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Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces declared the formation of a rival government as the country entered the third year of a civil war that has left tens of thousands dead.
The move came as a UK-hosted summit on the crisis failed to even set up a contact group for ceasefire negotiations after Arab states refused to sign a joint communique, according to The Guardian, which pointed to disputes between Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The UAE stands accused by Khartoum of aiding the RSF. In a joint statement, the conference’s co-chairs stressed “the necessity of preventing any partition of Sudan.”
The RSF declaration gives its leaders “the opportunity to cement [the group’s] authority in areas under its control and helps them create the allusion of parity” with the Sudanese Armed Forces, to whom they are losing ground, said Cameron Hudson of the Washington-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies. “It risks formalizing the de facto partition of the country.”
