudan could become split between the two sides, who have both been accused of abuses.
“On this anniversary, we proudly declare the establishment of the Government of Peace and Unity, a broad coalition that reflects the true face of Sudan,” Dagalo said in a Telegram statement.
The RSF and its allies signed a charter in Kenya in February declaring a “government of peace and unity” in areas they control.
Daglo’s latest statement said the paramilitaries, with “civil and political forces”, had signed a transitional constitution, that was a “roadmap for a new Sudan”.
That constitution provides for a 15-member presidential council “representing all regions, symbolising our voluntary unity”.
Analysts have warned that Africa’s third biggest nation could permanently splinter.
With the RSF emboldened in Darfur, “the territorial division that’s occurring could mean a de facto separation,” said Sharath Srinivasan, a professor at Cambridge University who studies Sudan.
