Latest news with #GenDagalo
The National
02-07-2025
- Politics
- The National
Gen Dagalo takes key step towards parallel government in RSF-held areas of Sudan
Gen Mohamed Dagalo, commander of Sudan 's Rapid Support Forces, has been selected to head an alliance of political parties and rebel groups, seen as a step towards setting up a parallel government in areas held by the paramilitary. The Foundation Alliance, better known by its acronym Taasees, met in the RSF-held city of Nyala in Darfur on Tuesday and selected a 31-member leadership with Gen Dagalo as its head. Abdul Aziz Al Helu, commander of a powerful rebel group active in south and south-west Sudan, was selected as his deputy. "The selection followed a series of plenary meetings that were transparent and serious," Taasees spokesman Alaaeldeen Noqd said in a statement. He described the alliance, founded in Kenya in February, as a national platform that aims to "dismantle the old Sudan by confronting its sociopolitical legacy and the creation of a new state on the basis of a social contract that enshrines just peace, equal citizenship and comprehensive justice". The formation of the alliance comes amid a devastating civil war between Gen Dagalo's RSF and the armed forces led by Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan. After 26 months of fighting, the RSF controls all of Darfur region in the West, except the city of El Fasher, and parts of Kordofan to the south-west; the army controls the capital, eastern, central and northern Sudan. "The announcement in Nyala is the prelude to creating a government. Taasees is the equivalent of a ruling party that will inevitably announce a government," said Osman Mirghany, a prominent Sudanese analyst. "The whole process is designed to give the Rapid Support Forces a political arm or support base to use as a bargaining chip if negotiations to end the war were to start," he said, alluding to plans to convene a meeting on Sudan in Washington that would bring representatives of regional powerhouses like Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE to lay out a road map to end the war. The US and Saudi Arabia brokered a series of ceasefires during the early days of the war, but they proved to be short-lived. The army now insists it will continue fighting until the RSF is defeated. Gen Al Burhan named a career UN diplomat, Kamil Idris, as prime minister in May to head a 22-member government based in the eastern city of Port Sudan, on the Red Sea coast. Only two portfolios – defence and interior – have been filled so far as rebel groups now aligned with the military demand proportionate representation. The war between the RSF and the army, essentially over control of the vast and resource-rich country, has claimed tens of thousands of lives, displaced about 14 million and left half of the 50 million population facing hunger. Both Gen Dagalo and Gen Al Burhan claim to be fighting for a democratic and prosperous Sudan. However, the pair face accusations by the UN and rights groups of war crimes committed during the current conflict. The RSF has pivoted its political narrative to the pursuit of equal rights for Sudan's so-called marginalised citizens, a reference to the inhabitants of such outlying regions like Darfur, Kordofan and Blue Nile. However, it has been accused by the UN and the International Criminal Court of ethnic cleansing against African tribes in Darfur and of sexual assaults in the capital Khartoum and central Sudan. The army is accused of reckless shelling that is believed to have killed thousands of civilians since the war began. Both Gen Dagalo and Gen Al Burhan have been sanctioned by the US for war crimes. Mohammed Latif, another Sudanese analyst, said the consequences of Tuesday's announcement by Taasees would invariably lead to a government that runs RSF-held areas. "We will then have a government in eastern Sudan and another one in western Sudan, a situation that to some degree mirror that in Libya," he said, alluding to the emergence of two rival administrations in Sudan's neighbour after an uprising toppled dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.
The National
26-06-2025
- Politics
- The National
RSF leader and army-backed PM offer conflicting narratives for war-torn Sudan
Addressing the nation, the commander of Sudan 's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the new army-backed Prime Minister painted a contrasting picture of a country that has effectively been partitioned. The RSF and the army have been at war since April 2023. The conflict has killed tens of thousands and displaced more than 13 million while leaving millions facing acute hunger or, in growing numbers, famine. RSF commander Gen Mohamed Dagalo and Prime Minister Kamil Idris spoke at about the same time one evening last week. Their styles and the content of their speeches highlighted a divided nation. The army, led by Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, controls the capital Khartoum, as well as the northern, eastern and central regions of the vast Afro-Arab nation. The RSF, whose forerunner is a notorious militia known as the Janjaweed, controls the entire western Darfur region, except for one city held by the army, and parts of Kordofan to the south-west. The army and its allies have yet to make a concerted effort to retake Darfur and Kordofan from the RSF, where it maintains the bulk of its forces and has allies among powerful rebel groups. Gen Dagalo is a one-time cattle trader and Janjaweed fighter who rose to national prominence through the patronage of former dictator Omar Al Bashir. In contrast, Mr Idris is a former UN diplomat educated in Switzerland, Egypt and the US, as well as his native Sudan. RSF view In desert camouflage, Gen Dagalo told hundreds of his fighters that the army and its allies were nothing more than criminal gangs of thieves. He also repeated his long-standing charge that Gen Al Burhan was relying on Islamists loyal to the toppled regime of Al Bashir. Standing on the back of an all-terrain vehicle at an unspecified site in Darfur, Gen Dagalo appeared to underscore the de facto partition of Sudan, speaking of the region in terms more akin to an independent nation rather