UN Security Council fears parallel government in Sudan
The UN Security Council has raised serious concerns over the declaration of a new, parallel government in Sudan, according to The New Arab on February 27th.
The Rapid Support Forces signed the agreement behind closed doors in Nairobi, however the Kenyan government denied they had recognised the new government in Sudan.
The Kenyan ambassador to the UN stressed that ‘neither President William Ruto nor the Government of Kenya has recognised any independent entities in the Sudan or elsewhere.’
The RSF has claimed that the government will aim to ‘unify the country rather than divide it’, and signatories agreed that Sudan would become a ‘secular, democratic, non-centralised state’, according to Maghrebi.
However, despite the RSF’s claims to the contrary, the international community is not supportive of their proposal.
John Kelley, the US Representative to the Security Council said that: ‘Attempts by the RSF and aligned actors to establish a government in RSF-controlled territory in Sudan are unhelpful for the cause of peace and security in Sudan and risks a de facto partition of the country’.
Sudan has been at civil war since April 2023 when the RSF split from the army and its allies following their coalition that had led the country since 2021.
The RSF has controlled the western Darfur region and large parts of the Kordofan region for the duration of the war, however In recent months, the army and its allies have managed to push the RSF southwards.
It is in light of this retreat that the RSF are scrambling to form a government and assert themselves over regions they fear they could lose.
The military-backed government said that it would soon announce a war cabinet in the wake of the RSF’s declaration.
Whilst members of the U.N Security Council have pleaded with the RSF to ‘put Sudan above all else’, their declaration will only further fragment the country and exacerbate the conflict.
The civil war has already caused the world’s largest humanitarian crisis and both sides have been accused of committing crimes against their civilian populations.
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