Arab countries welcome the final communique of Sudan’s Neighbouring States Summit in Egypt

Note, this report says "the acting government of Sudan, the Transitional Sovereignty Council (TSC), as well as the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) welcomed the results of Sudan's Neighbouring Countries Summit".

Report from Ahram Online 
Published Saturday 15 July 2023 - here is a full copy:

Arab countries welcome communique of Sudan’s Neighbouring States Summit in Egypt

A number of Arab countries have welcomed the final communique of the Sudan’s Neighbouring States Summit held in Egypt on Thursday as a step towards reaching a peaceful solution to the Sudanese crisis.

This handout picture released by the Egyptian Presidency shows Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (C), accompanied by Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry (C-L) and intelligence chief Abbas Kamel (C-R) attending a regional summit for neighbouring nations impacted by the three-month war between Sudan s rival generals in Cairo on July 13, 2023. AFP

The summit in Cairo brought together Egypt, Libya, Chad, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Eritrea, along with the secretary-general of the Arab League and the African Union Commission (AUC) chairperson, about three months after the conflict erupted in Sudan between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The summit has agreed on eight points mentioned in the communique, most notably the formation of a ministerial mechanism comprising the foreign ministers of Sudan’s neighbours to address the conflict, which has had severe impacts on regional countries.

Qatar, the UAE, Jordan, Oman, Tunisia, Yemen, Palestine and Sudan have welcomed the communique, hailing Egyptian efforts in hosting the summit.

In a statement on Friday, the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs praised the communique as an “important step that is part of the regional and international endeavours aiming to stop the fighting in the sisterly Republic of the Sudan with dialogue and peaceful means.”

The Qatari state looks forward to seeing the outcomes of the summit and other endeavours pave the way for a permanent resolution to the armed conflict in Sudan, the ministry stressed.

Expanded negotiations including all political forces in Sudan should follow the ceasefire in order to reach a sustainable peace that fulfills the aspirations of the Sudanese people for stability, development and prosperity, the ministry added.

The UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs hailed the communique, affirming the importance of reaching a ceasefire and resolving the conflict peacefully through dialogue.

President El-Sisi Participates in the Final Session of Sudan’s Neighboring Countries Summit

Jordan also voiced support for all efforts towards a solution to the Sudanese crisis, including the summit in Cairo, said the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said.

The Omani Foreign Ministry, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, and the Tunisian Ministry of Foreign Affairs all expressed appreciation for Egypt's efforts in hosting the summit, called for an immediate end to the fighting, and for security, peace and dialogue in Sudan.

In a statement from the Yemeni Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Yemen hailed the great and fruitful efforts led by Egypt's President El-Sisi at the summit as a means to ending the bloodshed and fulfilling the Sudanese people’s aspirations to achieve peace and prosperity.

Meanwhile, the acting government of Sudan, the Transitional Sovereignty Council (TSC), as well as the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) welcomed the results of Sudan's Neighbouring Countries Summit.

The crisis in Sudan has significantly affected the country’s neighbours, which have received hundreds of thousands of Sudanese refugees over the past three months.

Thursday’s summit warned that prolonging the crisis will result in an increasing number of refugees, overwhelming the capabilities of neighbouring countries.

Related

Sudan's neighbouring countries to form ministerial mechanism to address crisis: Summit’s final statement

Explainer: Egypt’s vision on how Sudan can emerge from current crisis

Video: Egypt president and Ethiopia PM discuss Sudanese crisis, GERD ahead of Sudan’s summit

 

View original: https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/504788.aspx

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UAE’s long alleged link to the RSF. Emails sent by RSF to UK MPs by one of Sudan’s leading mining players

Report from the i

By Molly Blackall, Richard Holmes

Friday 05 May 2023 1:59 pm (Updated 2:01 pm) - full copy:

Self-styled ‘ethical’ private equity firm in Dubai helped notorious Sudan militia to lobby UK MPs

EXCLUSIVE 

Revealed: The Rapid Support Forces have sent a string of “special bulletins” to UK politicians in recent days – but meta data exposing its Dubai links disappeared after i inquiries

A ‘special bulletin’ sent by the RSF to UK MPs this week. (Photo: i)

A self-styled ‘ethical’ investment firm based in the UAE supported the notorious paramilitary group the RSF in its bid to influence UK politicians about the conflict in Sudan, i can reveal. 

