Sudan: Facebook removed RSF and leader's Hemeti's account. Next @X @elonmusk @instagram please?

WONDERING why Sudan's RSF is not classed as a terrorist organisation. It's all over the place, terrorising, attacking, killing, raping unarmed civilians and children, torturing and executing PoWs, fighting and killing government forces in order to take over Sudan's military, government, land and riches.

Here is a copy of a tweet by Cameron Hudson (@_hudsonc) 4:17 PM Aug 11, 2023 regarding Facebook removing the RSF's and Hemeti's account. It says, Alhamdulillah. Now @X @elonmusk @instagram https://t.co/Bc2RAH9hqI

Alhamdulillah. Now @X @elonmusk @instagram https://t.co/Bc2RAH9hqI

— Cameron Hudson (@_hudsonc) August 11, 2023

UN blames Sudan's RSF over 'mass grave' in Darfur

Report at Reuters.com
By Emma Farge and Khalid Abdelaziz
Published Thursday 13 July 2023; 3:58 PM GMT+1 - here is a full copy:

At least 87 buried in Sudan mass grave, including women, children, UN says

Summary

- Victims buried in shallow grave near El Geneina

- Paramilitary force RSF denies any involvement

- Women and children among the dead, UN says

- Darfur violence recalls 'Janjaweed' killings of 2000s

GENEVA, July 13 (Reuters) - The U.N. human rights office said on Thursday at least 87 people including women and children had been buried in a mass grave in Sudan's West Darfur, saying it had credible information they were killed by the country's Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

RSF officials denied any involvement, saying the paramilitary group was not a party to the conflict in West Darfur.

Ethnically motivated bloodshed has escalated in recent weeks in step with fighting between rival military factions that erupted in April and has brought the country to the brink of civil war. In El Geneina, witnesses and rights groups have reported waves of attacks by the RSF and Arab militias against the non-Arab Masalit people, including shootings at close range.

"According to credible information gathered by the Office, those buried in the mass grave were killed by RSF and their allied militia around 13-21 June...," the U.N. statement said.

Local people were forced to dispose of the bodies including those of women and children in the shallow grave in an open area near the city between June 20-21, it added. Some of the people had died from untreated injuries, it said.

"I condemn in the strongest terms the killing of civilians and hors de combat individuals, and I am further appalled by the callous and disrespectful way the dead, along with their families and communities, were treated," said U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk in the same statement, calling for an investigation.

Sudanese people, who fled the violence in their country and newly arrived, wait to be registered at the camp near the border between Sudan and Chad in Adre, Chad April 26, 2023. REUTERS/Mahamat Ramadane/File Photo

An RSF senior official who declined to be identified said it "completely denies any connection to the events in West Darfur as we are not party to it, and we did not get involved in a conflict as the conflict is a tribal one."

Another RSF source said it was being accused due to political motivations from the Masalit and others. He reiterated that the group was ready to participate in an investigation and to hand over any of its forces found to have broken the law.

It was not possible to determine exactly what portion of the dead were Masalits, a U.N. spokesperson added.

The ethnic killings have raised fears of a repeat of the atrocities perpetuated in Darfur after 2003, when "Janjaweed" militias from which the RSF was formed helped the government crush a rebellion by mainly non-Arab groups in Darfur, killing some [SW Ed: allegedly] 300,000 people. Sudanese civilians have fled the area on foot, some having been killed or shot as they escaped.

"This report is a good first step, but more efforts are needed to uncover more violations," said Ibrahim, a refugee in neighbouring Chad, who asked to withhold his last name for fear of retribution.

Army spokesperson Brigadier General Nabil Abdullah told Reuters the incident "rises to the level of war crimes and these kinds of crimes should not pass without accountability."

"This rebel militia is not against the army but against the Sudanese citizen, and its project is a racist project and a project of ethnic cleansing," he said.

