Sudan’s Fur tribe rejects new RSF-backed “Emirate” in Central Darfur
October 15, 2024 (ZALINGEI)—Tribal leaders and activists from the Fur tribe in Sudan’s Central Darfur state on Wednesday rejected the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) ‘s establishment of a new “emirate” for an Arab group that migrated from the Central African Republic.
They warned of demographic change and the empowerment of outside groups at the expense of the indigenous population.
Platforms affiliated with the RSF published a video of a celebration held by a group called “Awlad Baraka and Mubarak” to mark the establishment of the emirate in the Fur-populated region. Brigadier General Mohamed Adam Bangoz, the RSF commander of the Central Darfur sector, addressed the event.
The move has sparked anger and demands for intervention to stop what Fur leaders called the occupation of their lands in the region, where the RSF has controlled most of the territory since late last year.
“We categorically reject the establishment of a new emirate for Arab tribes in Central Darfur state,” a prominent Fur tribal leader, who declined to be named for security reasons, told Sudan Tribune.
He said the “Awlad Baraka and Mubarak” group is a branch of the Salamat Arab tribe that recently arrived from the neighbouring Central African Republic and does not own land or property in the area.
He said small groups from this branch were present before the war in the “Turaij” areas, south of Zalingei city, but their numbers increased significantly after the outbreak of the war when the RSF recruited mercenaries from the Central African Republic and Chad.
He said the move amounted to an occupation of the historical lands of the Fur ethnicity by Arab tribes with the support of the RSF, which he said was trying to empower groups that support it.
Abbas Abdelkabir, a human rights activist in Central Darfur, told Sudan Tribune that the establishment of a founding conference for the Awlad Baraka and Mubarak branch was part of a long-running demographic change in Central Darfur and the wider Darfur region.
He said that whenever the RSF and allied Arab tribes take control of a new area, they create parallel tribal administrations in the lands of indigenous groups with greater powers than the existing historical tribal administrations.
He said the RSF appointed Mahmoud Sosal as emir (prince) of the Arab tribes with authorities that exceed those of the “Shartai” (Fur traditional leaders).
Sosal, a prominent leader in the former ruling National Congress Party, was the local commissioner of “Um Dukhun” on the border with the Central African Republic during Omer al-Bashir’s rule. He is accused of committing serious violations against the Fur tribe in the “Makjar, Bindisi, and Delij” areas in Central Darfur.
Abdelkabir accused the RSF of imposing strict restrictions on tribal administrations not loyal to them in Central Darfur, suppressing and preventing them from speaking about crimes, including the occupation of lands.
Sudan Tribune could not obtain comment from the RSF and the Awlad Baraka branch.
In August last year, representatives of the Rizeigat, Salamat, and Fallata tribes in Central Darfur signed a declaration of support for the RSF and pledged to fight in its ranks. However, Al-Dumnakawi Sissi Fadl Sissi, the highest tribal authority in the region and a member of the Fur, the largest tribe in the area, did not sign the declaration.