AU to hold emergency session over Sudan’s rival government, sources say

August 2, 2025 (ADDIS ABABA) – The African Union’s Peace and Security Council will hold an emergency session on Saturday to address the formation of a rival government by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan, two African Union sources said.

The session, to be chaired by Algeria, follows the council’s condemnation last week of the RSF’s declaration of a parallel administration in the western city of Nyala. The council had also warned African states not to engage with the new entity.

The diplomatic push comes as Egypt is expected to ask the bloc to review Sudan’s suspension from the AU, the sources said. Sudan’s membership was suspended after the military, led by Army Chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, seized power in a coup in October 2021.

The meeting follows a visit on Tuesday by AU representative Mohamed Belaiche to Port Sudan, where he met with Burhan and praised the recent formation of a civilian government under the general’s authority.

A Sudanese government delegation also visited the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, last week for informal consultations with AU officials, a Sudanese diplomatic source said. The discussions coincided with talks between Western and AU officials about the crisis, another AU source told Sudan Tribune.

The AU’s engagement has previously drawn criticism. In May, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Ali Mahmoud Youssef, was criticized by some Sudanese factions after he praised the army’s appointment of Kamel Idris as prime minister.