Play Video: Report from Khartoum, Sudan

(Reporting by Emma Farge in Geneva and Khalid Abdelaziz in Dubai; Additional reporting by Nafisa Eltahir in Cairo; Editing by Rachel More and William Maclean)

View original and video:  https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/least-87-buried-mass-grave-sudans-west-darfur-un-2023-07-13

[Ends]

Saudi Arabia announces first civilian evacuations from Sudan. Armed group forcibly evacuated Khartoum's Al-Huda prison, detainees’ whereabouts unknown

Report from Gulf News.com

By Associated Press

Saturday 22 April 2023 15:30; Last updated: 22 April 2023 17:20

Saudi Arabia announces first civilian evacuations from Sudan

Boat carrying Saudi citizens and other nationals arrives in Jeddah

PHOTO People fill barrels with water in southern Khartoum on April 22, 2023, amid water shortages caused by ongoing battles between the forces of two rival Sudanese generals. Image Credit: AFP

CAIRO: A boat carrying Saudi citizens and other nationals rescued from battle-scarred Sudan arrived Saturday in Jeddah, Saudi state television said, in the first announced evacuation of civilians since fighting there began.

“The first evacuation vessel from Sudan has arrived, carrying 50 (Saudi) citizens and a number of nationals from friendly countries,” the official Al Ekhbariyah television said.

The boat docked at the Red Sea port of Jeddah where four other ships carrying 108 people from 11 different countries was expected to arrive later from Sudan, the broadcaster said.

Al Ekhbariyah carried footage of large vessels arriving in Jeddah’s port. It also released a video showing women and children carrying Saudi flags on board one of the ships.

Saturday’s evacuations mark the first major civilian rescue since violence in Sudan broke out on April 15. […]

Sounds of fighting continued overnight but appeared less intense on Saturday morning than on the previous day, a Reuters journalist in Khartoum said. Live broadcasts by regional news channels showed rising smoke and the thud of blasts.

The army and the paramilitary RSF, which are waging a deadly power struggle across the country, had both issued statements saying they would uphold a three-day ceasefire from Friday for Islam’s Eid Al Fitr holiday. […]

There has been no sign yet that either side can secure a quick victory or is ready to back down and talk. 

The army has air power but the RSF is widely embedded in urban areas including around key facilities in central Khartoum.

Burhan and Hemedti had held the top two positions on a ruling council overseeing a political transition after a 2021 coup that was meant to include a move to civilian rule and the RSF’s merger into the army.

In Omdurman, one of Khartoum’s adjoining sister cities, there were fears over the fate of detainees in Al Huda prison, the largest in Sudan.

The army on Friday accused the RSF of raiding the prison, which the paramilitary force denied. Lawyers for a prisoner there said in a statement that an armed group had forcibly evacuated the prison, with the detainees’ whereabouts unknown.

The Sudanese doctors union said early on Saturday that more than two thirds of hospitals in conflict areas were out of service, with 32 forcibly evacuated by soldiers or caught in crossfire.

Some of the remaining hospitals, which lack adequate water, staff and electricity, were only providing first aid. People posted urgent requests on social media for medical assistance, transport to hospital and prescription medication.

Any let-up in fighting on Saturday may accelerate a desperate rush by many Khartoum residents to flee the fighting, after spending days trapped in their homes or local districts under bombardment and with fighters roaming the streets. […]

ALSO READ

• UAE successfully mediates safe return of Egyptian soldiers in Sudan
• Sudanese military rules out negotiations with rival force

View original: https://gulfnews.com/world/mena/saudi-arabia-announces-first-civilian-evacuations-from-sudan-1.95287242]

[Ends]

Violence spreads in Sudan with nearly 100 dead

Fierce clashes across Sudan have left an estimated 97 people dead, with up to 1,100 people injured. 

It's the third day of violence between rival armed factions, part of a vicious power struggle within the country's military leadership. 

The army and a paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, disagree over how the country should transition to civilian rule. 

Both sides claim to control key sites in capital city Khartoum, where people have been sheltering from explosions. 

One resident, Kholood Khair, told the BBC: "There are lots of people in and around their homes [...] that have been either hurt or killed by a stray bullet." 

Doctors say the fighting is stopping both staff and medical supplies reaching injured people.

Read full story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-65293538

Hamdok's video message to Al-Burhan, Mohamed "Hemeti" Dagalo, and leaders of the SAF and RSF

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: Many years before Sudan's president Bashir was jailed he fondly nicknamed Dagalo "Hemeti". He saw him as his replacement and the son he never had. He dislikes being called Hemeti. 

- - -

From: BBC News LIVE - full copy

Saturday 15 April 2023 at 16:37 GMT UK

Edited by Rob Corp

Fighting must stop immediately - former  Sudanese prime minister

Copyright: Getty Images

Abdallah Hamdok in 2021

Image caption: Abdallah Hamdok in 2021

Former Sudanese Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok has made a statement in a video posted on his Facebook account.

