RSF leader and army-backed PM offer conflicting narratives for war-torn Sudan

Addressing the nation, the commander of Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the new army-backed Prime Minister painted a contrasting picture of a country that has effectively been partitioned.

The RSF and the army have been at war since April 2023. The conflict has killed tens of thousands and displaced more than 13 million while leaving millions facing acute hunger or, in growing numbers, famine.

RSF commander Gen Mohamed Dagalo and Prime Minister Kamil Idris spoke at about the same time one evening last week. Their styles and the content of their speeches highlighted a divided nation.

The army, led by Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, controls the capital Khartoum, as well as the northern, eastern and central regions of the vast Afro-Arab nation.

The RSF, whose forerunner is a notorious militia known as the Janjaweed, controls the entire western Darfur region, except for one city held by the army, and parts of Kordofan to the south-west.

The army and its allies have yet to make a concerted effort to retake Darfur and Kordofan from the RSF, where it maintains the bulk of its forces and has allies among powerful rebel groups.

Gen Dagalo is a one-time cattle trader and Janjaweed fighter who rose to national prominence through the patronage of former dictator Omar Al Bashir. In contrast, Mr Idris is a former UN diplomat educated in Switzerland, Egypt and the US, as well as his native Sudan.

RSF view

In desert camouflage, Gen Dagalo told hundreds of his fighters that the army and its allies were nothing more than criminal gangs of thieves. He also repeated his long-standing charge that Gen Al Burhan was relying on Islamists loyal to the toppled regime of Al Bashir.

Standing on the back of an all-terrain vehicle at an unspecified site in Darfur, Gen Dagalo appeared to underscore the de facto partition of Sudan, speaking of the region in terms more akin to an independent nation rather than an integral part of Sudan.

The RSF's administration of Darfur – by far the worst-affected area of Sudan in terms of hunger and famine – would achieve self-sufficiency in food following the rainy season, he said. The RSF, he added, would also secure international humanitarian assistance for Darfur's ethnically diverse residents. He did not elaborate.

Gen Dagalo sought to portray the RSF as a protector of the country. He spoke of the paramilitary's role in safeguarding Sudan's northern border after his fighters recently seized the area where the borders of Egypt, Sudan and Libya converge, with Chad's a short distance to the west.

"If our control of the border triangle has not benefited our neighbours, at least it has brought them no harm," he said. "The triangle and the desert are a bastion of corruption, smuggling, terrorism and illegal migration," Gen Dagalo told his fighters.

Sudanese political analyst Osman Fadlallah said the speech "transcended the language of war to become presidential-like". He added: "Dagalo is proceeding with growing confidence in presenting himself as a substitute to rule Sudan, or at least to enshrine a parallel role in areas under RSF control."

Army view

In sharply contrasting style, Mr Idris, in a dark business suit and tie, delivered his speech at a studio, using a prompter to paint a rosy picture of the future of the resource-rich but impoverished nation under his stewardship.

The government would end nepotism and operate on the basis of justice, transparency and rule of law, said Mr Idris, whose inaugural address to the nation last month included segments directed at the West that he delivered in English, French and Spanish.

He called on top experts and professionals who want a place in his cabinet to send him their biographies through a social media address he said he would later publicise.

"It will be called 'the government of hope'," he declared, and it would strive to achieve security, prosperity and a life with dignity for the Sudanese.

Nearly a month after he was appointed Prime Minister, only two positions in his proposed cabinet of 22 have been filled: the interior and defence portfolios, whose occupants are traditionally picked by the military.

"The government of hope is a fragile and elitist project," said Mr Fadlallah. "Idris seeks to formulate a new reality that's immune to the present situation, while Dagalo wants to enshrine the outcome of the war thus far."

Sudan, a nation of 50 million, has been plagued by a series of civil wars and economic crises since its independence in 1956. Compounding its woes have been frequent military coups, ushering in authoritarian regimes invariably toppled by uprisings that brought brief spells of democratic government.

The current civil war in Sudan is, in large part, a continuation of that pattern. Gen Al Burhan and Gen Dagalo together staged a coup in 2021 that removed the transitional government that followed Al Bashir's downfall in 2019.

The coup derailed the nation's shift to democratic rule and drew international sanctions that battered the economy, just as it was showing signs of recovery, albeit slowly.

Differences between the two generals over the role of the army and the RSF in a democratic Sudan grew ominously tense in 2022 before violence broke out in April 2023.

Both the army and the RSF are accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity during their war.