El Burhan: ‘Rapid Support Forces are an integral part of the Sudanese army’

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) government militia constitute an integral part of the Sudanese army, Commander-in-Chief of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and chairman of the Sovereign Council, Lt Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan, asserted in a speech on Sunday.

Addressing the armed forces at the Gerri military base, El Burhan said that the SAF leadership needs the RSF militiamen to guard Sudan's borders and to ensure national security and stability.

He called on all army forces not to pay attention to rumours and to those “who are trying to sow discord between the forces by criticising the RSF militia”.

El Burhan pointed to the importance of working towards a culture of peace among the RSF militiamen. “They are to be messengers of peace and love until a comprehensive peace is achieved in a new Sudan in which all Sudanese will have equal rights.”

In this ‘new Sudan’ the paramilitaries can protect the revolution and fight terrorism and illegal immigration, he said.

The RSF Deputy Commander, Abdelrahim Hamdan (brother of RSF commander and deputy head of the Sovereign Council Mohamed Hamdan ‘Hemeti’), called for holding accountable “those that spread slander, rumours, and conflict between the armed forces and other forces”.

In the Constitutional Declaration (also known as Constitutional Charter), signed on August 17 by the then ruling Transitional Military Council and the opposition Forces for Freedom and Change, it has been agreed that both the Sudan Armed Forces and the RSF will fall under the command of the “Supreme Commander of the Sudan Armed Forces". At the same time the RSF stays a force unto intself.

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