He says the "exchange of fire must stop immediately" and calls on the Sudanese people to "stay strong". 

Quote Message: My first message is to General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, and the leaders of the Sudanese military, and to Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, and the leaders of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). 

The exchange of fire must stop immeditately, and the voice of reason must rule, everyone will lose, and there is no victory when it is atop the bodies of our people." from Abdallah Hamdok Former Prime Minister of Sudan

My first message is to General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, and the leaders of the Sudanese military, and to Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, and the leaders of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The exchange of fire must stop immeditately, and the voice of reason must rule, everyone will lose, and there is no victory when it is atop the bodies of our people."

Abdallah Hamdok

Former Prime Minister of Sudan

He asks the Sudanese people not to allow "the drums of war to take over", before issuing a plea to the international community to "do their duty in finding a solution".

Hamdok served from 2019 until he was ousted in the October 2021 coup, before being reinstated again a month later.

He resigned last year after long-running disagreements with the army.

Source and further updates by the BBC here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-africa-65285254

[Ends]

- - -

From BBC Live 

Saturday 15 April 2023 at 7:02 GMT UK - full copy

Military action will not resolve situation - UK foreign secretary

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has tweeted in the last few moments. 

He says the violence in Sudan "must stop immediately". 

Quote Message: The UK calls on the Sudanese leadership to do all they can to restrain their troops and deescalate to prevent further bloodshed. 

The UK calls on the Sudanese leadership to do all they can to restrain their troops and deescalate to prevent further bloodshed.

Quote Message: Military action will not resolve this situation." from James Cleverly UK Foreign Secretary

Military action will not resolve this situation."

James CleverlyUK Foreign Secretary

[Ends]

- - - 

Sudan: Chairman Burhan commends Dagalo's efforts in political agreement and praises efforts of the Sufis

Here is a full copy of a news report at Sudan News Agency (SUNA)

Dated Sunday 21 November 2021

Al-Burhan commends Abdel Rahim Dagalo's efforts in political agreement

© Provided by Sudan News Agency (SUNA)

Khartoum, Nov. 21 (SUNA) - The Chairman of the Transitional Sovereignty Council, Lieutenant-General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, has commended the efforts and stances of the second commander of the Rapid Support Forces Lieutenant-General Abdel Rahim Daglao.

During his address to the signing ceremony of the political agreement with Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdouk, Al- Burhan noted that Abdul Rahim Dagalo has been playing a pivotal national role in the past period and exerted great efforts in maintaining security and stability, extending thanks all the national efforts that played roles in making the situations calm.

He also praised the efforts of the Sufis to bring the ranks and unity of the word to preserve stability. (ta)

View original: https://www.msn.com/en-xl/africa/other/al-burhan-commends-abdel-rahim-dagalos-efforts-in-political-agreement/ar-AAQZGEr

Sudan: Inquiry by PHR finds that authorities armed and orchestrated security forces that killed more than 200 pro-democracy protesters

An inquiry by the New York-based advocacy organisation Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) finds that authorities armed and orchestrated security forces that killed more than 200 pro-democracy protesters in June 2019. 

PHR is calling on UN member states to sanction the Sudanese officials responsible for the human rights abuses and for Sudan’s civilian-military government to include human rights, rule of law and accountability protections in the nation’s new constitution. Full story:

Sudan accused of masterminding lethal attacks on Khartoum protesters

Inquiry finds that authorities armed and orchestrated security forces that killed more than 200 pro-democracy protesters

Report from The Guardian.com 

Global development

By Kate Hodal @katehodal

Dated Thursday 05 March 2020 13.03 GMT, Last modified 8.07 GMT - here is a copy in full:

Photo: Demonstrators hold a banner bearing images of protesters allegedly killed in unrest in Khartoum in June 2019. Photograph: Marwan Ali/EPA

Sudanese security forces systematically planned and coordinated a series of deadly attacks that killed up to 241 pro-democracy protesters and injured hundreds more at a Khartoum sit-in last year, an inquiry has found.

Authorities “purposefully pre-positioned” state security forces armed with tear gas, whips and assault rifles in the month before the protests began, and “intentionally targeted” medical personnel and facilities during and after the protests, according to the New York-based advocacy organisation Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), which led an investigation into the violence.

