Sudanese armed groups oppose negotiation framework equating paramilitary RSF with government

KHARTOUM / ISTANBUL

Sudanese armed groups rejected on Wednesday any political solution that involves the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as an equal actor to the state.

“We reaffirm our full and unwavering support for the will of the Sudanese people, who reject any settlement or solution that creates a distorted reality by equating the legitimate state with an outlawed militia (the RSF),” the Joint Force of Armed Movements in Darfur, a coalition fighting alongside the Sudanese army, said in a statement.

The Joint Force of Armed Movements comprises armed groups that signed the Juba Agreement for Peace in Sudan with the government in 2020, most notably the Justice and Equality Movement led by Gibril Ibrahim and the Sudan Liberation Movement led by Darfur Regional Governor Minni Arko Minnawi.

The coalition praised the Sudanese government and army’s firm stance in defending the country’s legitimate rights and “confronting the killing and destruction machine of the RSF militia, which receives open foreign support.”

They called on Sudanese citizens to support the legitimate state institutions, the army, and the allied armed movements “at this critical stage and use all possible means to advance national mobilization efforts until complete victory is achieved.”

The forces vowed to remain on the front line alongside the army in defending Sudan’s unity and territorial integrity “until the militia is defeated and security and stability are restored throughout the nation.”

The statement came as the US has proposed a three-month humanitarian truce to both the Sudanese government and the RSF as a step toward a permanent ceasefire. However, no official response has been issued by either party.

The Sudanese government has previously set conditions for any political dialogue with the RSF, including the withdrawal of the rebel group from occupied cities and the exclusion of the group from any future political role.

Out of Sudan’s 18 states, the RSF currently controls all five states of the Darfur region in the west, except some northern areas in North Darfur that remain under army control. The Sudanese army rules over most of the remaining 13 states in the south, north, east, and central regions, including the capital, Khartoum.

The RSF captured El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state and a strategic city in the region, on Oct. 26 and carried out massacres of civilians, according to local and international organizations, triggering warnings that the takeover could cement a geographic partition of the war-torn country.

Since April 15, 2023, the Sudanese army and the RSF have been locked in a war that regional and international mediations have failed to end. The conflict has killed thousands of people and displaced millions of others.