The Rapid Support Forces group (RSF), which has previously been accused of human rights atrocities in Sudan including rape and murder, has sent a string of “special bulletins” to UK politicians that it said was to combat “the disproportionate amount of disinformation” surrounding the conflict.

The memos contained allegations about barbarity by its opponents, the Sudanese Armed Forces, and claimed that the RSF was making dramatic progress in the fighting.  

i has analysed metadata from a briefing email that was sent from the RSF’s official media account to Westminster MPs on Tuesday, which shows it was put together by a designer at Dubai-based investment firm called Capital Tap Holdings.

When approached by i, the RSF initially confirmed that Capital Tap Holdings had produced parts of the briefing for them including the logo.

Capital Tap Holdings, which describes itself as “ethical” and a “responsible investor” has significant mining interests in Sudan and the wider continent. The RSF is reported to have control of some of Sudan’s gold mines.

Foreign Affairs Select Committee chair Alicia Kearns, who received the briefing, raised questions about the international support being given to the warring parties in Sudan. She told the House of Commons that it was “not some shoddily pulled together briefing” but a “clearly well-financed operation”.

Ms Kearns told i that any organisation providing PR to the RSF was stoking the current conflict and hinted that sanctions could be necessary to deter international support for the warring groups.

“Any organisation providing PR support to the RSF is seeking to legitimise them and reject peaceful transition away from military rule in Sudan,” she told i. “I urge them to stop, before international sanctions are required.”

A spokesperson for the RSF – which has been accused of group atrocities including rape and murder in Sudan in 2014 and 2015 – confirmed it had emailed MPs, journalists and “experts focused on the Middle East Africa” in order to “take measures to better inform the international community about what is happening on the ground in Sudan”. It said it had specifically targeted MPs who are sitting on committees related to security and Africa.

Metadata shows that the author of the briefing was a designer at Capital Tap. However, the RSF insisted there was “no working relationship” between the two and claimed the firm helped with the briefing free of charge.

“A relative of the RSF management reached out to a close friend, who [works] at Capital Tap, asking for design support to create a new letterhead and logo. The services were rendered at no cost. There is no working relationship between Capital Tap and the RSF,” an RSF spokesperson initially told i.

After further briefings in the same format were sent out to MPs on Thursday and Friday, the RSF then claimed Capital Tap “played no role in the creation of any of the press briefings, including the first press briefing, or any other press releases” and said they had “no relation” with them. Capital Tap Holdings did not respond to repeated requests for comment. The subsequent briefings had been stripped of metadata.

The discoveries raise further questions about foreign influence in the conflict in Sudan, after an i investigation revealed that Russian private mercenary group Wagner are on the ground and actively involved in the clashes.

Investment firm ‘one of Sudan’s leading mining players’

Capital Tap Holdings claims on its website to have a focus on “integrity” and green credentials, saying that “environmental responsibility is high on the agenda” and that it aims “to build a better and sustainable way of life for the weaker sections of society.”

The firm also describes itself as one of Sudan’s “leading metals and mining players” but the specific role it plays in the mining industry is unclear. Sudan is Africa’s third largest producer of gold, with an industry worth billions of pounds each year, and the RSF have long been reported to be involved in Sudan’s lucrative gold industry.

On its website, Capital Tap Holdings claims to “oversee operations” for more than 50 companies in 10 countries across Europe, the Middle East and Africa and Asia, providing “strategic direction and corporate support”. Their subsidiary company, Terra Metallis, claims to manage five mines in Africa. However, Capital Tap Holdings has little online footprint and is only mentioned in one 2021 news report online.

The RSF bulletin which received assistance from Capital Tap, issued on 1 May 2023, promised to provide “a breakdown of the most significant daily events from the field of battle in Sudan” and said it was founded by the RSF “due to the disproportionate amount of disinformation shared in the media about the conflict.”

It included criticism of its opponents, the Sudanese armed forces, saying that they have violated the ceasefire with “indiscriminate bombing campaigns” on civilians and claims that the RSF now controls 90 per cent of the Sudanese capital. It also provided a list of 20 “achievements” made since the start of the conflict, including claiming control of the airport, radio and TV service, Republican Palace and Defence Ministry.

Another 12-page briefing sent from the RSF to MPs two days later, after the RSF had been approached by i, had been stripped of metadata to indicate its origins.

It contained a series of pictures and videos depicting alleged atrocities against civilians made by the Sudanese Armed Forces, and also contained analysis of “popular memes circulating today on social media in Sudan” regarding the conflict. It included QR codes which could be scanned to take the reader to the RSF website.

