Truce without RSF withdrawal means Sudan’s division, Darfur governor says

KHARTOUM, Sudan/ISTANBUL

Darfur Governor Minni Arko Minnawi said Saturday that any truce that does not include the withdrawal of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) would mean Sudan’s division.

“The truce must be preceded by the withdrawal of the Janjaweed and mercenaries from residential areas, hospitals, and cities, the release of abductees, including children and women, and the safe return of displaced civilians,” Minnawi said on the US social media company X.

“Who would a truce serve if it doesn’t protect civilians and hold perpetrators accountable?” Minnawi asked. “Any truce without these conditions means dividing Sudan.”

The RSF captured El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, and committed massacres of civilians, according to local and international organizations, amid warnings that the assault could entrench the country’s geographical partition.

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), more than 81,000 people have fled El-Fasher and surrounding areas since Oct. 26.

On Thursday, the RSF said that it has agreed to a humanitarian truce in Sudan proposed by the Quad countries – the US, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, though details of the ceasefire’s implementation have not been disclosed, and no immediate reaction came from the Quad or the Sudanese army.

“There are thousands of civilians in El-Fasher who are still trapped and prevented by the RSF from leaving and facing all forms of abuse,” Sudanese Minister of Human Resources and Social Welfare Mutasim Ahmed Saleh told a press conference in Port Sudan.

He called the situation in the city “a humanitarian catastrophe that shakes the conscience, and the chapters of this catastrophe are still ongoing.”

“Sudan will exact justice for the blood spilled in El-Fasher and across the country,” he vowed.

“The RSF, after the crimes and violations it committed against the Sudanese people, is unfit to have any role in the country’s future,” the minister said.

Since April 15, 2023, the Sudanese army and the RSF have been locked in a war that regional and international mediations have failed to end. The conflict has killed thousands of people and displaced millions of others.