Sudanese coalition led by paramilitary RSF announces parallel government
The government led by RSF General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, was announced west of the country.
The RSF and its allies signed in March a transitional constitution outlining a federal, secular state divided into eight regions.
The RSF controls much of the west of the country such as the vast Darfur region and some other areas but is being pushed back from central Sudan by the army, which has recently regained control over the capital Khartoum.
The military led by career army officer General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had condemned the idea of the RSF creating a parallel government and promised to keep fighting until it controls all of Sudan, which has been plagued by conflicts, coups, poverty and hunger.
In February, the RSF and other allied rebel leaders agreed in Kenya to form a government for a "New Sudan," aiming to challenge the army-led administration's legitimacy and secure advanced arms imports.
Dagalo, a former militia leader and one of Sudan's wealthiest people, known as Hemedti, was hit with sanctions by the U.S, which accused him of genocide earlier this year.
He had previously shared power with Burhan after veteran autocrat Omar al-Bashir's ouster in 2019. However, a 2021 coup by the two forces ousted civilian politicians, sparking a war over troop integration during a planned transition to democracy.
Burhan was sanctioned in January by the U.S. which accused him of choosing war over negotiations to bring an end to the conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people.
The ongoing conflict has devastated Sudan, creating an "unprecedented" humanitarian crisis in the country, with half the population facing spreading hunger and famine, according to the United Nations.
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Telegraph
13 hours ago
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Colombian mercenaries hired to fight for Sudan rebels
Colombian mercenaries are fighting for Sudanese paramilitary rebels in a famine-stricken refugee camp in Sudan. Fighters from the South American nation had been seen inside Darfur's Zamzam camp, which was captured by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in April, local authorities said. The camp, for hundreds of thousands displaced by the country's war, has been at the centre of the humanitarian crisis engulfing the country, and last year was subject to a rare international declaration of famine. Mohamed Khamis Douda, a spokesman for the Zamzam camp administration, told the Sudan Tribune: 'We have witnessed with our own eyes a dual crime: the displacement of our people last April at the hands of the RSF militia, and now the occupation of the camp by foreign mercenaries'. Mr Douda described seeing armed, Spanish-speaking groups moving freely 'among the rubble of homes and the unburied bodies of victims'. His remarks followed the broadcast of video clips by the Sudanese army, purportedly recovered from a dead fighter's phone, which appeared to show Spanish-speaking mercenaries inside the camp. Colombian media have reported that as many as 400 former soldiers have been employed in the African country, in a battalion known as the Desert Wolves. Whistleblowers have claimed they had signed up with an Emirati security company and been duped into believing they would be guarding oil facilities. Instead they found themselves on the front lines of a war which has been running for more than two years. The war between the Sudanese army and the RSF erupted in April 2023 when the former allies clashed over plans to integrate their forces. Zamzam is only seven miles from the city of El Fasher, the last army holdout in the Darfur region. The RSF made quick gains in central Sudan, including the capital Khartoum, at the start of the war, but the army pushed them westward this year. That has led to an intensification in fighting in El Fasher. The city's fall would give the RSF control over nearly all of Darfur - a vast region bordering Libya, Chad, Central African Republic and South Sudan – and pave the way for what analysts say could be Sudan's de facto division. The war has become a free-for-all of competing regional powers, with the United Arab Emirates accused of arming and backing the RSF, because it fears Islamism within the Sudanese army. The UAE denies supporting the RSF.
Sky News
a day ago
- Sky News
'It is truly monstrous': Inside the besieged Sudanese city where families are forced to eat animal feed to live
Al Fashir is being suffocated to death. The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has held the capital of North Darfur hostage in a 14-month siege - blocking food or fuel from entering the locality and forcing starvation on its 900,000 inhabitants. The entire city is currently a militarised zone as Sudan 's army and the Darfur Joint Protection Force fend off the RSF from capturing the last state capital in the Darfur region not currently under their control. Rare footage sent to Sky News from inside al Fashir town shows streets emptied of cars and people. The city's remaining residents are hiding from daytime shelling inside their homes, and volunteers move through town on donkey carts distributing the little food they can find. 'It is truly monstrous' Journalist Muammer Ibrahim sent Sky News voice notes from there. "The situation is monstrous," he says. "It is truly monstrous. "The markets are emptied of food and partially destroyed by shelling. Civilians were killed at the market, just a day ago. People have fled market areas but there is also shelling in residential areas. Every day, you hear of 10 or 12 civilians killed in attacks." His voice sounds shallow, weakened by the dire conditions, and gunshots can be heard in the background. "The intense fighting has meant that people cannot safely search for anything to eat, but there is also nothing for their money to buy. The markets are depleted. Hundreds of thousands here are threatened by a full-blown famine," he says. "There has been a full blockade of any nutritional supplies arriving in al Fashir since the collapse of Zamzam camp. It closed any routes for produce or supplies to enter." The RSF ransacked the famine-ridden Zamzam displacement camp 7.5 miles (12km) south of al Fashir town in April, after the military reclaimed Sudan's capital Khartoum. The United Nations believes that at least 100 people were killed in the attacks, including children and aid workers. The majority of Zamzam's half a million residents fled to other areas for safety. Hundreds of thousands of them are now squeezed into tents on the edges of al Fashir, completely cut off from humanitarian assistance. The capture of the camp allowed the RSF to tighten their siege and block off the last remaining supply route. Aid convoys attempting to enter al Fashir have come under fire by the RSF since last year. "Already, between June and October 2024, we had several trucks stuck