Hemedti Threatens to Establish Authority based in Khartoum

Commander of the Rapid Support Forces, Mohammad Hamdan Dagalo (File- Reuters)
Commander of the Rapid Support Forces, Mohammad Hamdan Dagalo (File- Reuters)
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Hemedti Threatens to Establish Authority based in Khartoum

Commander of the Rapid Support Forces, Mohammad Hamdan Dagalo (File- Reuters)
Commander of the Rapid Support Forces, Mohammad Hamdan Dagalo (File- Reuters)

The commander of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, “Hemedti,” threatened to form a government in areas under his control, which would be based in Khartoum, in the event that Army Commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan announced the formation of a “war government” in Port Sudan in the east of the country.

In an audio message published on X on Thursday, Hemedti was heard saying that if the “remnants” (as in supporters of President Al-Bashir’s regime and the Islamists) form a government in Port Sudan, he would immediately begin conducting broad consultations to form a real authority in the areas under his wide and extended control, with Khartoum as its capital.

Hemedti warned against what he called attempts to form a government in one part of Sudan, and considered it a step to divide the country.

He said: “Despite our forces controlling most of Sudan, we have not announced a government, because we are not seeking authority and because we are committed to preserving the unity of Sudan’s land and people.”

Hemedti accused Al-Burhan and the supporters of the former regime and the Muslim Brotherhood of collecting groups of mercenaries, who pose a threat to neighboring countries and the Red Sea.

He called on the political and civil forces “aspiring to peace and democracy to bear their responsibility by standing up to attempts to divide Sudan”, stressing his desire to end the war peacefully and form a legitimate civil authority to run the country.

“We call on all the people of Sudan for a broad dialogue on how to preserve the unity of the country and spare it the scourges of division and the continuation of war, and thwart the plans of the evil remnants.”

Hemedti warned neighboring countries and the regional and international communities of what he called dangerous attempts to divide Sudan and bring in “mercenaries” to participate in the fighting, thus destabilize regional and international security



UN: More Than One Million Syrians Returned to Their Homes Since Assad’s Fall 

A boy looks out from inside a tent in al-Roj camp, Syria, on January 10, 2020. (Reuters)
A boy looks out from inside a tent in al-Roj camp, Syria, on January 10, 2020. (Reuters)
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UN: More Than One Million Syrians Returned to Their Homes Since Assad’s Fall 

A boy looks out from inside a tent in al-Roj camp, Syria, on January 10, 2020. (Reuters)
A boy looks out from inside a tent in al-Roj camp, Syria, on January 10, 2020. (Reuters)

More than one million people have returned to their homes in Syria after the overthrow of Bashar Al-Assad on Dec. 8, including 800,000 people displaced inside the country and 280,000 refugees who came back from abroad, the UN said on Tuesday.

“Since the fall of the regime in Syria, we estimate that 280,000 Syrian refugees and more than 800,000 people displaced inside the country have returned to their homes,” Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, wrote on the X social media platform.

“Early recovery efforts must be bolder and faster, though otherwise people will leave again: this is now urgent!” he said.

Last January, the UN's high commissioner for refugees urged the international community to back Syria's reconstruction efforts to facilitate the return of millions of refugees.

“Lift the sanctions, open up space for reconstruction. If we don't do it now at the beginning of the transition, we waste a lot of time,” Grandi told a press conference in Ankara, after returning from a trip in Lebanon and Syria.

At a meeting in mid-February, some 20 countries, including Arab nations, Türkiye, Britain, France, Germany, Canada and Japan agreed at the close of a conference in Paris to “work together to ensure the success of the transition in a process led by Syria.”

The meeting's final statement also pledged support for Syria's new authorities in the fight against “all forms of terrorism and extremism.”

Meanwhile, AFP reported on Tuesday that displaced people are returning to their neighborhoods in Homs, where rebels first took up arms to fight Assad's crackdown on protests in 2011, only to find them in ruins.

In Homs, the Syrian military had besieged and bombarded opposition areas such as Baba Amr, where US journalist Marie Colvin was killed in a bombing in 2012.

“The house is burned down, there are no windows, no electricity,” said Duaa Turki at her dilapidated home in Khaldiyeh neighborhood.

“We removed the rubble, laid a carpet” and moved in, said the 30-year-old mother of four.

“Despite the destruction, we're happy to be back. This is our neighborhood and our land.”

Duaa’s husband spends his days looking for a job, she said, while they hope humanitarian workers begin distributing aid to help the family survive.