Human Rights Watch has claimed that both sides of the current conflict – the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces – have killed civilians in bombing attacks on urban areas and left millions without access to basic necessities.

One page of a briefing sent out to UK Parliamentarians. (Photo: i)

A further briefing was sent out on 4 May, also with no metadata, containing more allegations against the Sudanese army, meme analysis and QR codes.

Sources working in research on Sudan noted that the RSF has previously worked with several high-end PR firms to improve the image of their leader Hemedti and said the press briefings “sound like a similar trend.”

“A significant portion of the RSF’s media arm appears to be based in the UAE, which is unsurprising given their extensive commercial networks across the Emirates,” they added.

Steve Double, a partner at crisis communications specialists Alder, said the briefings were a “remarkably slick communications programme, clearly designed at winning the propaganda war.”

UAE’s long alleged link to the RSF

While there is no evidence to suggest Capital Tap is linked to the UAE state, the state has long been reported to have links to the RSF.

Last month, a video appeared to show the RSF with bombs linked to the UAE. The thermobaric shells contained markings suggesting they were manufactured in Serbia in 2020 and later supplied to the UAE, according to The Telegraph.

Local reports citing RSF sources said that the UAE was considering transporting RSF fighters currently in Yemen back to Sudan to join the conflict. The reports said that the RSF’s leader Hemedti has appealed for help from the UAE, which has agreed to “support us in this war of liberation” and provide logistic and financial assistance to transport the RSF fighters to Sudan.

The paramilitary group are also reported to have sent fighters to support the UAE in Libya in recent years. The UAE Government did not respond to a request for comment.

One source assisting civilians in Sudan said that the UAE was presumed to have involvement in the current conflict, saying: “They support RSF and RSF have provided forces to the Yemen crisis. It is presumed that the RSF will be able to provide forces in future if need be in places like Bahrain should there be conflict there.”

The RSF’s social media accounts also appear to be based overseas, providing further indication that the group’s public relations are being outsourced to Gulf states.

The RSF’s Facebook page is being run jointly from the UAE and Sudan, according to information on the account, while its Instagram account appears to be based in Saudi Arabia. Both accounts are being shared by the RSF’s media operation as its legitimate online presence.

But the paramilitary group told i its media team was based in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum.

Conflict information ‘increasingly hard to trust’

The findings also raise questions about the impact of internet warfare, and the growing importance of technology in conflict zones.

Kyle Walter, Head of Research and Insights at Logically, an AI analysis firm, said: “What’s most concerning from this latest example of potential foreign interference is that it provides a look into how the nature of these threats are evolving, particularly in the context of the rapid onset of generative AI being used to create fake images and text.

“Although we don’t know if this so-called sophisticated ‘special bulletin’ was created by this technology, it is symbolic of the wider issue at hand: an inability to trust what you’re seeing, reading, and the undermining of the entire information landscape. If foreign influence campaigns continue to evolve and harness new technologies to produce mis- and disinformation at scale, we can expect to see more fabricated statements, or images of potential humanitarian crises to alter the wider discourse.”

Mr Walter said that the “attempt to manipulate the information environment is not surprising” and “nothing new in the context of foreign influence operations in Africa.”

“Recent years have witnessed foreign actors continuing to ramp up the use of different tactics to manipulate public discourse, whether it’s through propaganda, deception, and other non-military means. What we are seeing now in Sudan is another example of how the Wagner Group and other actors tied to foreign states seek to use the manipulation of information to have more control over public discourse and unsettle Western interests in the region,” he said.

View original: https://inews.co.uk/news/ethical-private-equity-firm-dubai-sudan-militia-lobby-uk-mps-2319805?ico=most_popular

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Mayhem unfolding on docks of Port Sudan. Hundreds waiting for an escape route. Scale of displaced is huge

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: I am noticing many journalists and commentators referring to the fight in Sudan as "civil war" or "war". It is not civil war or war. It is a fight between two greedy lying psychopathic despots.

Report from Sky News

By Yousra Elbagir

Africa correspondent @YousraElbagir

Friday 28 April 2023 22:34, BST UK - full copy with link to video report:

Yemenis and Syrians gathered on docks of Port Sudan feel as though war has followed them

Hundreds of people from all over the world are gathered waiting for an escape route. The sheer scale of people displaced is yet to be fully comprehended.

