{"id":20052719,"date":"2023-09-15T11:27:35","date_gmt":"2023-09-15T09:27:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dabangasudan.org\/?p=20052719"},"modified":"2023-09-21T20:18:22","modified_gmt":"2023-09-21T18:18:22","slug":"rsf-commander-hemedti-if-we-wish-we-can-be-in-port-sudan-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dabangasudan.org\/en\/all-news\/article\/rsf-commander-hemedti-if-we-wish-we-can-be-in-port-sudan-today","title":{"rendered":"RSF Commander Hemedti: \u2018If we wish, we can be in Port Sudan today\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In a speech posted on social media yesterday, Gen Mohamed ‘Hemedti\u2019 Dagalo, commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), strongly denounced the \u201ccreation of an alternative capital\u201d in Port Sudan, capital of Red Sea state, and threatened to set up \u201ca genuine civilian authority\u201d in the areas under its control, with Khartoum as capital.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hemedti in his speech<\/a> yesterday repeated the RSF stance that the fighting that broke out between the RSF and the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) in Khartoum on April 15, was instigated by \u201cremnants\u201d of the regime of Omar Al Bashir (1989-2019).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He referred to \u201can old plan\u201d of Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan, SAF commander and president of the Sovereignty Council, \u201cto become dictator-president, and he orchestrated all of this with the remnants of the former regime\u201d. El Burhan \u201cembarks on foreign tours<\/a> trying to impersonate the head of state, despite lacking legitimacy, and they intend to declare a government in part of Sudan\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former high-ranking members<\/a> of the Al Bashir regime, are allegedly working, together with the SAF<\/a>, to seize power again. \u201cThe influence of prominent figures linked to the administration of former autocrat Omar al-Bashir and movements connected to it has been growing in Sudan,\u201d and \u201chave lined up behind the Sudanese army,\u201d Mohammed Amin explained in a report in Middle East Eye (MEE) in August<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In July, political blocs allied with the former regime of Al Bashir, called on El Burhan to form a caretaker government<\/a>. Malik Agar, vice-president of the Sovereignty Council, has also urged<\/a> the establishment of such a government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The RSF commander pointed to plans of the acting government (established after the joint SAF-RSF coup d\u2019\u00e9tat in October 2021) \u201cto establish a conference centre, build presidential villas, and a permanent headquarters for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs<\/a>\u201d in Port Sudan, and warned that these plans will divide the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He warned for the division of the country, pointing to the Hamdi Triangle* proposal in the 1990s, but at the same time said that in case \u201cthe remnants form a government [in Port Sudan], we will immediately initiate broad consultations to establish a genuine civilian authority in the areas under our extensive control, with Khartoum as the capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We will not permit the creation of an alternative capital,” he threatened. “If we wish, we can be in Port Sudan today.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the war erupted in the Sudanese capital in mid-April, ministries, ambassies, UN agencies, and organisations are working from temporary offices in Port Sudan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this month<\/a>, Hemedti stated that the RSF maintains a significant presence in Khartoum state, emphasising that they have \u201cno intentions of seeking control over Sudan\u201d. The RSF\u2019s stance is not against the SAF, he said, but rather against what he referred to as the \u201cremnants of the former regime\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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* In the 1990s, Finance Minister Abdelrahim Hamdi proposed to concentrate<\/a> most investment in Sudan in places within a day\u2019s drive of Khartoum. He argued that this region could prosper<\/a> without having to administer the troublesome peripheries that served chiefly as labour reserves. Until Al Bashir\u2019s ouster, every Sudanese leader since independence hailed from<\/a> the Hamdi Triangle formed by the cities of Abu Hamed, Khartoum, and Shendi in the Nile Valley, home to Arab-identifying ethno-linguistic groups (the so-called riverain elites<\/a>). Khartoum and surrounding areas have been the focus of almost all non-oil related investment in the country since the end of the 1990s.<\/em><\/p>\n