Deputy head of Sudan’s sovereign council General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo speaks during a press conference at Rapid Support Forces head quarter in Khartoum, Sudan February 19, 2023. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/File PhotoPurchase LicensingRights, opens new tabJuly 26 (Reuters) – A Sudanese coalition led by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces announced on Saturday the members of a parallel government, a move opposed by the army, its rival in a 27-month war that could drive the country further towards partition.RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo was announced head of the presidential council, while Abdel Aziz al-Hilu, head of the SPLM-N, one of the country’s largest rebel groups, was made his deputy on a 15-member council.Sign uphere.Mohamed Hassan al-Taishi, a civilian politician, was named prime minister, and regional governors were announced in a press conference from Nyala, the largest city in the Darfur region which the RSF controls most of.The Sudanese army has pushed the paramilitaries out of the center of the country, whiledeadly fightingrages over the center-west Kordofan region and Darfur’s traditional capital of al-Fashir.In February, the RSF and its allied politicians and rebel groups agreed to form a government for a secular”New Sudan,”aiming to challenge the army-led administration’s legitimacy and secure advancedarms imports. Thegovernmentannounced on Saturday includes governors for regions of the country firmly controlled by the army.The military led by career army officer General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had condemned the idea of the RSF creating a parallel government and promised to keep fighting until it controls all of Sudan, which has for years been plagued by conflicts, coups, poverty and hunger.Dagalo, a former militia leader and one of Sudan’s wealthiest people, known as Hemedti, was hit withsanctions by the U.S., which accused him of genocide earlier this year.Burhan wassanctionedin January by the U.S., which accused him of choosing wa
Source: Reuters Africa
