SUDAN: A parallel government being set up by Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) aims to grab diplomatic legitimacy from its army-led rival and ease access to advanced weaponry, politicians who back it and paramilitary sources told Reuters.
The move could prolong a devastating war in which the paramilitary RSF has recently been losing ground, and effectively splinter Africa’s third largest country by area.
Since conflict between the army and the RSF erupted in April 2023, the army-led government has retained wide international recognition, despite being forced by the fighting to move to Port Sudan on the Red Sea.
But in a bid to challenge that status, the RSF on Saturday signed a political charter in Kenya with political parties and armed groups. The signatories said a “Government of Peace and Unity” would be formed within weeks from inside Sudan.
Politicians and RSF officials participating in talks in Nairobi last week said their government would seize legitimacy from an army they said had pursued “divisive” tactics including air strikes and aid blockages while rejecting peace talks.
“We are not a parallel government and we are not a government in exile, we are the legitimate government,” al-Hadi Idris, head of an armed faction backing the planned government, told Reuters.
Politician Ibrahim al-Mirghani, another backer, said the new government would go to the United Nations and other forums to block the army’s participation.
“If you secure your country and stop the bloodshed, displacement, and terrorism … neighbours will recognise you,” he said.
MILITARY SUPPORT
The Port Sudan-based government has foreign backers including Egypt and membership of international bodies, though it has been suspended from the African Union since the army and RSF jointly led a coup in 2021, upending a transition towards civilian rule.
