KHARTOUM - The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) overnight transformed from a military force awaiting integration into the Sudanese army into a rebel force dealt with by the armed forces with aircraft and armored vehicles, after which the capital Khartoum turned on Saturday morning into a fierce battleground between the country's two largest military forces.
According to the spokesman for the Sudanese army, Brigadier General Nabil Abdullah, the Rapid Support Forces have become a "rebel force" that the armed forces deal with decisively and restore things to normal, stressing that they initiated the attack and encroachment on the armed forces, while the Rapid Support Commander says that the army is the one who initiated the attack on their camp in the suburb of Soba and that they were forced to respond, and then the confrontations extended in several locations in Khartoum and some states.
The RSF is present in most states of Sudan, and all of them are adjacent to army barracks and headquarters, but their largest deployment is in the five states of Darfur, in addition to South, North and West Kordofan, as the RSF was originally established to assist the army in its war in the western Darfur region in 2003.
About 3 months ago, the Rapid Support Forces began to transfer thousands of fighters from Darfur states to the capital, Khartoum, and their number was estimated at about 50,<> fighters who were deployed at all entrances and exits of Khartoum state, and the forces strengthened their presence with heavy war pieces, the latest of which was armored vehicles that arrived in Khartoum from North Darfur, last Wednesday.
The Rapid Support Forces are present in most states of Sudan (Reuters)
Multiple Locations
The RSF maintains an estimated presence in the Red Sea State (Sudan's main coast) and is also deployed in locations near the Halayeb area.
Since last November, the RSF has announced the cancellation of all leave for officers and soldiers, raised the level of readiness by 100 percent, and even armed new recruits in the camps, apparently in anticipation of any military confrontation.
The Rapid Support Forces have a military and economic strike force, and have succeeded in attracting a large number of army commanders who have been retired, and have established many headquarters in Khartoum, as well as departments and camps in most states of Sudan, but it is not known exactly how many Rapid Support Forces are deployed, as some sources talk that the forces number more than 100,<> recruits.
In the capital, the Rapid Support Forces have camps in all their outlets, where large numbers of these forces reside in the "Taiba" camp in the locality of Jabal Awliya, south of Khartoum, next to another camp in the Salha area, and a third in Al-Jili north of Khartoum, and it also owns a headquarters in Soba in the east, in addition to acquiring strategic headquarters in the heart of Khartoum, including the headquarters of the former intelligence service near the army command, and the headquarters of the Operations Authority near Khartoum International Airport.
History
The Rapid Support Forces emerged in 2003, in the Darfur region, and was known at the time as the "Janjaweed" militias, and the term became famous and defined as an abbreviation to define the members of the force and liken them to "a jinn riding a horse", as it was later accused of "committing war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing", after the regime of deposed President Omar al-Bashir used it to resolve its battles against armed movements.
To grant it legal status after forming a strike force, the RSF was initially included in the Armed Forces' Border Guard Intelligence Unit, but in 2013 it moved from the militia phase to the RSF as a Sudanese government force under the command of the Security and Intelligence Service, and then became under the presidency on April 21, 2016.
The RSF continued its tasks in fighting the insurgency in Darfur and the two regions until the parliament passed a law on rapid support in 2017 to be under the direct command of the President of the Republic, although at the same time it was subordinate to the armed forces.
In parallel with its great military expansion, the Rapid Support Command worked in building an independent economic empire, as it benefited from controlling the gold mining sites in Jabal Amer in Darfur before later ceding it to the Sudanese Ministry of Finance, and the forces established huge investment companies inside and outside Sudan and deliberately employed millions of pounds for the benefit of social projects and support areas in need of service aids such as therapeutic convoys and support those affected by floods and floods, and the support work extended outside Sudan when the Rapid Support Forces recently sent aid For earthquake victims in Turkey.
After the resolution of the battles and rebellion in Darfur and the two regions, the rapid support activity turned to work as a parallel force and turned to work in the fight against human trafficking and illegal migration, and spread on the long borders between Sudan, Libya, Central Africa and Chad to prevent the flow of irregular migrants, and repeatedly announced the thwarting of the entry of drug shipments, the arrest of human trafficking gangs and the liberation of hostages.
When the noose tightened on the regime of President Omar al-Bashir with the increase in popular protests rejecting his continuation in power, Bashir tried to use his ally Mohamed Hamdan Daglo "Hemedti" and the Rapid Support Forces to resolve the protests, but he was surprised by Hemedti's refusal to participate in the suppression of the demonstrations and his subsequent bias towards the army commanders close to Bashir and their announcement of the removal of Bashir from power.