Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) says it has formed its own government as it marks two years of a vicious power struggle with the Sudanese army that has left tens of thousands killed and millions homeless.
RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo said in a statement Tuesday that his militia and its civilian allies “have chosen a different path” and have declared “the establishment of the Government of Peace and Unity,” describing it as “a broad civilian coalition.”
“We are building the only realistic future for Sudan,” added Dagalo whose militia has been accused of genocide.
The RSF began the audacious move to create a rival government in the areas under its control in February, and around that time, signed a charter with political and smaller armed groups allied to it.
Swaths of Sudan are controlled by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) but almost all of Darfur, a region roughly the size of France, is held by the RSF. The group also retains footholds in the neighboring states of West Kordofan and North Kordofan, a map released last month by the SAF shows.
Since April 2023, Dagalo and former ally Abdel Fattah al-Burhan who heads the SAF have shunned global efforts to end their feud and have bitterly competed for control of the country.
Both men, who are two of Sudan’s most powerful generals, jointly deposed the country’s long-time leader Omar al-Bashir in 2019 and subsequently played a role in a military coup two years later.
Disagreements between them on how to restore civilian rule after al-Bashir’s ouster have fueled the current war which the United Nations said was the world’s “most devastating humanitarian and displacement crisis.”
The RSF’s declaration of a parallel government, which coincided with a high-level conference co-hosted by the United Kingdom, Germany, France, the African Union, and the European Union to find solutions to ending the conflict, complicates the peace efforts.
A SAF spokesperson did not respond to CNN’s inquiry on the implications of the RSF’s declaration. For several weeks, fighting has intensified between the army and the RSF as government troops push to reclaim territories occupied by the militia.
Last month, the army wrested control of the capital Khartoum from the RSF, forcing it to retreat from the city, in one of its major losses since the start of the war.
Fighting has since shifted to other parts of the country, including Darfur, where the RSF is entrenched. On Sunday, the RSF claimed control of the Zamzam camp for displaced people in North Darfur, saying it had dislodged SAF’s troops who controlled the area.
More than 300 people were killed in days of clashes between the rival factions, the UN said. At least 400,000 others were displaced from the camp, according to the UN’s International Organization for Migration.
The RSF said the camp, located around 15 kilometers south of North Darfur’s capital El Fasher, had been used as a military base by the SAF.
El Fasher is the last major town in Darfur yet to be under RSF control. Its leader Dagalo believes that the group’s quest for autonomy is the only solution as war with the SAF rages with no end in sight.
“Three years into this war, Sudan stands at a crossroads. Either we allow the past to drag us backward, or we forge a new way forward,” he said.