The findings were based on interviews with 30 survivors of the 3 June massacre, eyewitness accounts, and analysis of thousands of still and video images of the protests, among other sources of information. They contradict previous theories that the attacks on the protest camp were spontaneous, or the work of “rogue” military personnel, as a government-led inquiry indicated.

“The June 3 massacre against Sudanese civilians at the hands of government security forces is an egregious violation of human rights,” said Phelim Kine, PHR’s director of research and investigations.

“Security forces’ horrific tactics – sexual violence, including rape, use of tear gas, whips, batons, and live ammunition – killed and critically injured hundreds of civilians. To support the national commission charged with investigating these crimes, the Sudanese legal and human rights community, as well as international bodies such as the United Nations and the African Union, must conduct further investigation into the full scope of government-perpetrated violence on June 3.”

Photo: Sudanese forces deployed to disperse the Khartoum sit-in are seen around army headquarters on 3 June, 2019. Photograph: Ashraf Shazly/AFP/Getty Images

Grassroots pro-democracy protests began in December 2018 [ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/25/sudan-clashes-between-security-forces-and-anti-bashir-protesters-prompt-concern ] in the centre of Khartoum in opposition to three decades of autocratic rule by Omar al-Bashir. The unrest continued after the president was ousted by military generals in April 2019 as protesters called for power to be ceded to civilians.

On 3 June, armed men in military uniform – many of whom declared themselves to be members of the Rapid Support Forces – stormed the peaceful sit-in that had been camped for months outside the military headquarters, shooting, stabbing, beating, raping and humiliating protestors.

Interviewees told PHR how security forces taunted them while beating, burning, and cutting them. One witness described an attempt by armed men to sexually assault him after they detained and tortured him, cutting open a healed wound and putting out cigarettes in it. Several interviewees said they had seen women gang-raped in broad daylight. 

Others described being shot at, beaten with whips and batons, and suffering severe post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety.

PHR said some survivors would suffer from a lifetime of chronic pain and disability as a result of their injuries.

One interviewee, Muna, recounted how she had been wearing skinny jeans during the protests. She reported that a soldier from the Rapid Support Forces – a paramilitary force heavily armed by Bashir – grabbed her and said: “How do we get her pants off her? Give me a blade so we can tear it off her.”

A doctor interviewed by PHR said he was directly targeted by soldiers, who pointed automatic weapons at him as they yelled: “You’re the reason for all this chaos and this whole mess … You’re the reason why the country’s like this. You’re the reason why we kill people. You’re the reason why people die.”

The attacks were used to “intimidate and silence those demanding civilian rule and major reforms in Sudan”, said PHR’s director of policy, Susannah Sirkin, who contributed to the report.

“As doctors and their organisations were at the forefront of calls for change in Sudan, they were a target. As those who treated injured protesters, or received bodies in the morgues, they were doubly targeted. As credible witnesses to gross human rights violations and their physical and psychological impacts, they were triply targeted.”

The report echoed similar findings, published by Human Rights Watch [ https://www.hrw.org/report/2019/11/17/they-were-shouting-kill-them/sudans-violent-crackdown-protesters-khartoum ] in November, which concluded that “the number of forces deployed in the operation against the sit-in – estimated in the thousands – suggests official operational planning”.

Medical expert Rohini Haar, who serves as research and investigations adviser at PHR, said: “This pattern of targeted attacks on healthcare is a recurring weapon used by Sudanese security forces that violates the obligation and rights of medical personnel to treat those in need, threatens the lives of medical workers, and has a devastating impact on civilians.”

PHR is calling on UN member states to sanction the Sudanese officials responsible for the human rights abuses and for Sudan’s civilian-military government to include human rights, rule of law and accountability protections in the nation’s new constitution.

Global development is supported by BILL & MELINDA GATES foundation

View Original: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/mar/05/sudan-accused-of-masterminding-lethal-attacks-on-khartoum-protesters

END

Gulf states are mapping Khartoum’s future

Article from Chatham House, UK

Written by MOHAMED EL AASSAR

Senior Journalist at BBC Monitoring’s Middle East and North Africa team

Dated 29 July 2019

Gulf states are mapping Khartoum’s future

Fate of power sharing deal in Sudan rests in the hands of wealthy donors

Photo:  Sudanese deputy head of the Transitional Military Council, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo

Since Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese leader, was forced to step down in April by pro-democracy street protesters, the governing Transitional Military Council has received strong backing from the Gulf states of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Bashir and Saudi Arabia have a long and tangled history. For many years, the two were sworn enemies. But since 2014, Saudi Arabia has co-opted Bashir to remove him from Iran’s sphere of influence. Money flowed in and Saudi lobbying helped remove United States sanctions on Sudan. Iranian cultural, medical and military facilities were closed and diplomats expelled.

