Sudan's RSF, Allied Groups to Sign Charter to Form Parallel Government, Two Signatories Say

Sudanese refugees wait their turn to get drinking water from a muddy pond in Gerbana, a village 22km from the Sudanese border, South Sudan, 13 February 2025 (issued on 15 February 2025), as water shortages and diseases resulting from contaminated water have become the community's main complaint. (EPA)
Sudanese refugees wait their turn to get drinking water from a muddy pond in Gerbana, a village 22km from the Sudanese border, South Sudan, 13 February 2025 (issued on 15 February 2025), as water shortages and diseases resulting from contaminated water have become the community's main complaint. (EPA)
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Sudan's RSF, Allied Groups to Sign Charter to Form Parallel Government, Two Signatories Say

Sudanese refugees wait their turn to get drinking water from a muddy pond in Gerbana, a village 22km from the Sudanese border, South Sudan, 13 February 2025 (issued on 15 February 2025), as water shortages and diseases resulting from contaminated water have become the community's main complaint. (EPA)
Sudanese refugees wait their turn to get drinking water from a muddy pond in Gerbana, a village 22km from the Sudanese border, South Sudan, 13 February 2025 (issued on 15 February 2025), as water shortages and diseases resulting from contaminated water have become the community's main complaint. (EPA)

Sudan's Rapid Support Forces will sign a charter with allied political and armed groups on Saturday evening to establish a "government of peace and unity" in territories it controls, signatories al-Hadi Idris and Ibrahim Mirghani told Reuters.

The RSF has seized most of the western Darfur region and swathes of the Kordofan region in an almost-two-year war, but is being pushed back from central Sudan by the Sudanese army, which has condemned the formation of a parallel government.

Such a government, which has already drawn an expression of concern from the United Nations, is not expected to receive widespread recognition. Those affiliated with the government say its formation will be announced from inside the country.

General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, head of the paramilitary that has been accused of widespread abuses including genocide, was hit with sanctions by the United States earlier this year.

The war, which erupted after disagreements between the RSF and the army over their integration during a transition towards democracy, has devastated the country, driving half the population into hunger.

According to Idris, among the signatories to the charter and foundational constitution is powerful rebel leader Abdelaziz al-Hilu who controls vast swathes of territory and troops in South Kordofan state, and who has long demanded that Sudan embrace secularism.

Talks that began earlier this week were hosted in Kenya, drawing condemnation from Sudan and domestic criticism of President William Ruto for plunging the country into a diplomatic melee.



Iraq Reopens Syria Crossing for Trade, Passenger Traffic

A general view shows the US Embassy as seen from across the Tigris River in Baghdad, Iraq, June 12, 2025. REUTERS/Ahmed Saad
A general view shows the US Embassy as seen from across the Tigris River in Baghdad, Iraq, June 12, 2025. REUTERS/Ahmed Saad
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Iraq Reopens Syria Crossing for Trade, Passenger Traffic

A general view shows the US Embassy as seen from across the Tigris River in Baghdad, Iraq, June 12, 2025. REUTERS/Ahmed Saad
A general view shows the US Embassy as seen from across the Tigris River in Baghdad, Iraq, June 12, 2025. REUTERS/Ahmed Saad

Iraq has officially reopened the Qaim border crossing with Syria for trade and passenger traffic, a spokesman for the Iraqi border authority said on Saturday, marking a key step in efforts to normalize relations and revive economic ties between the two countries.

“The Qaim crossing is now fully operational for both cargo trucks and civilian movement,” the spokesman told Reuters, adding that the reopening followed joint security assessments by Iraqi and Syrian officials.

The move comes three months after Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani visited Baghdad and urged Iraq to resume cross-border trade. The crossing had been shut in the wake of the revolt that toppled President Bashar al-Assad and the ensuing years of conflict that destabilized the region.

The reopening is also seen as a sign of warming ties between Baghdad and Syria’s new leadership under President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who has sought to re-establish diplomatic and economic relations with regional neighbors. Iraqi officials say the two governments have intensified coordination on border security and trade facilitation since al-Sharaa took office last year.

“This crossing will serve as a strategic corridor for commodity trade between Iraq and Syria,” said Turki al-Mahallawi, mayor of the town of al-Qaim, where the border post is located.