Sudanese paramilitary group says its forming a rival government

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Sudanese paramilitary group says its forming a rival government

2025-04-17 04:13 Last Updated At：04:21

CAIRO (AP) — A notorious paramilitary group fighting against the Sudanese military said it's forming a rival government that will rule parts of the country controlled by the group, including the western Darfur region where the United Nations says recent attacks by the group have killed over 400 people.

Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, commander of the Rapid Support Forces, announced the move in a speech on Tuesday as the northeastern African nation marked two years of civil war.

“On this anniversary, we proudly declare the establishment of the Government of Peace and Unity,” Dagalo said in a recorded speech, adding that other groups have joined the RSF-led administration, including a faction of the Sudan’s Liberation Movement, which controls parts of Kordofan region.

Dagalo, who is sanctioned by the United States over accusations that his forces committed genocide in Darfur, said that he and his allies were also establishing “a 15-member Presidential Council” representing all of Sudan’s regions.

The RSF has suffered multiple battlefield setbacks, losing the capital of Khartoum and other cities in recent months but has since regrouped in its stronghold in Darfur. That raises concerns that Sudan is heading towards partition — or a prolonged conflict like in neighboring Libya, where two rival administrations have been fighting for power for over a decade.

The U.N. said Wednesday it was extremely concerned over the RSF’s move and that “preserving Sudan’s unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity is a fundamental principle for a sustainable resolution of the conflict and the long-term stability of the country.”

“The formation of a parallel government would not bring Sudan any closer to a resolution of the conflict,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said, calling on the international community to find ways to help the Sudanese people end the war.

Many countries, including the U.S., have rejected the RSF efforts to establish an administration in areas they control and condemned the signing by the paramilitary group and its allies what they called “transitional constitution” in a Kenya-hosted conference in February.

Sudan was plunged into chaos on April 15, 2023 when simmering tensions between the military and the RSF exploded into open warfare across the country.

Since then, at least 24,000 people have been killed, though the number is likely far higher, and about 13 million have been driven from their homes, including 4 million who have crossed into neighboring countries.

The fighting has 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 U.N. and international rights groups.

Dagalo’s announcement came days after his forces and allied militias rampaged through two famine-hit camps, which shelter some 700,000 Sudanese who fled their homes, in North Darfur province.

The multi-day attack on the Zamzam and Abu Shouk camps killed more than 400 people, including 12 aid workers and dozens of children, the U.N. humanitarian office said, citing local sources.

Dujarric said Tuesday the attack forced up to 400,000 people to flee the Zamzam camp, which has become inaccessible to aid workers after the RSF and allied militias took control of it.

Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

Venezuela's government accuses US of attacking civilian, military installations in multiple states

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s government accused the United States of attacking civilian and military installations in multiple states after at least seven explosions and low-flying aircraft were heard around 2 a.m. local time Saturday in the capital, Caracas.

The Pentagon and White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Smoke could be seen rising from the hangar of a military base in Caracas. Another military installation in the capital was without power.

People in various neighborhoods rushed to the streets. Some could be seen in the distance from various areas of Caracas.

“The whole ground shook. This is horrible. We heard explosions and planes,” said Carmen Hidalgo, a 21-year-old office worker, her voice trembling. She was walking briskly with two relatives, returning from a birthday party. “We felt like the air was hitting us.”

Venezuela’s government, in the statement, called on its supporters to take to the streets.

“People to the streets!” the statement said. “The Bolivarian Government calls on all social and political forces in the country to activate mobilization plans and repudiate this imperialist attack.”

The statement added that President Nicolás Maduro had “ordered all national defense plans to be implemented” and declared “a state of external disturbance.”

This comes as the U.S. military has been targeting, in recent days, alleged drug-smuggling boats. On Friday, Venezuela said it was open to negotiating an agreement with the U.S. to combat drug trafficking.

Maduro also said in a pretaped interview aired Thursday that the U.S. wants to force a government change in Venezuela and gain access to its vast oil reserves through the monthslong pressure campaign that began with a massive military deployment to the Caribbean Sea in August.

Maduro has been charged with narco-terrorism in the U.S. The CIA was behind a drone strike last week at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels in what was the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the U.S. began strikes on boats in September.

U.S. President Donald Trump for months had threatened that he could soon order strikes on targets on Venezuelan land. The U.S. has also seized sanctioned oil tankers off the coast of Venezuela, and Trump ordered a blockade of others in a move that seemed designed to put a tighter chokehold on the South American country’s economy.

The U.S. military has been attacking boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean since early September. As of Friday, the number of known boat strikes is 35 and the number of people killed is at least 115, according to numbers announced by the Trump administration.

They followed a major buildup of American forces in the waters off South America, including the arrival in November of the nation’s most advanced aircraft carrier, which added thousands more troops to what was already the largest military presence in the region in generations.

Trump has justified the boat strikes as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the U.S. and asserted that the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels.

Meanwhile, Iranian state television reported on the explosions in Caracas on Saturday, showing images of the Venezuelan capital. Iran has been close to Venezuela for years, in part due to their shared enmity of the U.S.