In 2015, Sudanese troops joined the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Similarly, the UAE wanted to ‘turn’ Bashir from his Islamist roots, and thus deprive its long-term enemy the Muslim Brotherhood of a safe haven in Khartoum.

All this changed earlier this year. As the street protests began to threaten Bashir’s grip on power, the Saudis and Emiratis started to look to a post-Bashir world.

Despite the Gulf monarchies’ known aversion to Arab uprisings, Saudi and UAE media were uncharacteristically upbeat in their coverage of Bashir’s overthrow – in many cases even appearing to support the protest movement.

This contrasted with Gulf rival Qatar’s Al Jazeera, which depicted the crisis as a conflict between military and civilian rule, and warned of a ‘coup’ against Bashir.

This didn’t help the Sudanese president, however. A past master at playing Gulf rivals off against each other, this time he had suddenly lost his touch.

After Bashir                                                                             

At the height of the protests he visited his long-time Qatari patron to ask for Doha’s money and backing. He returned empty-handed. For its part, the UAE reportedly refused to extend further support until he purged his administration of Islamists. Something he refused to do.

After the fall of Bashir, Saudi Arabia and the UAE announced a $3 billion aid package to meet Sudan’s most pressing needs. At about the same time, Sudanese media were gripped by the return of Major- General Taha Othman al-Hussein to Khartoum. Once Bashir’s chief of staff, he had fallen out with his former boss and turned up in Riyadh as a Saudi royal adviser.

He returned to Khartoum at the head of an Emirati delegation. It is widely believed that he was the architect of Sudan’s participation in the Yemen conflict, having overseen the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as part of his earlier role at the presidency.

As well as playing a much-feared security enforcement role in Sudan, the RSF also provides the main component of the Sudanese forces fighting in the Saudi-led coalition against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

The Sudanese are posted at Yemen’s volatile border with Saudi, have fought in battles for control of Yemen’s west coast and provide security in cities in the coalition-controlled south.

The Yemeni rebels call them ‘mercenaries’ and ‘Janjaweed’ – the latter a reference to the RSF’s role in laying waste to Darfur in the early 2000s.

The Sudanese media don’t like them much either. They too refer to the forces as Janjaweed and accuse them of terrorizing civilians and carrying out ‘barbaric and brutal assaults’ against peaceful protesters.

Their leader, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who is also known as Hemeti, is loathed by the opposition. Facebook groups have branded him ‘a devil’ and the RSF the ‘Rapist Savage Forces’.

A former camel trader turned military leader, he was described by the influential pro-opposition website Dabanga as a man who has ‘never entered a military college, even for a single day, never trained or attended any military course, and never achieved any academic or any military awards’.

When Hemeti recently boasted about the large Sudanese contingent in the coalition in Yemen, another opposition website questioned why the lives of 30,000 Sudanese were being put at risk in a war in which Sudan has neither ‘a camel nor a mule at stake’. A column in the privately owned Sudanese newspaper Al-Jaridah said the Sudanese military ‘do not represent us and are not authorized to speak in our name when they say that Sudanese soldiers will remain in Yemen’.

Hemeti’s central role in the Transitional Military Council (TMC) and the violent dispersal of protests have not helped improve the military’s popularity. In April, videos circulated on social media depicted the Sudanese army ‘protecting’ the demonstrators outside military headquarters in Khartoum. Now the media make little reference to Sudan’s armed forces.

Saudi changes tack                                                              

As negotiations between the opposition and the military leaders stalled, the Saudis shifted tactics.

Their media prominently featured veteran Sudanese opposition figure Sadiq al-Mahdi, who was calling for compromise between the opposition and the military.

Saudi-owned, Dubai-based Al Arabiya TV tried to present itself as an objective observer. It gave equal air time to opposition and pro-TMC voices and regularly hosted representatives of the Sudanese Professionals Association, the group that had spearheaded the protests.