Image: Hundreds are gathered from countries all over the world - fresh from the hell of Khartoum's violence.

Mayhem is unfolding on the docks of Port Sudan.

Hundreds are gathered from countries all over the world - fresh from the hell of Khartoum's violence.

They are gathered in front of Port Sudan's Maritime Social Club. It's now an announcement and registration centre for evacuation ships.

Every so often a name and passport number are loudly called and the hopes of hundreds are raised for a fleeting moment and - for all but one - abruptly dashed.

Image: A Saudi Arabian ship in the Port of Sudan

The Sudanese faces in the crowd are few compared to the masses of Yemenis and Syrians registering to board an incoming Saudi Arabian military evacuation vessel.

They fled their own war to seek refuge in Sudan and feel as though it followed them here.

"We are suffering," says Raiida. "We didn't even see war like this in Syria."

Raiida was in Sudan visiting her brother for a week and became trapped by the conflict.

The war has collapsed Sudan's capital Khartoum and killed hundreds of people and injured thousands.

"Life there can not be endured. Basic means are not available - no pharmacies, no hospitals. Food and water are completely depleted and houses near us were demolished," says Mutaz Abbas, a Khartoum native who left his hometown behind.

The sheer scale of people displaced is yet to be fully comprehended.

As we discuss the details of destruction, an older lady pleas with us: "Don't talk about the conflict. Talk about asylum! We need asylum."

Hours earlier in the stifling heat of the seaside afternoon, a ferry pulls into Othman Digna Port in Suakin city.

The passengers have made a ten-hour journey from Saudi Arabia to Sudan. It is the first transport route to open out of the country and reserved for those who cannot afford to wait until airports reopen.

Many of them are pilgrims returning from Makkah and say they were offered temporary amnesty but instead rushed to return home.

"Death will come to you anywhere," says Ibrahim Eltayeb as the ferry cuts through the deep waters of the Red Sea towards Sudan.

"It is important to be with our families."

View original: https://news.sky.com/story/yemenis-and-syrians-gathered-on-docks-of-port-sudan-feel-as-though-war-has-followed-them-12868757

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US military plans possible Sudan embassy evacuation

Report from The Associated Press

By MATTHEW LEE and LOLITA C. BALDOR

Thursday 20 April 2023

US military prepares for possible Sudan embassy evacuation

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon is moving additional troops and equipment to a Naval base in the tiny Gulf of Aden nation of Djibouti to prepare for the possible evacuation of U.S. Embassy personnel from Sudan.

Two Biden administration officials say the deployments to Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti are necessary because of the current uncertain situation in Sudan, where fighting is raging between two warring factions.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the administration’s planning for a potential evacuation. That planning got underway in earnest on Monday after a U.S. Embassy convoy was attacked in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital.

In a statement Thursday, the Pentagon said it will deploy “additional capabilities” to the region to potentially help facilitate an evacuation of embassy personnel from Sudan if required, but provided no details, and did not state the location.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the decision to prepare for a possible evacuation was made by President Joe Biden in the “last couple of days.” The president “authorized the military to move forward with pre-positioning forces and to develop options,” Kirby told reporters at the White House.

“There’s no indication that either side is deliberately going after or trying to hurt or target Americans,” Kirby said. “But it’s obviously a dangerous situation.”

Deputy State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said conditions were not yet safe to mount any evacuation but stressed that all embassy personnel are safe and accounted for and that those who haven’t been moved to a secure centralized location had been instructed to shelter in place at their homes.

U.S. officials have told lawmakers concerned about the situation that there are roughly 70 American staffers at the Khartoum embassy, according to congressional aides.

An estimated 16,000 private U.S. citizens are registered with the embassy as being in Sudan, but the State Department has cautioned that that figure is likely inaccurate as there is no requirement for Americans to register nor is there a requirement to notify the embassy when they leave.

Since hostilities between the two factions erupted last weekend, the U.S. has been contemplating the evacuation of government employees and has been transporting them from their homes to a secure, centralized location to prepare for such an eventuality.

The officials said Djibouti, a small country on the Gulf of Aden sandwiched between Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia, will be the staging point for any evacuation operation.

However, any evacuation in the current circumstances is fraught with difficulty and security risks as Khartoum’s airport remains non-functional and overland routes from the capital out of the country are long and hazardous even without the current hostilities.

