It was announced by Sudan’s military that, as regional tensions and an economic crisis is looming over the country’s transition, plans were made to establish a joint force to “suppress insecurity” and assert the state’s authority across the country and its capital.
General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, deputy head of Sudan’s ruling sovereign council and the head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), declared the initiative through a statement published yesterday.
In the statement, the RSF will be part of the new force alongside the police, military, General Intelligence Service and “representatives” of rebel groups, and the public prosecutor.
The order declares that the force would be formed effective “immediately”, under the leadership of General Yasser al-Atta, and that it directed state governors to work with military and security agencies to establish it as soon as possible, according to local news outlet Star Tribune.
During the week, in a speech defending reforms aiming to turn around a deep economic crisis and stabilize the country’s political transition towards elections in 2022, Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok stated that a sense of chaos or civil war was built up by those affiliated with the previous leadership.
The removal of fuel subsidies as annual inflation rose to 379 percent was among the latest of those reforms introduced.
Sudanese authorities have blamed and warned about “gangs and criminal groups” which they cite as the cause of the disturbances in the capital, Khartoum, in recent days.
