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New York Times
16-04-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Sudanese Paramilitary Group Declares Parallel Government as 400,000 Flee Offensive
A Sudanese paramilitary group declared its own government on Wednesday, even as its fighters pressed an all-out offensive on a city in the western Darfur region that has sent hundreds of thousands of civilians fleeing from a famine-stricken camp. The announcement of a parallel government by the Rapid Support Forces, or R.S.F., stoked fears that Sudan's two-year civil war is rapidly pushing the country toward a potentially disastrous territorial split. The R.S.F. controls much of western and southern Sudan, while the military holds the north and east, including the capital Khartoum. Both sides have been accused of atrocities. The R.S.F. leader, Gen. Mohamed Hamdan, gave few details about the composition of what he called his 'government of peace and unity,' other than to say it would include a wide range of ethnic groups reflecting 'the true face of Sudan.' Such calls for inclusivity echo longstanding demands by Sudanese pro democracy activists, who oppose the military's tightfisted grip on power. But as often in Sudan's brutal conflict, the R.S.F.'s high-minded rhetoric was at odds with the actions of its troops. The paramilitaries launched a large-scale offensive on Friday, storming the Zamzam camp in El Fasher, the last major city in Darfur that the R.S.F. does not control, as part of a broader assault. On Tuesday, the United Nations said that at least 300 people had been killed and as many as 400,000 others forced to flee the camp in a matter of days. Zamzam, which housed at least 500,000 people and where a famine was declared last August, is now largely empty, according to aid workers. They say that at least 30,000 people have fled to Tawila, 50 miles by road to the west — with many arriving dehydrated, malnourished and traumatized by the scenes they witnessed in the camp. 'They have nothing but the clothes they're wearing, nothing to eat, nothing to drink,' Marion Ramstein, an emergency field coordinator for Doctors Without Borders, said in an email. 'Many were in shock. They spoke of so many killings and corpses.' Doctors Without Borders closed its own operations in Zamzam in February, saying that shelling, attacks on ambulances and a tightening siege had made it impossible to work there. On Tuesday, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said the United States 'condemns in the strongest possible terms' the R.S.F.-led violence in El Fasher. But she declined to say whether the Trump administration would affirm the Biden administration's determination that the R.S.F. had committed genocide. The latest violence coincided with the second anniversary of the conflict, which started in April 2023 when fighting erupted between the Sudanese military and the R.S.F., a paramilitary group it once fostered. The war took a sharp turn in recent weeks when the army drove R.S.F. fighters out of the capital, Khartoum. Many fled to Darfur, where the R.S.F. has regrouped and is now redoubling its yearlong effort to capture El Fasher. Surging violence and poor communications have made it hard to get an accurate picture of the situation, but the estimate from the United Nations that nearly half a million people had been displaced in a matter of days was striking, even by the standards of the world's largest humanitarian crisis. The devastation has renewed focus on the role of the United Arab Emirates in the conflict. American and U.N. officials have accused it of supplying weapons, drones and other military assistance to the R.S.F. The Emirates has consistently denied providing any help to the R.S.F. Sudan's military-dominated government has brought a case against the Emirates, which opened last week at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, accusing it of complicity in genocide. The Emirates asked for the case to be thrown out. In Washington, members of Congress renewed calls for the United States to stop supplying weapons to the Emirates until it stops supporting the R.S.F. 'The U.A.E. should stop its materiel support to the R.S.F. now,' Rep. Sara Jacobs of California wrote Tuesday on social media. American officials have said that senior Emirati leaders were more candid about their role in Sudan, including tacit admissions of support to the R.S.F., during private talks with Biden administration officials last year. On Tuesday, hundreds of Sudanese massed outside the Emirati embassy in London to protest the alleged Emirati role in the war, in a demonstration that coincided with a major conference on Sudan hosted by the British government. The European Union and Britain pledged $830 million in additional aid at the London conference, although Sudanese officials criticized the presence of Emirati officials who continued to press their denials about supporting the R.S.F. In a statement, Lana Nusseibeh, assistant minister for political affairs at the Emirati foreign ministry, accused both sides in the war of atrocities, and said the U.A.E. was issuing 'an urgent call for peace.'
