Keys to the conflict between the army and the paramilitaries of Sudan

The Rapid Support Forces (FAR or RSF) paramilitary group and the Sudanese Army they accused each other of their respective units following weeks of tension between the two sides, in what marks a serious escalation in the country and has been described as “revolt” by the armed forces.

The confrontation comes just one day after the vice president of the Sudanese Sovereign Council and leader of the FAR, Mohamed Hamdan Dagaloalias “Hemedti”, will show his willingness to look for a solution to the escalation of the tension with the armed forces to prevent “bloodshed”.

Tensions erupted on the morning of last Thursday when the army denounced the FAR’s deployment in Khartoum, which had been carried out without the permission of the armed forces and generated “a wave of panic and fear among the citizens”.

These are some of the keys to understanding how this conflict between the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese army started.

1) What are the FAR?

The Rapid Support Forces is a paramilitary force founded by former Islamist President Omar al Bashir that reports to Sudanese intelligence. Since its conversion in 2013, it has been led by Hemedti, who is Vice President of the Sovereign Council after the 2021 coup and number two in the military.

The FAR grew out of the Yanyauid (Janjaweed) militias, accused of committing mass killings and rapes in the Darfur conflict (2003-2008) and became a mainstream force after the overthrow of Al Bashir in April 2019.

This group was also accused of murdering and kidnapping pro-democracy protesters during the so-called Sudanese Revolution, which overthrew the former dictator’s regime after three decades in power.

2) Democratic transition in Sudan

Sudan is in a process of democratic transition with the aim of ending the political crisis that erupted after the October 2021 coup in which military leader Abdelfatah al Burhan – along with Hemedti – ousted the transitional civilian government that left the country after the Sudanese revolution.

On January 8, the final phase of the political process began between the signatories of the “framework agreement”, which was reached on December 5 between the military and civilians and laid down the steps to establish a civilian government to replace the current military.

However, the signing of the final political agreement between the various parties involved in the transition process in Sudan, which was to be initialed on April 1, was delayed twice due to lack of consensus on the establishment of a unified army. with the VER.

3) Attempted unified army

Al Burhan, also chairman of the Sudanese Sovereign Council – the highest governing body after the coup – warned in late March that uniting the army was one of the points of the framework agreement reached between the army and civilians to deal with the crisis in the country. , a process that would be “long and complicated”.

According to the agreement, the Sudanese armed forces will only be subject to a “civilian authority” to avoid politicization of it, while Hemedti affirmed that the reform of the military and security institutions “requires a modernization and updating of legislation”.

To create a unified national army with the integration of other paramilitary units such as the Rapid Support Forces, they held a military and security reform workshop half a month ago, which also separates the military from political life and economic, commercial activities and investment in the country.

However, after holding this workshop, tensions between the FAR and the Sudanese armed forces increased due to disagreements between the two leaders, which is the major obstacle due to which the long-awaited final agreement that completes the transition has not been signed and is still being signed . delayed.

The main problem for such integration is that the FAR is a group with tribal loyalty – its fighters come from the Riezigat tribe, originally from Chad -, in addition to having made great fortunes during the years of conflict by capturing mines. gold, Sudan’s main resource.

4) Origins of the conflict between the military and the FAR

The disagreements between the Sudanese army and the FAR date back to 2019, when the latter were accused of being the visible arm of the crackdown that killed hundreds of protesters camping in front of the army’s headquarters during protests leading to the fall of Al Bashir. .

The opposition platform Forces for Freedom and Change then called for dissolution and recalled that this group had committed crimes against humanity in Darfur.

It was then that Hemedti confirmed that the clearance of that sit-in was “a trap and the target was the FAR”, who, according to the leader of this armed group, were victims of officers of various ranks, although he was the Army.

All these situations make it difficult for the FAR to effectively integrate into the Sudanese National Army, despite the efforts and commitments announced by both Al Burhan and Hemedti.