A secret understanding has reportedly been reached between General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and leaders of the Joint Force to absorb Islamist armed groups, including the Al-Baraa bin Malik Brigade, into the structure of allied armed movements, according to a report by Al-Rakoba.
The outlet cited informed and military sources as saying the arrangement involves a coordinated plan to merge Islamist brigades and militias into the Joint Force, which is led by the Justice and Equality Movement, the Sudan Liberation Movement and other armed groups fighting alongside General al-Burhan’s SAF.
The reported move is being presented by sources as both a political manoeuvre and a military restructuring effort. Its main aim, they said, is to provide ideological fighters with a formal legal and military cover at a time of rising international scrutiny and direct US sanctions.
Sources close to battlefield developments told Al-Rakoba that the plan was also driven by urgent military needs in Darfur, where the Joint Force has reportedly suffered heavy losses during fighting against the Rapid Support Forces in El Fasher and other parts of the region.
The report comes after the US Treasury imposed sanctions on the Al-Baraa bin Malik Brigade, describing it as an Islamist militia accused of fuelling Sudan’s war, forming dangerous battlefield alliances and threatening peace and stability.
The brigade, led by Al-Misbah Abu Zeid, has become one of the most prominent Islamist fighting groups aligned with General al-Burhan’s SAF since the outbreak of the war in April 2023.
The report also linked the alleged restructuring to efforts to shield figures already targeted by US sanctions, including Finance Minister and Justice and Equality Movement leader Gibril Ibrahim, who was sanctioned over accusations related to financing the war effort and helping prolong the conflict.
According to Al-Rakoba, the arrangement would seek to change the legal and political status of these fighters by granting them military ranks, identity cards and formal positions within joint operations rooms or armed movements that are recognised under the Juba Peace Agreement.
Such a move, the report said, would give Islamist fighters a degree of official military legitimacy and make it harder to target them through asset freezes or future international action.
Observers cited in the report said the plan would allow the Joint Force to serve as a social and political front for Islamist formations such as Al-Baraa bin Malik and the Sudan Shield Forces, placing them under an umbrella that receives official funding and benefits from recognition granted through earlier peace agreements.
The alleged plan would also enable Islamist field commanders to take senior administrative and operational roles inside a unified military structure, allowing them to maintain influence and access state logistics and financing under the banner of the so-called “Battle of Dignity.”
Political analysts warned that any rapid and disorderly integration of ideological and tribal battalions into General al-Burhan’s SAF or allied forces would risk reproducing the model of the “shadow brigades” and Popular Defence Forces used under the former regime of Omar al-Bashir.
They said the reported plan could further blur the line between state institutions and Islamist paramilitary networks, deepening concerns that the war is being used to rehabilitate former regime structures rather than dismantle them.