If a secure landing zone in or near Khartoum cannot be found, one option would be to drive evacuees to Port Sudan on the Red Sea. But that is a 12-hour trip and the roads over the 523-mile (841-kilometer) route are treacherous.

Another might be to drive to neighboring Eritrea, however that would also be problematic given that Eritrea’s leader, Isaias Afwerki, is not a friend of the U.S. or the West in general.

The last time the U.S. evacuated embassy personnel overland was from Libya in July 2014, when a large convoy of U.S. military vehicles drove staff from the Tripoli embassy to Tunisia. 

There have been more recent evacuations, most notably in Afghanistan and Yemen, but those have been conducted largely by air.

View original: https://apnews.com/article/united-states-sudan-djibouti-evacuation-2773f4922611aeed462652f178745688

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UN envoy: Sudan's new deal saved the country from civil war

Here is a full copy of a news report published at abcnews.go.com

Written by NOHA ELHENNAWY Associated Press (AP)

Dated and published at abcnews.com on Friday 26 November 2021, 20:53

UN envoy: Sudan's new deal saved the country from civil war

The U.N. envoy to Sudan says a deal struck to reinstate the country's civilian prime minister after a military coup is imperfect but has saved the country from falling into civil strife

The Associated Press

Thousands of protesters take to the streets to renew their demand for a civilian government in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, Thursday, Nov. 25, 2021. The rallies came just days after the military signed a power-sharing deal with the prime minister, after releasing him from house arrest and reinstating him as head of government. The deal came almost a month after the generals orchestrated a coup. Sudan’s key pro-democracy groups and political parties have dismissed the deal as falling short of their demands for a fully civilian rule. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)

CAIRO -- The deal struck in Sudan to reinstate the prime minister following a military coup is imperfect but has saved the country from sliding into civil strife, the U.N. envoy to Sudan said on Friday.

Special Envoy Volker Perthes was speaking of the agreement between Sudan's military leaders and Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok, who was deposed and put under house arrest following the coup last month that stirred an international outcry.

The military takeover threatened to thwart the process of democratic transition that the country had embarked on since the ouster of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir.

The deal, signed on Sunday, was seen as the biggest concession made by the country's top military leader, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, since the coup. However, the country's pro-democracy groups have dismissed it as illegitimate and accused Hamdok of allowing himself to serve as a fig leaf for continued military rule.

“The agreement of course is not perfect,” Perthes told The Associated Press. “But it is better than not having an agreement and continuing on a path where the military in the end will be the sole ruler."

Both signatories felt compelled to make “bitter concessions” in order to spare the country the risk of more violence, chaos and international isolation, he added.

“It would not have been possible to exclude a scenario which would have brought Sudan to something close to what we have seen in Yemen, Libya or Syria,” Perthes said. He spoke to the AP via videoconference from Khartoum.

Sudan has been struggling with its transition to a democratic government since the military overthrow of al-Bashir in 2019, following a mass uprising against three decades of his rule.

The deal that Hamdok signed with the military envisions an independent Cabinet of technocrats led by the prime minister until new elections are held. The government will still remain under military oversight, although Hamdok claims he will have the power to appoint ministers.

The deal also stipulates that all political detainees arrested following the Oct. 25 coup be released. So far, several ministers and politicians have been freed. The number of those still in detention remains unknown.

“We have a situation now where we at least have an important step towards the restoration of the constitutional order,” said Perthes.

Since the takeover, protesters have repeatedly taken to the streets in some of the largest demonstrations in recent years. Sudanese security forces have cracked down on the rallies and have killed more than 40 protesters so far, according to activist groups.

Further measures need to taken to prove the viability of the deal, said Perthes, including the release of all detainees, the cessation of the use of violence against protesters and Hamdok's full freedom to choose his Cabinet members.

On Friday hundreds rallied in Khartoum and other Sudanese provinces to demand a fully civilian government and protest the deal for the second straight day. It came after thousands protested on Thursday.

One of the marches was led Siddiq Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi, a leader of Sudan's prominent Umma Party, which has split with other pro-democratic groups over the deal to reinstate Hamdok. He told journalists that protesters must remain steadfast in their calls for the generals to surrender power . Al-Mahdi was among those who were arrested during the coup and was let go in recent days.

He refused the idea of further negotiations.

“As things currently stand, there is no opportunity for things to move forward,” he said.