New York Times
26-03-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Paramilitary Fighters Flee Sudan's Capital, a Major Shift in Civil War
Paramilitary fighters with Sudan's Rapid Support Forces began withdrawing from the battle-torn capital of Khartoum in large numbers on Wednesday, fleeing a city they had occupied since a ruinous war broke out nearly two years ago. The capture of the city by Sudan's military marks a dramatic turning point in what is currently Africa's largest war. The Rapid Support Forces, known as the R.S.F., is likely to withdraw to its stronghold in Darfur, in the west of the country, according to analysts. Surveillance drone footage circulated by Sudan's military showed hundreds of R.S.F. fighters crossing a dam on the Nile at Jebel Aulia, south of the capital — their last remaining escape route. Brig. Gen. Nabil Abdullah, a military spokesman, said the military had captured a major R.S.F. camp near the dam. 'This was their last remaining camp in Khartoum,' he said. 'A few remnants remain in pockets here and there. They will soon be destroyed.' The two generals who lead Sudan's military and the Rapid Support Forces, once allies, went to war nearly two years ago over a dispute about a plan for the R.S.F. paramilitary troops to be absorbed by the military. The fighting has killed an estimated 150,000 people and displaced more than 13 million, sending nearly four million fleeing to neighboring countries — amounting to the world's largest displacement crisis. Refugees have told of fleeing rapes, massacres and starvation. Videos posted to social media showed civilians celebrating as Sudanese military forces arrived into the south of Khartoum, hours after the paramilitaries had fled. In Kalakla, 10 miles south of the city center, civilians poured onto the streets, whooping and cheering, to hail Sudanese military forces who arrived on motorbikes. Nile River OMDURMAN NORTH KHARTOUM Sudanese Armed Forces (S.A.F.) control as of March 19 Presidential palace KHARTOUM Rapid Support Forces (R.S.F.) White Nile River SUDAN Khartoum Nile River OMDURMAN NORTH KHARTOUM Sudanese Armed Forces (S.A.F.) control as of March 19 Presidential palace KHARTOUM White Nile River Rapid Support Forces (R.S.F.) SUDAN Khartoum Note: Areas of control are as of March 19. Source: Thomas van Linge The sudden withdrawal comes five days after the army captured the presidential palace in central Khartoum, a key symbolic and strategic victory that signaled a momentous change in the direction of the war. Since then, the army has steadily seized control of the capital, taking control of the devastated city center before moving toward the international airport. Pockets of R.S.F. fighters continued to resist the military's advance. As New York Times reporters walked through the deserted city center on Tuesday, explosions and bursts of gunfire rang out from sporadic fighting a few streets away. But on Wednesday morning, the army declared that it had seized control of the airport, which is littered with the ruins of passengers jets abandoned in April 2023, at the start of the war. On Wednesday afternoon, soldiers posed on the runway for television cameras before an abandoned plane. The last concentration of R.S.F. fighters in the capital appeared to be in the southern and western part of Omdurman, on the west bank of the Nile. The army controls the northern half of Omdurman, and army controlled areas have received sporadic shellfire from R.S.F. positions in recent years.
New York Times
21-03-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
In Sudan's Devastated Capital, a Climatic Battle Comes Into View
Sudanese military forces pushed toward the presidential palace in the battle-scarred capital, Khartoum, on Thursday, signaling a potential turning point in Sudan's devastating civil war, now approaching its third year. Video footage showed Sudanese troops about 500 yards east of the palace compound, which overlooks the river Nile, and is controlled by the Rapid Support Forces, or R.S.F., the army's powerful paramilitary rival. Capturing the palace would be a major symbolic victory for Sudan's army, which lost most of Khartoum to the R.S.F. in the early days of the war in April 2023. It would also significantly boost the military's six-month-old drive to push the paramilitaries out of the city entirely. Early on Thursday, the army launched a blistering ambush on an R.S.F. convoy south of the palace, video footage showed. For the rest of the day, gunfire and explosions could be heard across the capital. Nile River OMDURMAN NORTH KHARTOUM Sudanese Armed Forces (S.A.F.) Presidential palace KHARTOUM Rapid Support Forces (R.S.F.) White Nile River SUDAN Khartoum Nile River OMDURMAN NORTH KHARTOUM Sudanese Armed Forces (S.A.F.) Presidential palace KHARTOUM White Nile River Rapid Support Forces (R.S.F.) SUDAN Khartoum Note: Areas of control are as of March 19. Source: Thomas van Linge The R.S.F. leader, Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan, has vowed to stand his ground. 'Do not think that we will retreat from the palace,' he said last week in a video address from an undisclosed location. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
