Sudan's paramilitary chief announces rival government of 'peace and unity'

A paramilitary group fighting the Sudanese military has announced it is forming a rival government, as the country's civil war passes its second anniversary.

General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commander of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), said their administration will rule parts of the country controlled by the group. "On this anniversary, we proudly declare the establishment of the Government of Peace and Unity," he said in a recorded speech on Tuesday.

Gen Dagalo, whose troops have been fighting Sudan's Armed Forces (SAF), is accused of committing genocide in the western Darfur region, where the United Nations (UN) says recent attacks by the RSF have killed more than 400 people. During his speech, he also pledged to establish "a 15-member Presidential Council" with his allies, representing all of Sudan's regions.

Other groups include a faction of Sudan's Liberation Movement, which controls parts of the Kordofan region. On Tuesday, the UK, the European Union and other countries pledged more than £813m at a conference in London, but failed to produce a diplomatic breakthrough to end what the UN calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

In recent months, the RSF has suffered multiple battlefield setbacks, losing the capital Khartoum and other urban cities. But the paramilitary group has since regrouped in its stronghold in the sprawling region of Darfur.

Gen Dagalo's forces and allied militias recently attacked two famine-hit camps, Zamzam and Abu Shouk, which shelter some 700,000 people in North Darfur province. The UN said local sources reported that more than 400 people, including 12 aid workers and dozens of children, were killed, and hundreds of thousands have fled the camps.

Sky News has also verified video of an execution at Zamzam. Many countries, including the US, have rejected the RSF's efforts to establish an administration in areas they control.

"Attempts to establish a parallel government are unhelpful for peace and security for the country, and risk further instability and de facto partition of the country," the US state department's bureau of African affairs posted on X in March. At the time, the RSF and its allies signed what they called a "transitional constitution" at a conference hosted in Kenya.

Read more from Sky News:Sudan summit lacks ambitionSudan army retakes Khartoum Sudan was plunged into chaos in 2023 when tensions between the military and the RSF exploded into open warfare across the country. Since then, at least 24,000 people have been killed, about 13 million people have been displaced, and parts of the country have been pushed into famine.

The fighting has also been marked by atrocities including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, especially in Darfur, according to the UN and international rights groups..