View original: https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/envoy-sudans-deal-saved-country-civil-war-81404904

Sudan: Militia strike gold to cast a shadow over Sudan's hopes of prosperity

Supported by wealthy foreign backers, a feared paramilitary outfit controls Sudan’s most lucrative industry, complicating the country’s path to democracy. Read more:

Militia strike gold to cast a shadow over Sudan's hopes of prosperity

Analysis from The Guardian UK

Written by Ruth Michaelson (funded in part by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation)

Dated 10 February 2020, 07.00 GMT

Photo: Sudanese Rapid Support Forces display gold bars seized from a plane that landed at Khartoum airport as part of an investigation into possible smuggling. Photograph: Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/Reuters

Ornate, heavy necklaces gleam on stands above stacks of thick filigree bangles in the windows of Khartoum’s gold market. The gold is Sudanese, dug from the rich mines that span the country.

Shop owner Bashir Abdulay hands over a palm-sized lump of pure gold with two small bore holes as he explains how the prized metal goes from mine deposit, through middlemen, to Khartoum.

Abdulay describes the Jebel Amer gold mine in Darfur [ https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sudan-darfur-gold/special-report-the-darfur-conflicts-deadly-gold-rush-idUSBRE99707G20131008 ], one of several controlled by the Rapid Support Forces, the paramilitary group whose leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo [ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/29/hemedti-the-feared-commander-pulling-the-strings-in-sudan ] is now a central figure in Sudan’s transition to democracy.

“There are many people working there, some work on their own, others for the RSF. Everyone has his place, and the RSF have theirs,” he says, the metal twinkling in the bright shop lights. “The RSF have a big place producing gold, and selling it on their own.”

The RSF seized control of the Jebel Amer gold mine in Darfur in 2017, immediately making Dagalo, known as Hemedti, one of Sudan’s richest men. The RSF and Hemedti also control at least three other goldmines in other parts of the country, such as South Kordofan, making them a key player in an industry that produces Sudan’s largest export [ https://oec.world/en/profile/country/sdn/ ].

After the 2019 uprising that overthrew [ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/11/sudan-army-ousts-bashir-after-30-years-in-power ] former dictator Omar al-Bashir, Hemedti became part of the transitional military council and the sovereignty council designed to shepherd Sudan to democracy before elections are held in 2022.

Despite tentative government efforts to wrestle parts of the gold industry away from Sudan’s security services and back under state or private control, questions remain about whether Sudan [ https://www.theguardian.com/world/sudan ] can truly transition to democracy while the politically powerful RSF run a parallel economy all of their own.

To buy gold from the RSF, where do you go? Abdulay answers without hesitation: “Al Gunade have an office upstairs on the second floor,” he said, gesturing at the ceiling, unapologetically connecting the two organisations.

Al Gunade is a mining and trading corporation with deep ties to Hemedti and the RSF. Hemedti’s brother Abdul Rahim Dagalo and his sons are the three owners of Al Gunade, while reported RSF deputy Abdul Rahman al-Bakri is the general manager.

According to one of the documents [ https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6469821-Al-G.html#document/p1/a530944 ] obtained by the anti-corruption NGO Global Witness, Hemedti himself sits on the board of directors.

Photo: Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, head of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces, at a meeting in Khartoum. Photograph: Ümit Bektaş/Reuters

After reviewing evidence of the activities of Al Gunade and the RSF, Global Witness concluded [ https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/conflict-minerals/exposing-rsfs-secret-financial-network/ ] that “the RSF and a connected company have captured a swathe of the country’s gold industry and are likely using it to fund their operations”.

The organisation obtained bank data and corporate documents that, they say, show the RSF maintains a bank account in their name at the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (now part of the First Abu Dhabi Bank) in the United Arab Emirates, providing “evidence of the financial autonomy of the RSF”.

The UAE is by far the largest importer of Sudanese gold in the world. Global trade data from 2018 shows it imported [ https://trademap.org/Country_SelProductCountry.aspx?nvpm=1%7c729%7c%7c%7c%7c7108%7c%7c%7c4%7c1%7c2%7c2%7c1%7c1%7c2%7c1%7c1 ] 99.2% of the country’s gold exports. The Gulf nation has also subcontracted RSF militiamen to fight in Yemen [ https://apnews.com/d5705f44afea4f0b91ec14bbadefae62 ] and Libya [ https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/1-000-sudanese-militiamen-arrive-in-libya ], providing funds to the RSF.

The relationship between Sudan’s gold, wealthy foreign backers and the RSF militia is concerning observers. Global Witness believes the RSF is “an organisation whose military power and financial independence poses a threat to a peaceful democratic transition in Sudan”.

