Sudanese generals determined to eliminate RSF militiamen and prosecute rebel commander
May 11, 2023 (KHARTOUM) – A member of the Sudanese Sovereign Council, Lt. General Yasir al-Atta, voiced their determination to dissolve the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and prosecute its rebel commander militarily.
Several sources close to the American-Saudi mediated talks in Jeddah said an agreement would be signed in the coming hours to stop the fighting in Khartoum and deliver humanitarian assistance to the civilians in the capital.
In an interview with the Saudi Asharq al-Awsat newspaper on Wednesday, Mohamed al-Atta, however, said that the aim of the talks underway in Jeddah was only to withdraw RSF forces outside the capital and assemble them in a gathering site before merging those who met the conditions for military service and demobilizing the rest.
“It is important to prosecute senior RSF commanders for crimes they have committed against the homeland and citizens. Any dialogue other than these points is a postponement of the war to another time,” he stressed.
The Sudanese military stressed that they would not accept any international plan that leads to another solution.
He pointed out that there is no greater danger to Sudan than the presence of “these militias,” accusing them of sabotaging the political and economic life and plundering the country’s resources.
“The actual disaster is the presence of the Daglo family on the Sudanese map,” he said, referring to the RSF Commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo aka Hemetti.
He also ruled out any possible development of this conflict into a civil war, considering that the army is a national institution representing all the tribes of Sudan and that the current conflict is with a rebel group.
General Atta is perceived as one of the hard-line military leaders who reject any compromise with the RSF leader and has been calling for a long time to curb Hemetti’s political and economic ambitions in the country.
Speaking to the U.S. Congress committee for foreign relations on Wednesday, the U.S. Under Secretary of State for political affairs expressed optimism about an imminent humanitarian truce followed by a ceasefire agreement and the resumption of the political process in Sudan.
Hemetti’s trial
Speaking about the RSF commander, Atta said that Hemetti would be stripped of all military ranks and removed from the Sovereign Council at the first meeting of the collegial body after the end of military operations.
“He would face justice after his arrest on charges of high treason, threatening state security, rebellion murder,” the Sudanese general said.
The fate of the framework agreement
Atta further described the political framework agreement as a tool aimed at empowering the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) and excluding and controlling other political forces. He added that they would involve all political forces that did not join the framework agreement in the political process.
“If they cannot reach an inclusive agreement, then the army will appoint a caretaker government for two years,” he said. “We will request a joint quadripartite mechanism from the United Nations, the African Union, IGAD, and the League of Arab States to organize and monitor general elections in the country,” he further stressed.
The Sudanese army generals claim that the FFC backed RSF positions during the political process and blame them for not supporting the army when the conflict erupted with the paramilitary forces
In addition, Al-Atta criticized the head of UNITAMS, Volker Perthes, accusing him of being influenced by one party, which he implied was the FFC groups.
(ST)