RSF Leader Hemedti Calls for Replacement of Sudan’s Army Leadership

An image grab taken from a handout video posted on the Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) page on Twitter, rebranded as X, on July 28, 2023 shows its commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo addressing RSF fighters at an undisclosed location. (Rapid Support Forces / AFP)
An image grab taken from a handout video posted on the Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) page on Twitter, rebranded as X, on July 28, 2023 shows its commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo addressing RSF fighters at an undisclosed location. (Rapid Support Forces / AFP)
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RSF Leader Hemedti Calls for Replacement of Sudan’s Army Leadership

An image grab taken from a handout video posted on the Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) page on Twitter, rebranded as X, on July 28, 2023 shows its commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo addressing RSF fighters at an undisclosed location. (Rapid Support Forces / AFP)
An image grab taken from a handout video posted on the Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) page on Twitter, rebranded as X, on July 28, 2023 shows its commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo addressing RSF fighters at an undisclosed location. (Rapid Support Forces / AFP)

Sudanese paramilitary leader General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, known as Hemedti, called for the replacement of army leadership on Friday in his first on-camera appearance since fighting broke out.

The fighting, broke out in April as the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) vied for power amid a planned transition towards civilian rule, has led to the displacement of more than 3 million people and thrown the country into one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

At least 580 civilians have been killed just in Khartoum, the capital, according to local volunteers, a Reuters tally found.

The video of Hemedti was posted to the paramilitary group's Facebook page showing him surrounded by cheering members of the RSF, as he apologized to the Sudanese people for the impact of the ongoing conflict.

"We tell our brothers in the armed forces, if you want a quick solution ... change your leadership and we'll come to an agreement in 72 hours."

Hemedti also warned that Ahmed Haroun, an ex-official under former President Omar al-Bashir who escaped from prison in late April, was leading the security committee in eastern parts of the country where the army is in control.

In previous audio messages, Hemedti has accused the army of taking orders from loyalists of the former president, who was in power for almost three decades.



US Military Ends Gaza Floating Pier Mission to Bring Aid to Palestinians by Sea

A truck carries humanitarian aid across Trident Pier, a temporary pier to deliver aid, off the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, near the Gaza coast, June 25, 2024. (Reuters)
A truck carries humanitarian aid across Trident Pier, a temporary pier to deliver aid, off the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, near the Gaza coast, June 25, 2024. (Reuters)
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US Military Ends Gaza Floating Pier Mission to Bring Aid to Palestinians by Sea

A truck carries humanitarian aid across Trident Pier, a temporary pier to deliver aid, off the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, near the Gaza coast, June 25, 2024. (Reuters)
A truck carries humanitarian aid across Trident Pier, a temporary pier to deliver aid, off the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, near the Gaza coast, June 25, 2024. (Reuters)

The US military announced on Wednesday that its mission to install and operate a temporary, floating pier off the coast of Gaza was complete, formally ending an extraordinary but troubled effort to bring humanitarian aid to Palestinians.

The pier, announced by President Joe Biden during a televised address to Congress in March, was a massive endeavor that took about 1,000 US forces to execute. Aid began flowing via the pier to Gaza in May, an operation aimed at helping avert famine after months of war between Israel and Hamas.

But bad weather and distribution challenges inside Gaza limited the effectiveness of what the US military says was its biggest aid delivery effort ever in the Middle East.

"The maritime surge mission involving the pier is complete. So there's no more need to use the pier," Navy Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, the deputy commander of US Central Command, told a news briefing.

Cooper said efforts to distribute aid to Gaza arriving by sea would now shift to the established port of Ashdod in Israel.

"Our assessment is that the temporary pier has achieved its intended effect to surge a very high volume of aid into Gaza and ensure that aid reaches the civilians in Gaza in a quick manner," Cooper said, adding that nearly 20 million pounds of aid was delivered to Gaza.

The pier became a sore point in Congress, where Republicans branded it a political stunt by Biden, who was under pressure from fellow Democrats to do more to aid Palestinians after months of staunchly supporting Israel's punishing war on Hamas.

"This chapter might be over in President Biden’s mind, but the national embarrassment that this project has caused is not. The only miracle is that this doomed-from-the-start operation did not cost any American lives," Senator Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said.

While the pier brought in sorely needed aid to a marshalling area on Gaza's shore, the 1,200-foot-long (370-metre-long) floating pier had to be removed multiple times because of bad weather.

The pier has not been used since June, when it was moved to Ashdod port because of bad weather. It was unclear if the US military had started dismantling the pier at Ashdod before its expected return to United States.

The UN World Food Program paused operations at the pier in June because of security concerns, causing aid to pile up on the Gaza shore.

The United Nations has long said maritime deliveries were no substitute for land access. It said land routes needed to remain the focus of aid operations in the enclave, where a global hunger monitor last month said there is a high risk of famine.