Juba, South Sudan,
June 14th, 2021 — Tension between the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces, a parallel army led by Lt. Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the Deputy Chairperson of the Sudan Transitional Military Council, is reaching climax and could explode as differences continue to widen between the two leading senior commanders over army integration.
According to military sources close to Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Gen Dagalo, no agreements have been reached since the commander-in-chief of the Rapid Support Forces, Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, aka “Hemetti”, publicly announced almost two weeks ago that his forces will not whatsoever be integrated into the Sudanese Army claiming that his forces have full mandate to provide full protection to the Sudanese citizens under his own leadership.
In a statement seen by Nyamilepedia, Hemetti who doubles also as Deputy Head of Sudan Transitional Military Council, wrote on his official Facebook page today on Sunday that there is no need for integration of his forces since their mission is to defend the constitution, people and authority.
“The Rapid Support Forces are regular forces protecting the people, the authority and the constitution”, Hemetti stated.
On 4th of June 2021, Hemetti cautioned against talking about integrating the Rapid Support Forces into the army because he see the idea could break up the country.
He further told the supporters of the former rebel group, after hinting he was a victim like them of the marginalization because some people wanted to limit his role in fighting the rebels.
“Rapid Support is established by a law passed by an elected parliament. It’s not a battalion or a company to integrate the army, it’s a big force,” he added.
Speaking during a public debate about the implementation of the security arrangements in Khartoum on Saturday, Yasir Saed Arman, the deputy chairman of the SPLM-N Agar said there is a problem between the Sudanese army and the RSF adding that the country cannot afford two armies.Â
“Clearly, I say that we must not allow a conflict between the army and the Rapid Support Forces,” Hon. Yasir Arman said.
Gen. Arman acknowledges rthat the Rapid Support Forces have their own problems but then they must be integrated into the army to form one army.
“The Rapid Support Forces played roles and had their problems, but in the end, there must be one army,” Arman added.
“And that the use of violence should be monopolized by the civil and democratic state only,” he further inserted.Â
The tension between the two parties, Burhan and Hemedti, or the Rapid Support Forces and the army, is very high, under any plan that could result in clashes with some of the concerned parties.
