RSF militia ‘will withdraw once security in Sudan capital stabilises’

Militiamen of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) will be “gradually withdrawn from Khartoum in accordance with [needs of] the security situation”, the government militia said in a statement on Tuesday.

The RSF has been accused of committing and being complicit in atrocities and abuses during and subsequent to the violent break-up of the sit-in in front of the General Command of the Sudanese army in Khartoum on June 3, when more than 100 people were killed and hundreds more wounded.

In a statement on Tuesday, RSF spokesman Brig Gen Jamal Juma, asserted that the presence of troops in Khartoum was dictated by the security conditions and “if the situation stabilises there is no need to deploy them”.

He added that the RSF are working in close coordination with the army and other security forces in securing and maintaining security in the capital and the states.

He said that “the presence of the RSF in Khartoum is to protect most of the government institutions, including petrol stations, banks, and ministries”.

The RSF spokesman accused “some entities seeking to create strife between the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC formerly known as the Alliance for Freedom and Change) and the military junta and succeeded to some extent in igniting division.

‘No angels’

As previously reported by Radio Dabanga, at a televised mass rally in Hajar El Asal in Nile River state last week, the Deputy Chairman of the Transitional Military Council (TMC) and commander-in-chief of the RSF, Lt Gen Mohamed Hamdan ‘Hemeti’ said that “the Rapid Support Forces are no angels but human beings who can make mistakes”. He stressed that any RSF member who commits offences will be prosecuted.

Port Sudan

A joint force of policemen, paramilitaries of the RSF, and army troops attacked customers in offices of the electricity company in Port Sudan on Monday. The people were protesting the slow management in the treatment of power outages.

One of the customers told Radio Dabanga that they were beaten with batons. 10 people were injured.

He explained that the force took the citizens to the centre of the company and filed complaints against them.

He said the injured had to be taken to a hospital.

East Darfur

On Tuesday, RSF troops were deployed in the streets of Ed Daein, capital of East Darfur, after the killing of Mudasir Abdelrahman under torture and the injury of two others and the subsequent developments that led to burning of RSF buildings used as rest place in the town.

The FFC in East Darfur condemned the violence of the RSF used against Abdelrahman, Ahmed Ibrahim and Raheel Adam in El Gubba district on Monday.

The FFC said in a statement that these events are not coincidental as the Rapid Support Forces continue to intimidate the people and humiliate youths and citizens in all localities of East Darfur, where two young men were shot last week in Asalaya.

The statement held the responsibility for the casualties and injuries to the governor and security committee until the perpetrators will be arrested and brought to justice.

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