Sudanese paramilitaries present a plan to end the current war

The Rapid Support Forces have presented a peace plan in which opposing armed groups would unite under a unified military command.

Despite declaring a willingness to reach a long-term ceasefire agreement with the army, a paramilitary group in Sudan has outlined its strategy for ending the deadly struggle that has been raging since mid-April and creating a “new Sudan.”

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said in a ten-point plan published on X (previously Twitter) on Sunday that years of civil wars and military coups have made Sudan from a formerly “rich” country into a weak and “broken” one.

It is obvious that military conflict is not the best way to handle the problems of nation-building and the formation of democratic institutions, according to the statement.

According to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, there have been at least 5,000 fatalities in the combat between the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). According to official United Nations (UN) data, there have been more than 4.5 million displaced people.

As a result of a lack of food and “lifesaving” medication to treat malnutrition, Save the Children, an aid organisation, said last week that almost 500 children in the conflict-ridden African nation had starved to death.

The UN cautioned on Friday that the fighting, which first enveloped Khartoum and Darfur before expanding to Kordofan, “could tip the entire region into a humanitarian catastrophe.”

After weeks of tension over the consolidation of their soldiers into a single military force as part of a democratic transition, the fighting parties—former allies who overthrew President Omar al-Bashir in 2019—blame one other for starting the violence.

General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the leader of the RSF, insisted on the country’s transition to civilian government on Sunday, outlining his “Sudan Reborn” plan, which includes democratic elections, federalism, and multiculturalism.

General Dagalo said that efforts to put an end to the ongoing conflict must focus on establishing a permanent truce together with all-encompassing political solutions that address the origins of Sudan’s hostilities.

The SAF commander General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan allegedly made his first public appearance outside of Khartoum since the crisis started about 20 weeks ago, which is when the RSF made its declaration.

According to sources close to the army, local media stated that the army leader arrived in Port Sudan on Thursday and is scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia and Egypt for negotiations.