and prevented by the Rapid Support Forces from going to their destination which was al Fashir and Zamzam," says Mathilde Simon, project coordinator at Medicins Sans Frontieres. "They were prevented from doing so because they were taking food to those destinations." "There was another UN convoy that tried to reach al Fashir in the beginning of June. It could not, and five aid workers were killed. "Since then, no convoy has been able to reach al Fashir. There have been ongoing negotiations to bring in food but they have not been successful until now." Families are resorting to eating animal feed to survive. Videos sent to Sky News by volunteers show extreme suffering and deprivation, with sickly children sitting on thin straw mats on the hard ground. Community kitchens are their only source of survival, only able to offer small meals of sorghum porridge to hundreds of thousands of elderly men, women and children facing starvation. The question now is whether famine has fully taken root in al Fashir after the collapse of Zamzam camp and intensified RSF siege. 'Malnutrition rates are catastrophic' "The lack of access has prevented us from carrying out further assessment that can help us have a better understanding of the situation, but already in December 2024 famine was confirmed by the IPC Famine Review Committee in five areas," says Mathilde. "It was already confirmed in August 2024 in Zamzam but had spread to other displacement camps including Abu Shouk and it was already projected in al Fashir. "This was more than eight months ago and we know the situation has completely worsened and malnutrition rates are absolutely catastrophic." Treasurer of al Fashir's Emergency Response Rooms, Mohamed al Doma, believes all signs point to a famine. He had to walk for four hours to escape the city with his wife and two young children after living through a full year of the siege and offering support to residents as supplies and funding dwindled. "There is a famine of the first degree in al Fashir. All the basic necessities for life are not available," he says. "There is a lack of sustenance, a lack of nutrition and a lack of shelter. The fundamental conditions for human living are not living. There is nothing available in the markets - no food or work. There is no farming for subsistence. There is no aid entering al Fashir."
The Independent
5 days ago
- The Independent
Fears raised over future of Angelina Jolie and William Hague's anti-sexual violence programme after Starmer's aid cuts
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But the money appears to have come from stretching its initial settlement over a longer timeframe, with experts warning the programme faces months of uncertainty until a new multi-year deal is announced. October's review said the programme had 'demonstrated impressive results', giving survivors of sexual violence access to medical, psychological and financial support to rebuild their lives. It also highlighted a need for PSVI to lean into current crises, including ongoing conflicts in Sudan and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Sources in the foreign aid sector expressed hope the government will agree a new budget for the scheme when the funding picture becomes clear after Rachel Reeves' autumn Budget. But they warned that it faces a period of chaos and uncertainty because of Sir Keir's foreign aid cuts, leaving huge uncertainty about what will come next and even fears it could be axed. It is believed the programme faces at least six months of limbo at a time when it is more important than ever to invest. Tory former foreign minister Andrew Mitchell said British leadership in 'truly awful places' was being put at risk by the cuts. The MP said: 'After all the great British leadership - in truly awful places - where women are abused and their lives blighted by the use of rape and violence as weapons of war, it surely cannot be that a Labour government is going to turn its back on preventing sexual violence in conflict and the great programmes the last Conservative government set up and supported.' PSVI was founded in 2012 by former foreign secretary Lord Hague with the support of Hollywood actress and former UN special envoy Ms Jolie. It came after an End Sexual Violence in Conflict global summit in London, at which Ms Jolie promised to help ensure governments are held to account over ending sexual violence in warzones. At the time, Ms Jolie said: 'We are here for the nine-year-old girl in Uganda, kidnapped and forced into sexual slavery. "We are here for the man in Bosnia, years after rape, still stigmatised, unable to earn enough money to buy bread for his family. "We are here for all the forgotten, hidden survivors who have been made to feel ashamed or been abandoned. "And for the children of rape - we want the whole world to hear their stories and understand that this injustice cannot be tolerated, and that sorrow and compassion are not enough." As well as October's review lauding the initiative, the government's recently appointed special representative on PSVI said the scheme has helped Britain secure its place as 'a global leader in addressing conflict-related sexual violence'. Its funding has helped more than 55,000 survivors access legal aid and other justice services in the past three years as well as providing more than 3,000 survivors with medical, psychosocial and financial support to rebuild their lives. But Sir Keir's aid cuts have put the PSVI at risk as its funding ends on Thursday, and the prime minister is facing calls to restore the scheme. Dr Paul Kirby, an academic specialising in gender and armed conflict, said: 'The global coalition against sexual violence in conflict is already reeling from the destruction of USAID. 'The UK government has compounded the crisis by neglecting PSVI during its first year in power, and then with unprecedented aid cuts, from which there will be no relief this parliament. Reducing protections for people around the world in the name of homeland defence is a false economy and a waste of progress made in the last decade.' The government said it is providing £3.85m to fund the programme for the next year after allocating up to £12.5m for the previous three years. An annual review of PSVI will be published later this year, officials said. It comes after the Foreign Office last week accepted that its cuts to foreign aid will likely see global deaths rise, with the spending reduction having the biggest impact on women and girls' education and on projects across Africa. Sir Keir in February took an axe to the foreign aid budget as he bowed to pressure from Donald Trump to boost Britain's spending on defence. The prime minister told MPs he would fund the rise in defence spending by cutting funding for overseas aid from 0.5 per cent of national income to 0.3 per cent by 2027. The move, which Sir Keir told MPs he was not 'happy' with, will allow him to meet the target of spending 2.5 per cent of Britain's GDP on defence also by 2027.
