July 17 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have claimed to have achieved a “great victory” with the seizure of a Sudanese Army base in the city of Kass, located in the province of South Darfur (west), in the midst of fighting. that erupted on April 15 due to differences regarding the integration of training within the Armed Forces to consolidate the transition process opened in 2019.
The RSF have said in a statement published on their account on the social network Twitter that they have wrested control of the facilities “from the Sudanese Armed Forces and their extremist supporters, linked to the old regime” of former President Omar Hasan al Bashir, who was overthrown in a coup in April 2019.
Thus, they have stressed that they “totally control” the base and have indicated that during the fighting they have captured about 30 soldiers, including a colonel, as well as thirteen vehicles and 70 guns.
“We applaud our brave fighters for our latest battlefield successes as we fight to prevent the old regime from restoring its oppressive rule in Sudan,” they said, before stressing that the RSF “is now more determined than ever to put an end to the old regime”.
Along these lines, they have accused figures close to Al Bashir of “hijacking the security apparatus” of the African country and have promised to “put an end, once and for all, to control by the beneficiaries of the post-colonial State, who seek to preserve its historic control over Sudan”.
The hostilities broke out in the context of an increase in tensions around the integration of the RSF into the Armed Forces, a key part of an agreement signed in December to form a new civilian government and reactivate the transition open after the overthrow in 2019 of Omar Hasan al Bashir, damaged by the coup in October 2021, in which the prime minister of unity, Abdalá Hamdok, was overthrown.
The war has so far left more than 1,100 dead, according to the Sudanese Ministry of Health, but the real figures could be much higher considering the inter-communal violence unleashed in the Kordofan and Darfur regions.
In fact, the United Nations denounced last week the existence of a mass grave in Western Darfur with the remains of about 90 people, including members of the Masalit community, and pointed to “credible information” about the involvement of the RSF. Days earlier, the non-governmental organization HRW accused the RSF and allied Arab militias of summarily executing 28 Masalits in an attack in May in West Darfur, accusations denied by the paramilitary force.
In addition, more than three million people have been displaced, including nearly 740,000 who have fled to neighboring countries, according to data released last week by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), amid reports of daily atrocities and large-scale sexual abuse. against the women and girls of the country.