than an integral part of Sudan. The RSF's administration of Darfur – by far the worst-affected area of Sudan in terms of hunger and famine – would achieve self-sufficiency in food following the rainy season, he said. The RSF, he added, would also secure international humanitarian assistance for Darfur's ethnically diverse residents. He did not elaborate. Gen Dagalo sought to portray the RSF as a protector of the country. He spoke of the paramilitary's role in safeguarding Sudan's northern border after his fighters recently seized the area where the borders of Egypt, Sudan and Libya converge, with Chad's a short distance to the west. "If our control of the border triangle has not benefited our neighbours, at least it has brought them no harm," he said. "The triangle and the desert are a bastion of corruption, smuggling, terrorism and illegal migration," Gen Dagalo told his fighters. Sudanese political analyst Osman Fadlallah said the speech "transcended the language of war to become presidential-like". He added: "Dagalo is proceeding with growing confidence in presenting himself as a substitute to rule Sudan, or at least to enshrine a parallel role in areas under RSF control." Army view In sharply contrasting style, Mr Idris, in a dark business suit and tie, delivered his speech at a studio, using a prompter to paint a rosy picture of the future of the resource-rich but impoverished nation under his stewardship. He said his government would end nepotism and operate based on justice, transparency and rule of law, said Mr Idris, whose inaugural address to the nation last month included segments directed at the West that he delivered in English, French and Spanish. He called on top experts and professionals who want a place in his cabinet to send him their biographies through a social media address he said he would later publicise. "It will be called 'the government of hope'," he declared, and it would strive to achieve security, prosperity and a life with dignity for the Sudanese. Nearly a month after he was appointed Prime Minister, only two positions in his proposed cabinet of 22 have been filled: the interior and defence portfolios, whose occupants are traditionally picked by the military. "The government of hope is a fragile and elitist project," said Mr Fadlallah. "Idris seeks to formulate a new reality that's immune to the present situation, while Dagalo wants to enshrine the outcome of the war thus far." Sudan, a nation of 50 million, has been plagued by a series of civil wars and economic crises since its independence in 1956. Compounding its woes have been frequent military coups, ushering in authoritarian regimes invariably toppled by uprisings brought brief spells of democratic government. The current civil war in Sudan is, in large part, a continuation of that pattern. Gen Al Burhan and Gen Dagalo together staged a coup in 2021 that removed the transitional government that followed Al Bashir's downfall in 2019. The coup derailed the nation's shift to democratic rule and drew international sanctions that battered the economy, just as it was showing signs of recovery, albeit slowly. Differences between the two generals over the role of the army and the RSF in a democratic Sudan grew ominously tense in 2022 before violence broke out in April 2023. Both the army and the RSF are accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity during their war.
The National
03-06-2025
- General
- The National
RSF chief threatens to attack army-held city of Al Obeid in Sudan
The commander of Sudan 's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has threatened to attack the army-held city of Al Obeid in North Kordofan, advising residents to stay at home and avoid potential military targets. In a video posted online, Gen Mohamed Dagalo ruled out holding negotiations with the country's armed forces, which has fought against the RSF in a civil war that has ravaged since April 2023. "The time of bargaining has ended. There will be no negotiations with those who kill their people with air power and refuse to admit to their crimes," Gen Dagalo said, referring to air strikes carried out by the armed forces. "We are ready for a political solution but not with murderers and criminals." With the army this year retaking control of the capital Khartoum and areas to the south of the city, the focus of the war has shifted to the vast Darfur and Kordofan regions of Sudan. The RSF controls virtually all of Darfur and parts of Kordofan, where it has allied with a powerful rebel group that controls large areas of the region. "We tell the army, we will come after you if you use Al Obeid as a base from which you bombard and penetrate Darfur and Kordofan. Our forces are ready," said Gen Dagalo, a one-time ally of armed forces leader Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan. Sudan's armed forces and allied militias have made little progress in their attempts to dislodge the RSF from areas of Darfur and Kordofan in the past two months. The paramilitary, whose forerunner is the notorious Janjaweed militia, claims to have destroyed 70 per cent of fighting vehicles used by a mobile army and militia force in Kordofan. The RSF also said it has regained control of areas in northern Kordofan recently captured by the army. The army, which rarely reports on casualties or loss of territory, pushed the RSF out of most of the capital in March and cleared the remaining pockets of the paramilitary group on the fringes of the city earlier this month. But the RSF has responded with a series of drone attacks on the army's wartime capital of Port Sudan on the Red Sea. The strikes have damaged the city's port, army and air force bases, fuel storage tanks and power transformers. Drone strikes blamed on the RSF have also hit similar targets to the south and north of the capital. The civil war began when tension between Gen Al Burhan and Gen Dagalo turned into open warfare. The conflict has become a struggle between two commanders vying for control of the country. The war has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced about 13 million and left more than 25 million facing acute hunger, famine conditions are reported in areas across the impoverished nation.