A former camel-trader, Hemedti gained his nickname from the words “my protector”. Before taking part in the coup that toppled him, he was the right-hand man of former dictator Bashir. Hemedti’s RSF grew out of the infamous Janjaweed militia active in Darfur, described as “men with no mercy” and accused of war crimes in a 2015 Human Rights Watch report [ https://www.hrw.org/report/2015/09/09/men-no-mercy/rapid-support-forces-attacks-against-civilians-darfur-sudan ].

HRW found that during the RSF’s campaign in Darfur, the militia were responsible for “egregious abuses against civilians … torture, extrajudicial killings and mass rapes”, as well as “the forced displacement of entire communities; the destruction of wells, food stores and other infrastructure necessary for sustaining life in a harsh desert environment”.

Last June, the RSF were accused of attacking peaceful protesters [ https://www.hrw.org/report/2019/11/17/they-were-shouting-kill-them/sudans-violent-crackdown-protesters-khartoum ] to disperse a sit-in in Khartoum calling for a handover to civilian rule. Protestors and observers said [ https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/06/sudan-remove-rapid-support-forces-from-khartoum-streets-immediately/ ] the RSF brought the violent methods deployed in Blue Nile, South Kordofan and Darfur to the capital, shooting, stabbing, burning or crushing the skulls of at least 104 civilians, dumping bodies in the Nile, and raping at least 70 men and women.

Photo: Members of the Rapid Support Forces secure a site in Khartoum. Photograph: Ümit Bektaş/Reuters

The RSF have consistently denied their involvement. An investigation is ongoing.

“Hemedti himself, he understands the process of transition personally,” says Montaser Ibrahim, a former human rights defender who works with the RSF as an “unofficial consultant” on human rights. “This is one of the reasons that led me to deal with him.”

His new role has led to criticism from some in human rights activism, but Ibrahim sees the RSF as champions of minority rights, and Hemedti as a challenge against political elites.

“Hemedti is a revolutionary,” he says. He dismisses any notion of the RSF’s involvement in violence against protesters, branding accusations of war crimes against Hemedti and the Janjaweed as “propaganda”.

Both of Al Gunade’s two offices above Khartoum’s gold market are accessed via a dank staircase where bare wires jostle for space on the filthy walls.

Behind the tinted windows of Gunade’s offices, a kilogram gold bar sat on a lacquered wooden desk among office stationary, an ostentatious paperweight that may be the real thing. A man who repeatedly refused to give his name referred all questions about Al Gunade to the central bank, opening the office door to indicate that no further discussion would be accepted.

Sudanese authorities have begun attempts to overhaul the gold trade, dissolving mining companies involved with the former regime’s security services. Sudan now allows private traders to export gold [ https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sudan-gold/sudan-opens-up-gold-market-in-bid-to-raise-revenue-idUSKBN1Z81M2 ] provided 30% of deposits remain in the central bank.

An official from Sudan’s mining ministry, who cannot be named as they are not permitted to brief the media, said extra checks are made to screen out companies associated with the previous regime. The official said that the people behind a company mattered less than whether or not it followed the rules. 

“Now even if the head of the transitional military council came himself, he has to go with the regulations,” the official said.

Photo: Goldmine workers wait to get their raw gold weighed at a shop in the town of al-Fahir in North Darfur. Photograph: Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/Reuters

Mohammed Tabidi, a Khartoum gold trader, says the new gold trading laws are a world away from those under the previous government that forced traders to buy gold from Sudan’s security services, or face arrest. “It’s a free market now,” he says.

He is hopeful about the possibilities of free trade amid a powerful black market and spiralling inflation that make daily life a struggle for many. Around the corner from the glistening mall where Tabidi works, men perch on bonnets in a car park, flicking fat wads of Sudanese pounds to signal their trade to drivers passing through. The official rate of 25 Sudanese pounds to the dollar is obsolete compared with the black market rate of 75, maybe even 80.

Tabidi says that while gold companies associated with other security services were rendered obsolete by the overhaul, Al Gunade remained.

“There is no company similar to Al Gunade [now],” he says. “There is nothing else like it.” The law is in flux, he says, and it is up to the authorities whether Al Gunade will continue.

“If export opens for traders, maybe Al Gunade won’t work,” he says. “But if they get a deal with the ministry of finance, they can.”

