Sudan: Public Support for the RSF From Seven Tribal Leaders in South Darfur

Pastoralists guide their cattle to a water point provided by UNAMID in a camp for internally displaced persons (IDP) in South Darfur (File photo: Albert González Farran / UNAMID)

Nyala — Seven tribal leaders in South Darfur have declared their support for the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the war between the paramilitary RSF and the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF).

The leaders of the tribes of Beni Halba, Tarjam, Habaniya, Fallata, Misseriya, Taaysha, and Rizeigat in South Darfur expressed their support in a video statement.

They called the war "a battle between right and wrong, against the remnants of the former regime who exploit the Sudan Armed Forces in order to return to power through the army generals". They accused these "remnants" of the Al Bashir regime of "throwing the army into a war that has no basis".

The leaders called on their tribe members present in the army to join the RSF.

In the statement, they also asked for the continuation of negotiations and condemned the bombing of unarmed civilians with air power and artillery.

Cattle herders and RSF

These tribes are mainly cattle-herding tribes, predominantly of Arab origin. During the war in Darfur, non-Arab African tribes, often sedentary farmers but sometimes herders, were targeted by predominantly nomadic Arab herding tribes who banded together to form the Janjaweed militias.

These militias were later integrated into what became the RSF, whose leader Mohamed 'Hemedti' Dagalo belongs to the Rizeigat.

Tensions between herding tribes and farming tribes remained present in Darfur, especially over grazing^[1], and have now flared up again because of the war between the RSF and the army.

References

1. ^{^} over grazing (www.dabangasudan.org)