The RSF and its allies signed in Kenya a charter which they said establishes a “government of peace and unity” [Simon Maina/AFP via Getty]
Saudi Arabia, which previously mediated talks in a bid to end Sudan’s war, on Friday condemned a decision by Sudanese paramilitaries to form a rival government, official media said.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been at war with the regular army for nearly two years, creating what the United Nations calls the world’s largest humanitarian catastrophe.
Last Sunday, the RSF and its allies signed in Kenya a charter which they said establishes a “government of peace and unity” in rebel-controlled areas of the northeast African country, despite warnings such a move could further fragment Sudan.
Riyadh’s foreign ministry “expressed the rejection by the kingdom of any step or illegal measure taken outside the framework of official institutions of the Republic of Sudan, susceptible to affecting its unity and not reflecting the will of its people, including the call to form a parallel government”.
Saudi Arabia, along with the United States and others, tried to mediate a ceasefire in the war, without success.
On Friday the kingdom reiterated its “support for the Republic of Sudan, its security, stability and territorial integrity,” in comments carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.
It called on combatants “to favour the interest of Sudan over the interests of factions and work to spare it from the dangers of division and chaos”.
The kingdom added that it would continue its efforts to end the war.
On Monday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also warned that the RSF’s move “deepens the fragmentation of the country”.
At a UN Human Rights Council dialogue on Friday, Saudi Arabia’s Gulf neighbour Qatar also expressed support for “Sudan’s unity and territorial integrity”.
The emirate rejected “any external interference in Sudan’s internal affairs,” its foreign ministry added.