“Hemedti now is vice-president,” he said. “There are some things I can’t talk about.”

The RSF said [ https://www.globalwitness.org/en/press-releases/global-witness-response-to-news-that-head-of-sudans-rapid-support-forces-preparing-to-hand-over-gold-mining-areas-to-hamdouk-government/ ] in December that they would hand control of Jebel Amer to the government. Who will reap the profits remains very much in question, given the lack of transparency in Sudan’s gold industry and the difficulties in controlling a supply chain plagued by smuggling and remote sites controlled by militias. There are also few safeguards in place to prevent the RSF and Al Gunade operating illegally.

Richard Kent of Global Witness is critical of the RSF’s claim: “We welcome the development because it is potentially very beneficial to the Sudanese people and gold industry, but it’s still unclear exactly what this means,” he says. “Does this mean giving up the Al Gunade concession, reinstating some kind of civil or traditional administration – and if so how would that work, would it be independently appointed by the civilian government?”

Political transition offers the tools needed to transform Sudan’s most lucrative industry, cleaning up ministries and the supply chain. But there is a long road ahead before the Sudanese gold industry reaches the standards set by international observer bodies such as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

“There needs to be a level of transparency in the process,” Kent says. “The RSF and to a lesser extent other security agencies haven’t demonstrated [that] in other areas of their business until now. The reality is, there are still a lot of individuals associated with the intelligence agencies riddled throughout the industry and ministries. As long as general intelligence service and the RSF still have a hold over natural resources and over governing institutions, it’s very hard to see how the gold industry would be able to implement the internationally accepted standards it needs to improve and attract investment.”

Sipping tea outside a French cultural centre where he is taking classes, the RSF’s consultant Ibrahim, an avid reader of Paulo Coelho, says: “The RSF looks like a rebel force. But we need to use them to change the political situation in Sudan.”

Ibrahim’s role illustrates the RSF’s hints of reform and change. While Ibrahim is very concerned about being misunderstood, he declines to say whether he is paid, what the job actually entails or whether he believes there are receptive RSF ears for his talk of human rights.

“Hemedti believes in the revolution – I know you might be shocked by this,” he says.

Ibrahim maintained that the only way forward for Sudan’s transition is for cooperation between civil society and the security sector. He believes he is part of the solution, not the problem. “The security sector in Sudan can’t be cut from the political process,” he says. “This doesn’t contradict the idea of democracy.”

Formerly a “a political adviser” to the Sudan Liberation Army, Darfur-based militants, Ibrahim says he became a prisoners’ rights campaigner during Bashir’s regime and his latest role is the apex of a long journey in Sudanese politics. He has created an organisation within the RSF intended to provide training “for NGOs and civil society”. But not the RSF themselves? “No,” he answers dismissively.

Members of the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), an umbrella trade union association that spearheaded the mass protests leading to Bashir’s overthrow, are confident that Sudan’s path towards democracy isn’t threatened by the RSF or their economic interests, says their spokesman Dr Mohanad Hamid.

“Hemedti is dangerous not because he’s one of the richest men in Sudan, but because he has an army, a militia in pure terms that’s independent from the Sudanese army – this is the issue,” he says. “Of course the economy is one of the main concerns, [but] peace is also one of the main concerns.”

Photo: Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, centre, waves a baton as he arrives for a rally in the village of Abraq, about 60km north-west of Khartoum. Photograph: Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP via Getty Images

Hamid is confident that Hemedti and the RSF’s wealth won’t present a problem, provided their businesses are eventually brought under state control. “It’s all of four months since the beginning of the transitional period – this process is years,” he says. “If we get all the money back into the ministry of finance at the end of the three years it will be great, but we’re still waiting.”

Other SPA representatives, like Dr Batoul Altayeb, are unfazed by the RSF.

After protesters staged a mass demonstration [ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/13/sudanese-protesters-demand-justice-after-mass-killings ] against the RSF and the military following the Khartoum massacre, the SPA believe people power can contain the force of the RSF.

“We did it before and we will do it again,” says Altayeb calmly. “[The sovereign council] includes the RSF because they know that peace is the key before the economy. Democracy is on the way – it’s a process, not just an outcome.”

This article was corrected on 10 February 2020 to clarify the ownership structure of Al Gunade. This article was amended on 11 February 2020 to add additional comments from the Sudanese Professionals Association. About this content This website [above] is funded by support provided, in part, by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The journalism and other content is editorially independent and its purpose is to focus on global development.

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