British Foreign Office holds secret talks with Sudanese RSF paramilitary group | global development

Foreign Office officials are holding secret talks with a paramilitary group that has been waging a campaign of ethnic cleansing in Sudan for the past year.

News that the British government and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are engaged in secret talks has prompted warnings that such talks risk legitimizing notorious militias that continue to commit multiple war crimes while undermining Britain's moral credibility in the region.

One human rights group described Britain's willingness to negotiate with RSF as shocking. Last December, the United States accused paramilitaries of committing crimes against humanity by massacring and raping civilians from the African Masalit community.

The revelations come as the war between the RSF and the Sudanese army marks its one-year anniversary on Monday.

Q&AWhat's happening in Sudan?View

Fighting broke out in Sudan's capital Khartoum on April 15, 2023, as the power struggle between the two main factions of the military junta intensified.

On one side is the Sudanese military, which remains broadly loyal to the country's de facto ruler, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. Opposing him are the paramilitary forces of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a militia group that follows former warlord General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti.

The power struggle between Burhan and Hemedtis began in 2019 when dictatorial President Omar al-Bashir was ousted by nationwide protests. Bashir dispatched the Janjaweed, RSF's predecessor, to suppress the 2003 uprising in Darfur. Analysts trace much of the recent conflict to genocide and horrific violence and human rights abuses that may have been committed in the region at the time.

The conflict has plunged Sudan into one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in recent history, according to UN officials. This has led to the world's worst refugee crisis, dispersing more than 8 million people within Sudan and across its borders. Nearly two million people have fled to neighboring countries, putting heavy pressure on Chad and South Sudan.

UN World Food Program officials warned that about 28 million people across the region face severe food insecurity, including 18 million in Sudan, 7 million in South Sudan and 3 million in Chad.

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Thousands of Sudanese civilians have been killed, more than 8 million have been forced to flee their homes, and 18 million are experiencing crisis levels of food insecurity.

Among the crimes committed by RSF are the rampage in Darfur, which a UN report said killed up to 15,000 people in Geneina, the capital of western Darfur state. The massacre has drawn comparisons with the genocidal massacre that occurred in the region 20 years ago.

These atrocities, as well as reports of extrajudicial killings, looting of aid supplies, and widespread rape of women and children by RSF fighters, have significantly undermined the group's legitimacy among the Sudanese people.

Last September, a fire broke out at a livestock market in Al-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, following an attack by RSF. Militia set fire to at least 27 locations in the state. Photo: AFP/Getty

However, Freedom of Information (FoI) responses show that talks with RSF were led by senior officials from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Department (FCDO). The most recent meeting between Britain and the paramilitary group was last month.

The FoI response states: FCDO attempted to contact Rapid Support Force representatives and was successful. The last successful contact was on Wednesday 6 March, when FCDO officials met with RSF representatives.

British officials added that they had so far not met RSF's feared leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, popularly known as Hemedti.

The 49-year-old is a former commander of the Janjaweed militia, a predecessor to the RSF, accused of genocidal violence in Darfur in 2003 and more recently allied with Russia and its Wagner mercenaries.

RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, at a rally near Khartoum in 2019. Photo: AFP/Getty

In January, Hemedti began a diplomatic tour of African countries in what observers said was an attempt to portray himself as a capable leader. He visited Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Ghana and South Africa, weeks after Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of Sudan's army, embarked on a similar trip, with the two generals leading regional players. We tried to involve them in the conflict.

Dr Sharath Srinivasan, co-director of the Center for Governance and Human Rights at the University of Cambridge, said he understood the temptation to talk to RSF, but said this was an approach that encouraged violence in Sudan.

Talking to people with guns has been part of the continuation of violence and authoritarianism in Sudan over the past 20 to 30 years, he said. Pragmatism has gotten us nowhere.

Srinivasan, an expert on Sudan's failure to build peace, added: [the RSF are] Perpetrating unspeakable levels of targeted violence against ethnic groups, women and children is on a truly appalling scale, and you are jeopardizing a lot of the moral credibility and decency of just 20 years ago.

Maddy Crowther, co-director of human rights group Waging Peace, said: It feels like a really terrible move. For Sudanese, it would be like a slap in the face.

She said the Sudanese diaspora around the world would take the news that Britain was secretly talking to the RSF as a complete abuse of the trust people had placed in Britain and any other authority that could negotiate or advocate on their behalf.

Crowther said: There will be a feeling of complete disappointment, absolute shock, by the British government.

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How can aid get into western Sudan without cooperation with the Rapid Support Forces? They control 95% of DarfurAhmed Soliman.

She added that history had shown that talks with RSF rarely yielded positive results. Before the most recent fighting broke out, the West had attempted to persuade the group to embrace democracy.

these [UK] Crowther also said the talks assumed RSF was a bona fide actor. Talks with the RSF never resulted in the results Britain wanted to achieve in Sudan. I have no idea why that would change right now.

This is a temporary camp in Borota, Chad, for Sudanese refugees from the Darfur region who fled across the border last year. Photo: Zohra Bensemra/Reuters

But the FCDO said the talks were an attempt to increase access to humanitarian aid and end the war against the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), which has been accused of war crimes.

A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “The UK is determined to end the violence, prevent further atrocities, bring both parties to a permanent ceasefire, allow unrestricted humanitarian access, protect civilians and ensure lasting peace. “We continue to pursue all diplomatic avenues to achieve this commitment,” he said. and a meaningful peace process.

SAF and RSF dragged Sudan into an unjust war while completely ignoring the Sudanese people. We will do our best to hold both of you accountable.

According to Ahmed Soliman, senior researcher at the Chatham Houses Africa program, this was an approach that had merit.

How can aid get into western Sudan without cooperation with the Rapid Support Forces? They control 95% of Darfur, he said.

This is the dirty reality of war. Engagement with civilians should not be denied, but it should be part of an effort to ensure that there are solutions that end the war in the short term and provide support to civilians.

Thousands of RSFs were launched in Khartoum in 2017. The paramilitary group was first accused of crimes against humanity in Darfur in 2003. Photo: Xinhua/Alamy

But Western attempts at peacemaking have come under scrutiny since the war began in 2019, when diplomats helped hammer out a power-sharing deal between Hemedti and Burhan that culminated in conflict and chaos.

Srinivasan said: The problem with Sudan is that we have talked to them. [Hemedti and Burhan] They previously called for power sharing, which would put them back at the center of government.

Therefore, it is dangerous to talk to them, legitimize them and take them back to power in the name of ending the violence.

A new attempt at a peace deal is scheduled to begin in Jeddah on Thursday. Saudi Arabia hosted several rounds of talks last year before its military withdrew from negotiations, claiming RSF had violated the ceasefire.

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