Sudan Forms New Joint Force to Maintain Security in the Capital, Nationwide

An internally displaced Sudanese family poses for a photograph outside their makeshift shelter within the Kalma camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Darfur, Sudan April 26, 2019. (Reuters)
An internally displaced Sudanese family poses for a photograph outside their makeshift shelter within the Kalma camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Darfur, Sudan April 26, 2019. (Reuters)
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Sudan Forms New Joint Force to Maintain Security in the Capital, Nationwide

An internally displaced Sudanese family poses for a photograph outside their makeshift shelter within the Kalma camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Darfur, Sudan April 26, 2019. (Reuters)
An internally displaced Sudanese family poses for a photograph outside their makeshift shelter within the Kalma camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Darfur, Sudan April 26, 2019. (Reuters)

Sudan’s Transitional Sovereignty Council has announced a plan to create a joint force to “crack down on insecurity” and consolidate the state’s authority in the capital and across the country.

The peace agreement signed between the Sudanese government and the armed movements (the Revolutionary Front) in Juba on Oct. 3 last year stipulated the formation of a force to protect civilians in Darfur, consisting of 12,000 soldiers, to replace the withdrawing international peacekeeping forces (UNAMID).

However, in wake of the tensions that erupted in al-Junaynah area in West Darfur, where dozens of people were killed in tribal conflicts, the parties decided to increase the force to 20,000 soldiers.

A statement issued by the media branch of the Transitional Sovereign Council stated that the joint force would consist of “armed forces, Rapid Support Forces and police officers, in addition to the General Intelligence Service, the representative of the Attorney General, and representatives of the parties to the peace process.”

The statement asked the governors of Sudanese states to coordinate with the relevant military and security agencies, including state and regional security committees, to form similar forces.

Khartoum has witnessed lately several security incidents, including looting, kidnapping and road blocking in neighborhoods driven by alleged revolution purposes, which the prime minister described as attempts to destabilize security.

Tribal conflicts intensified in some areas of the country, in particular Darfur and eastern Sudan. Dozens of people were killed and others injured, especially in West Darfur and Red Sea states.



French Minister in Western Sahara to Back Moroccan Sovereignty

This handout photograph released by Morocco's Ministry of Youth, Culture, and Communication on February 17, 2025 shows Morocco's Minister of Youth, Culture, and Communication Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid (C-R) and France's Culture Minister Rachida Dati (C-L) visiting Tarfaya, in southern Morocco. (Moroccan Culture Ministry / AFP)
This handout photograph released by Morocco's Ministry of Youth, Culture, and Communication on February 17, 2025 shows Morocco's Minister of Youth, Culture, and Communication Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid (C-R) and France's Culture Minister Rachida Dati (C-L) visiting Tarfaya, in southern Morocco. (Moroccan Culture Ministry / AFP)
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French Minister in Western Sahara to Back Moroccan Sovereignty

This handout photograph released by Morocco's Ministry of Youth, Culture, and Communication on February 17, 2025 shows Morocco's Minister of Youth, Culture, and Communication Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid (C-R) and France's Culture Minister Rachida Dati (C-L) visiting Tarfaya, in southern Morocco. (Moroccan Culture Ministry / AFP)
This handout photograph released by Morocco's Ministry of Youth, Culture, and Communication on February 17, 2025 shows Morocco's Minister of Youth, Culture, and Communication Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid (C-R) and France's Culture Minister Rachida Dati (C-L) visiting Tarfaya, in southern Morocco. (Moroccan Culture Ministry / AFP)

French Culture Minister Rachida Dati began a visit on Monday to disputed Western Sahara where she will meet officials and open a French cultural center in a show of support for Moroccan sovereignty over the desert territory.

The long-frozen conflict, dating back to 1975, pits Morocco, which considers the region its own, against the Algerian-backed Polisario Front independence movement.

"This is a strong symbolic and political moment," Dati told Moroccan reporters. Her nation in July became the second permanent UN Security Council member after the US to back Morocco's position.

French President Emmanuel Macron visited Rabat in October telling parliament that Western Sahara was Moroccan, while his foreign minister promised to expand France’s consular presence to the territory.

Economic deals worth over $10 billion were signed during the presidential visit, following which Morocco mediated the release of four French spies held in Burkina Faso.

French support for Rabat over Western Sahara irks Algiers.

Morocco has also won backing from Western Sahara's former colonial power Spain, as well as Israel and more than two dozen African and Arab nations.

The Polisario in 2020 withdrew from a UN-brokered truce but the conflict remains of low intensity.