Khartoum: Rhino – The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said on Tuesday that the April 15, 2023 war, which eliminated what was left of a fragile stability, opened Sudan to the expansion of Islamist groups and Iranian militias and the increase of their terrorist activities, in the absence of an effective state and neutral national institutions. These groups, which operate under the umbrella of the official military establishment, use warplanes, drones, and heavy artillery to bomb cities and villages and systematically target civilians in Darfur, Kordofan, Blue Nile, and Khartoum: “These practices amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
The statement read: “The RSF is following with great concern the rapid expansion of political Islamist terrorist groups in Sudan and the Red Sea, and their escalating use of civilian infrastructure and state institutions in pursuit of a war that they do not wish to end peacefully. The essence of the Sudanese crisis, as it has been for the past three decades, is the insistence of the Islamist terrorist movement and its militias, led by the so-called Sudanese Armed Forces, Iranian arms and other supporters of terrorism, to dominate power, control state institutions and resources, stand in the face of change and control the fate of the Sudanese peoples with the gun.”
The statement continued: “The Islamist terrorist movement and its local and foreign militias today represent the greatest threat to the unity, stability and future of Sudan, and pose a direct threat to regional and international security through their support to cross-border violent groups and providing a fertile environment for extremism and instability in the Horn of Africa, Sahel and Red Sea regions. While the RSF stands by the aspirations of the oppressed, the marginalized and the advocates of change for freedom, justice and peace, it reaffirms that Sudan’s stability and lasting peace can only be achieved by ending the hegemony of the Islamists, dismantling their military and security structure, and building a new, just and democratic state based on equal citizenship, good governance and the rule of law.”
The RSF reiterated its call for a peaceful and comprehensive solution that ends the historical imbalance, establishes a new state that is not dominated by a particular group or elite, and ensures fair and equitable participation of historically marginalized regions that represent the vast majority of Sudanese people. She added: “The regional and international silence on the growing threat posed by Islamist terrorists and Iranian proxies through their full control of the army and hijacked civilian institutions in the areas under their control is an indirect complicity, encouragement to tyranny, undermining peace opportunities, and a grave risk that may drag the region into more conflicts and unrest that threaten regional and international security.”
The RSF concluded its statement by saying: “The continuation of this war, for which the Sudanese people alone are paying the price, only serves the Islamists who have returned to power on the ruins of a torn and destroyed nation. This is something the RSF will never allow to continue, nor will it allow Sudan to become a new destination for the Houthis as is happening in Yemen. This war will end with the establishment of a bright tomorrow, in which the state will be built on new foundations, with no place for dictatorship, racism, discrimination or tyranny; a battle in which we reshape Sudan on the foundations of freedom, equality, justice and peace.”
