Nyala, May 7(Darfur 24)
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) warned of the expansion of Islamist groups and Iranian arms and the increase in their terrorist activities in Sudan, given their insistence on dominating power and controlling state institutions.
RSF added in a statement, “RSF will not allow Sudan to become a new destination for the Houthis, as is the case in Yemen.”
This comes after accusations against RSF of striking a number of vital facilities in the eastern Sudanese city of Port Sudan, which led to the severing of diplomatic relations between Sudan and the United Arab Emirates, which is accused of providing weapons RSF .
RSF said in a statement that it “is following with great concern the accelerating expansion of terrorist political Islamist groups in Sudan and the Red Sea, and their escalating use of civilian infrastructure and state institutions to continue their war.”
The statement added that “the essence of the Sudanese crisis lies in the insistence of the Islamic Movement and its militias, along with Iranian arms and other supporters of terrorism, on dominating power, controlling state institutions and resources, obstructing change, and controlling the fate of the Sudanese people with guns.”
It stated that the April 15, 2023 war opened the door to the expansion of Islamist groups and Iranian militias and the escalation of their terrorist activities in Sudan, in the absence of an effective state and neutral national institutions.
It pointed out that these groups operate under the umbrella of the official military establishment and are using warplanes, drones, and heavy artillery to bombard. cities and villages, and the systematic targeting of civilians in Darfur, Kordofan, Blue Nile, and Khartoum, in practices that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, according to the statement.
The statement stated that the Islamist movement and its local and foreign militias represent the greatest threat to Sudan’s unity, stability, and future. It also indicated that they pose a threat to regional and international security through their support for cross-border violent groups and their provision of a fertile environment for extremism and instability in the Horn of Africa, the Sahel, and the Red Sea regions.
The Rapid Support Forces emphasized that Sudan’s stability and lasting peace will only be achieved by ending the Islamists’ hegemony, dismantling their military and security infrastructure, and building a state on a new foundation based on equal citizenship, good governance, and the rule of law.
The statement considered the regional and international silence regarding what it described as “the growing threat posed by Islamists and Iranian proxies through their complete control over the army and civilian institutions in the areas under their control” as indirect complicity, an encouragement of tyranny, an undermining of peace prospects, and a grave risk that could drag the region into further conflicts and unrest that threaten regional and international security, according to the statement.
The Rapid Support Forces called for “a comprehensive peaceful solution that ends the historically unstable conditions, establishes a new state not dominated by a particular group or elite, and ensures fair and equitable participation for historically marginalized regions, which represent the vast majority of the Sudanese people.”