RSF paramilitary-led coalition forms parallel government in war-torn Sudan

In response to the military-led authorities in the capital Khartoum, where the brutal civil war in northeastern Africa is now in its third year, a coalition led by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group has announced it is formforming an alternative government.

RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo will lead the government’s 15-member presidential council, which also includes regional governors, according to the group, which calls itself the Leadership Council of the Sudan Founding Alliance (TASIS).

Mohammed Hassan Osman al-Ta’ishi, a politician from Sudan, will be the prime minister, according to TASIS.

The leadership council extends its condolences and warm wishes to the Sudanese people, who have endured decades of bloody wars, in a statement from the coalition.

It also reiterates TASIS’s commitment to creating a free, just, and equal Sudan, as well as a new secular, democratic, decentralized, and voluntarily unified Sudan.

As the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) battles rage on, the new self-proclaimed government could cause divisions and create competing institutions.

The Sudanese army claimed in May that it had completely displaced the RSF from Khartoum, the capital.

One of the worst humanitarian crises in history has been brought on by fighting since April 2023, which has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of people and the displacement of nearly 13 million people, according to UN estimates.

The RSF has been besieging the city of El-Fasher, adding to the region’s growing hunger, in recent months, in the western region of Darfur.

Rights organizations have charged rights abuses against both the RSF and SAF. RSF fighters were “inflicting widespread sexual violence” on women and girls earlier this year, according to Amnesty International, “asserting control and dislocating communities across the country.”

Hemedti was the subject of US sanctions earlier this year, accusing him of committing “serious human rights abuses” under his leadership, including executing civilians and blocking humanitarian aid.

Since Omar al-Bashir’s rule in Sudan was overthrown in 2019 following months of anti-government protests, there has been more instability there.

Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok resigned in early 2022 after the Sudanese military staged a coup against his civilian government in October of that year.

After the coup, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Hemedti, Sudan’s army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and both men had previously fought for supremacy in the region’s army.