El Daein, September 7 (Darfur 24)
The Sector Commander of the Rapid Support Forces , in West Darfur , Major General Abdul Rahman Juma Barakatallah, commenting on the US Treasury Department’s sanctions against him and the second commander of the Support Forces against the backdrop of the killing incidents in West Darfur State, told Darfur 24 that RSF did not participate in the military operations in the city of El Geneina between the Arab tribes and the Masalit tribe,” This is in compliance with the directives of the Rapid Support Supreme Command stipulating not to participate in any tribal war.”
The RSF Commander in West Darfur is now holding a press conference in the city of El Daein, the capital of East Darfur, about the circumstances of what happened in the city of El Geneina last May.
He added:” The war was ignited in El Geneina by intelligence work from the armed forces, instructing groups cooperating with them to kill a 14-year-old minor from the Arab tribes.
To prevent outbreak of war between the Arab tribes and the Masalit, we as RSF sat several times with the Sultan of the Masalit, Saad Bahr al-Din, and with the governor of West Darfur, who was later killed, to prevent eruption of war.
Last May, the city of El Geneina witnessed human massacres in which thousands of residents were killed and wounded, and the entire population of the Masalit tribe sought refuge in the state of Chad, immediately after the outbreak of confrontations between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces, which quickly developed into fighting of an ethnic nature between the Arab tribes and the Masalit.
Barakat Allah said that the sanctions imposed on him and the second commander of the Rapid Support Forces were based on fabricated reports and that he was ready to be held accountable if his involvement in the tribal fighting in El Geneina was proven.