The Sudanese army issued an ultimatum Thursday to the rapid reaction force units, demanding that they withdraw within the next 24 hours from Merowe, located in the country's northern province, a Sudanese army spokesman said.
"The country's army has given the rapid reaction forces 24 hours to withdraw from Merowe," said the military spokesman, quoted by Al Arabiya TV. "If our demand is not met," he added, "we [the Sudanese army] will force them to do so."
According to a Sudanese military source, the special forces moved numerous units to Merowe, some 200 kilometers from the capital Khartoum, without notifying Sudanese army commanders of the redeployment. There is no indication of the reasons for the concentration of the rapid reaction force in this region.
For his part, a spokesman for the special forces said that "the presence of the rapid reaction force in the Northern province is part of their duties and the deployment of units in Merowe is aimed, like in other regions of the country, to ensure stability and security."
According to Al Arabiya, the army is currently pulling in significant reinforcements to Merowe in order to "prevent any possible security chaos."
Disagreements between the Sudanese army under the command of Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who is also head of the Sovereignty council (the country's governing body), and the rapid reaction force formations led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemetti), who also serves as vice chairman of the Sovereignty council, are the main reason for the permanent delay in signing the final agreement between the military and civilian forces for a settlement in the country. So far, the parties (army and special forces) have different views on the future security structure and the principles for forming a unified joint armed force. The disagreement mainly revolves around two main points: the timing of the integration of the special forces into the unified army, and whether a professional military or a civilian president of the country should be the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
Situation in Sudan
On the night of October 25, 2021, the military arrested Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok of Sudan along with a group of ministers and party leaders. The head of the Sovereignty council of the Republic, al-Burhan, dissolved the supreme authorities and declared a state of emergency in the country, suspending several articles of the constitutional declaration, which defined the relationship between the military and the civil authorities.
At the end of November 2022, Hamdok again headed the government, but on January 2, amid political crisis, he announced his resignation, explaining it by the fact that there were serious conflicts and contradictions among the parties during the transition period. Mass protests have continued in Sudan, with demonstrators demanding the immediate and complete removal of the army from political life, considering what has happened a military coup.
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Photo: Christopher Michel/Creative Commons 2.0
Based on materials from TASS