A senior Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commander has rejected reports that he defected to Sudan’s military, as competing claims about the loyalties of senior officers fuel a new dispute over information emerging from Sudan’s war.
Lieutenant General Khalid Nour al-Daim, widely known as Khalid Bresh, was reported by several Sudanese and regional media outlets to have abandoned the RSF and joined forces aligned with the SAF government in Port Sudan.
However, RSF officials dismissed the reports on Tuesday, describing them as misinformation intended to undermine confidence within the military coalition.
Al Tanwir subsequently reported that Bresh himself had rejected the defection claims and reaffirmed his commitment to the Sudan Founding Alliance (TASIS).
RSF rejects defection reports
Al-Tayyib Khalil, head of the RSF media department, told Sudanese media outlet RMC that allegations concerning Bresh were unfounded.
Khalil accused media operations aligned with the SAF government of spreading the reports to create uncertainty among RSF personnel and undermine the cohesion of TASIS forces.
He said the allegations would not affect the alliance’s military operations or its commitment to its stated objectives.
Khalil also renewed an invitation to officers and personnel serving in Sudan’s military to join TASIS, arguing that they should support the alliance’s political programme.
Bresh, according to Al Tanwir, separately dismissed suggestions that he had changed allegiance and said TASIS forces would continue their operations.
The reported remarks follow considerable speculation about his position within the RSF, where he has been identified as a senior commander.
Questions over original reports
The controversy emerged after reports circulated claiming that Bresh had joined Sudan’s military.
Sudanese Echo, one of the outlets that initially carried the allegation, subsequently issued a clarification acknowledging that it had been unable to obtain reliable confirmation of the reported defection.
The outlet said attempts to verify the information through military sources had been unsuccessful and that the available indications suggested the original claim was probably incorrect.
Al Tanwir also reported that Al Arabiya and Al Hadath had removed coverage of the alleged defection. Those reported removals could not be independently confirmed.
No independently verified public announcement from Sudan’s military establishing that Bresh had joined its ranks was available.
The dispute comes as both sides continue to issue competing accounts of battlefield developments and military defections.
TASIS, which includes the RSF and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, has been engaged in intensified operations against Sudan’s military across Blue Nile and Kordofan.
The alliance has repeatedly accused the SAF government and media outlets sympathetic to it of conducting information campaigns intended to weaken its political and military position.
The original defection allegation remains unsubstantiated, while the commander’s reported denial and statements by RSF officials have challenged its credibility.