New York Times
23-02-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Amid Regional Diplomatic Furor, Sudan's Paramilitaries Forge a Rival Government
The Rapid Support Forces, the paramilitary group fighting Sudan's military in the country's calamitous civil war, signed a political charter with its allies late Saturday that aimed to establish a parallel Sudanese government in areas under their control. The paramilitaries said the agreement, which was signed in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, would pave the way for peace after nearly two years of a war that has killed thousands of people and set off a devastating famine. Critics called it an audacious gambit by a group that the United States has accused of genocide, and warned that the charter could further splinter Sudan. The charter's signatories included the deputy leader of the S.P.L.M.-N., a secular-minded rebel group that stayed out of the war until last week. Now it is firmly aligned with the Rapid Support Forces, more often referred to as the R.S.F. The most immediate effect, though, was diplomatic. Triumphant appearances by R.S.F. leaders — many of them accused of war crimes and under American sanctions — in Kenya's capital this past week set off a bitter public row between the two countries. Sudan's military-led government accused Kenya of 'disgraceful' behavior that it said was 'tantamount to an act of hostility' and withdrew its ambassador from Nairobi in protest. Kenya's Foreign Ministry said it sought only to provide 'a platform for key stakeholders' from Sudan, and to halt 'the tragic slide of Sudan into anarchy.' Still, many in Kenya condemned the talks as a political blunder by President William Ruto, and called on him to reverse course. The Kenyan chapter of the International Commission of Jurists said Mr. Ruto was 'complicit in mass atrocities against the Sudanese people.' One Kenyan newspaper denounced the R.S.F.'s leader, Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan, as 'The Butcher' on its front page. After holding a lavish political event in Kenya's main convention center on Tuesday, the signing ceremony on Saturday occurred behind closed doors. A video supplied by an R.S.F. official showed the group's deputy leader, Abdul Rahim Dagalo, holding aloft a copy of the charter in a hall filled with mostly turbaned delegates, some of whom pumped their fists in the air. An Arabic-language version of the charter, a 16-page document, seen by The New York Times, called for a 'secular, democratic and decentralized state' in Sudan that would respect the religious and ethnic identity of all citizens. But many Sudanese question the R.S.F.'s ability, or even desire, to govern in such a manner. R.S.F. fighters have a reputation for brutality and abuses, rather than sound administration, in areas they control. The group has not announced a timeline for the formation of its breakaway government. Sudan's de facto leader, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has also promised to form a new and more inclusive administration based in the wartime capital, Port Sudan. Some critics accused Mr. Ruto of bowing to pressure from the United Arab Emirates, the R.S.F.'s main foreign backer and an increasingly influential force across Africa. In Kenya, Mr. Ruto has assiduously courted the Emirates as funding from China and Western investors has dried up. A $1.5 billion loan from the Emirates, which Kenya hopes will alleviate its crushing debt, has been under negotiation for over four months. The loan is expected to be finalized later this week, Bloomberg reported on Friday. The Trump administration has not yet commented on the R.S.F.-led political initiative in Kenya. The State Department did not mention Sudan in a statement that followed a call between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Mr. Ruto on Friday. Mr. Rubio, though, criticized Emirati support for what he termed the R.S.F. 'genocide' during his confirmation hearing in January. In recent days, senior Republicans expressed disquiet at the sight of accused war criminals parading through the capital of a major American ally. Kenya 'is helping the RSF legitimize their genocidal rule in #Sudan under the guise of peacemaking,' Senator Jim Risch, Republican of Idaho and the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote on social media. The triumphant scene in the R.S.F. video contrasted with the group's fortunes on the battlefield, where it has suffered a series of recent defeats. The military has recaptured swaths of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, in recent months, and pushed the paramilitaries out of a key breadbasket region in central Sudan. Still, the R.S.F. retains control over a significant portion Sudan, Africa's third largest country. Its troops are pressing in hard on the besieged, famine-stricken city of El Fasher, an urban area in the western region Darfur. The undiminished support of the United Arab Emirates remains a potent source of military strength for the paramilitaries, American officials say. They also appear to have at least tacit support from several of Sudan's neighbors including Chad, South Sudan, Ethiopia — and now, perhaps, Kenya.
