Sudan Liberation Movement leader Minni Arko Minnawi has reportedly acknowledged that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) assumed responsibility for protecting civilians and securing Sudan’s borders after the country’s military failed to fulfil those duties.
Speaking during a meeting with members of the Sudanese community in Malaysia on Saturday, Minnawi said the RSF had stepped into a security vacuum left by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), according to Sudanese newspaper Assayha.
The newspaper reported that Minnawi credited the RSF with protecting citizens and border areas where Sudan’s military had failed to provide adequate security.
However, other Sudanese media outlets presented a different account of his remarks, reporting that Minnawi attributed the emergence of the RSF to the state’s longstanding failure to establish a professional national army capable of protecting Sudan’s borders and citizens without discrimination.
Those reports said Minnawi called for rebuilding Sudan’s state institutions and establishing a unified military based on a national doctrine.
The remarks have attracted attention because Minnawi, who leads a faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement, has aligned his forces with Sudan’s military in the conflict against the RSF.
His movement is part of the Joint Force of armed groups that have fought alongside the military since the conflict erupted in April 2023.
Minnawi has previously criticised the existence of armed formations outside state institutions and called for a unified national army.
The precise wording of his latest remarks could not be independently verified, with Sudanese news organisations publishing conflicting accounts of his statements.