To their credit, Al Arabiya’s Sudanese reporters regularly reframe loaded questions by anchors and question TMC accusations against the protest movement in their live two-ways.

In July, the military and the opposition finally signed an agreement on a joint sovereign council that will rule during a transitional period.

Whether or not this compromise deal holds, Sudan’s future will continue to be heavily influenced by Gulf rivalries – backed by huge amounts of Gulf cash.

AUTHOR: Mohamed El Aassar is a Senior Journalist at BBC Monitoring’s Middle East and North Africa team

SOURCE: https://www.chathamhouse.org/publications/twt/gulf-states-are-mapping-khartoum-s-future

US backs Sudan transition deal fearing state collapse

SUDAN's sovereign council of soldiers and civilians will lead Sudan for 3 years. Sudan situation is still fragile, there are still spoilers out there. The fact that Hemeti remains in power is problematic. Money from Saudi Arabia that used to go to the RSF would now back the transition. RSF forces have fought as ground troops for the Saudi-led coalition in their war against the Houthis in Yemen. US backs Sudan transition deal for fear of state collapse. Full story here below.

From The Financial Times

By ADRIENNE KLASA in London 

Published: Thursday 11 July 2019 

Title: Sovereign council of soldiers and civilians will lead country for 3 years

Photo: Sudan's Rapid Support Forces are feared by demonstrators © AP

The US has thrown its weight behind the power-sharing deal struck between Sudan’s military leaders and civilian groups, fearing that the alternative was a descent into state failure and violence.

“The situation is still fragile; there are still spoilers out there,” Tibor Nagy, US assistant secretary of state for African affairs, said in London. The deal was “absolutely a step forward” he added. 

“Out of all the scenarios out there some of the outcomes could have been extremely negative. We could have had the Somalia [or] Libya model, which is the absolute last thing that either Egypt or Ethiopia needed,” he added.

Mr Nagy had just returned from Sudan, where he met the political and military factions that unseated Omar al-Bashir in April after months of protest. Mr Bashir had been in power for three decades. Sudanese officials and activists credit US pressure, along with Gulf countries and regional negotiators, with bringing the two sides to an agreement.

While the US supported the political transition, Mr Nagy said it would not become involved in the details of any agreement between the ruling transitional military council and civilian groups. “Our goal is to achieve this transition that is acceptable to the Sudanese people, [but] it’s not for us to get into the sausage making,” he said.

The power-sharing deal, which is expected to be signed this week, grants five of the 11 seats on a “sovereign council” to civilians. Another five seats will go to the military. The final seat will go to a consensus appointment. The council, which will rule Sudan during a three-year transition period, will be led at first by a military representative before switching to a civilian.

The deal is a muted victory for protesters who had been campaigning for an immediate transition to democratic civilian rule.

Their hopes though of a bloodless revolution were shattered when Rapid Support Force (RSF) troops raided encampments and hospitals on the night of June 3, killing more than 100 people, according to protesters.

The US has called for an independent investigation into the killings but is separating that from any political settlement. That approach, however, has been criticised because the commander of the RSF, Lieutenant General Mohamed Hamdan, known as Hemeti, remains an important figure in the ruling military council.

“The fact that Hemeti remains in power is problematic. As commander of the RSF for all these years he’s implicated in serious crimes, not only in Khartoum but in Darfur” and elsewhere in the country, says Jehanne Henry, associate director in the Africa division of Human Rights Watch. “Until there’s accountability, the peace will not hold.”

Mr Nagy said the crackdown was “a separate issue. It’s very important for us not to get into [accusing] this person, that person. We have to focus on the outcome because that’s the most important thing for Sudan”.

Gulf allies, who have provided funding and support to Lt Gen Hamdan and the RSF, have also backed the deal, Mr Nagy said, while money from Saudi Arabia that used to go to the RSF would now back the transition. RSF forces have fought as ground troops for the Saudi-led coalition in their war against the Houthis in Yemen.

But Mr Nagy admitted the deal could still fall apart. He said there were fears that supporters of Mr Bashir could try to restore the old regime to power or that an unstable Sudan could allow radical groups to flourish. The return of the Muslim Brotherhood, a Sunni Islamist organisation with links across the Arab world that briefly held power in Egypt is 2012, was “definitely is a concern”, he said.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2019. All rights reserved.

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