Sudan’s embattled paramilitary group, Rapid Support Forces (RSF), cancelled a planned press conference in Nairobi at the eleventh hour on Monday, the result of objections from local authorities over the potential PR disaster of hosting a sanctioned entity, sources said.
RSF, including its leader Mohamed Hamdan Daglo ‘Hemedti,’ now sanctioned by the US for overseeing genocide in Darfur, has enjoyed unfettered access to Nairobi because of long-standing friendships between Hemedti and political leaders in Kenya.
On Monday, the paramilitary group had called for a press conference and a large number of local and foreign journalists had gathered at the Radisson Blue hotel from noon for a 1 o’clock presser when it was abruptly cancelled.
The media teams had waited for more than an hour, during which the group’s leaders were summoned to a meeting, after which they announced that the press conference had been cancelled and would be rescheduled for another day.
The head of the RSF delegation, Omar Hamdam Ahmed, was cagey when asked to give reasons for the cancellation.
“This is the problem of Africa, the dictatorship,” Ahmed said without clarifying.
But it emerged that the Kenya government forced the group to cancel the event for fear of condemnation, especially from the US government, which imposed sanctions on the group and then asked countries to push for an end to violence in Sudan.
The EastAfrican later gathered that the RSF had been summoned to a private room by unnamed Kenyan government officials who ordered the cancellation of the press conference.
Kenya has not commented publicly whether it allows sanctioned groups to conduct press events in the country. The RSF is not the first such group.
In December 2023, Nairobi controversially allowed Congolese sanctioned rebels of the Congo River Alliance to hold a press conference in which they launched a bid to attack Kinshasa. The issue led to frosty relations between Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo that remains to date.
The RSF has been fighting the Sudan Armed Forces since April 2023, a war that has claimed more than 23,000 lives, displaced 13 million people and rendered nearly half of the country’s population at risk of starvation.
But, while both sides have committed atrocities, the US last week corroborated earlier rights watchdogs’ reports that RSF had raped, ethnically cleansed as well as blocked humanitarian access to civilians, especially in Darfur. The group is also accused of murdering civilians not amenable to its movement.
The Monday briefing would have been the second time RSF was holding a press conference in Nairobi. The first was on November 18, 2024, when the group held a press briefing at the Pan African Hotel, where they accused the Sudanese army led by Abdel Fatah al-Burhan of undermining peace efforts by refusing to attend many of the peace talks organised by various countries, including Saudi Arabia and the US.
The US State Department said that the sanctions were imposed due to Gen Daglo’s role in systematic atrocities committed against the Sudanese people. The department also sanctioned seven RSF-owned companies located in the United Arab Emirates and one individual for their roles in procuring weapons for the RSF.
“In addition, we are today announcing Hemedti’s designation under Section 7031(c) for his involvement in gross violations of human rights in Darfur, namely the mass rape of civilians by RSF soldiers under his control. As a result of this designation, Hemedti and his immediate family members are ineligible for entry to the United States,” the US State Department said in a statement.
The publicity crisis for RSF means that the group has been unable to support its version of events after some social media platforms also removed accounts linked to RSF.
This has allowed the SAF to market itself abroad as a genuine government of Sudan. SAF leader al-Burhan was on Monday in Sierra Leone and Guinea Bissau, his first tour of West Africa during the war. A dispatch from Sierra Leone said they had discussed ways and means of bringing peace to Sudan. Sierra Leone is currently a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.
On the battle front, the SAF has been recapturing key areas that were previously controlled by the RSF. Over the past two months, the RSF militia has lost the ability to launch attacks or advance and has been reduced to defending its positions.
These include the city of Sinja, the capital of Sennar State, and the expulsion of the rebellion; Mount Muya, which represents a strategic location linking the states of White Nile and Kordofan with the States of Gezira and Sinnar; the city of Dinder and several rural areas in Blue Nile State.
It has also liberated the city of Wad Madani, the capital of Gezira State and the number two most important city in Sudan. In North Kordofan State, the city of Umm Rawaba, the second most important city after the state capital of El Obeid, which has been controlled by the armed forces since the beginning of the RSF rebellion in April 2023, was also liberated.
The army has also been able to secure all roads that connect North Kordofan with White Nile and South Kordofan. In Khartoum, all of Omdurman and most of Bahri were liberated, and the oil refinery is under siege, although still controlled by the RSF.
Since the war began in April 2023, various human rights and humanitarian organisations have often accused RSF of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity such as mass murder, rape and targeting certain ethnic groups for cleansing, especially in Darfur.
RSF has portrayed the incidents as tactical retreats rather than defeats. A statement by the SAF described them as victories achieved without direct fighting after RSF troops withdrew from the city and other strategic locations in Gezira.
Wad Madani holds exceptional importance as the administrative and commercial centre of Gezira State and a major agricultural hub in Sudan. Located approximately 186 kilometres southeast of Khartoum, the city serves as a critical link between the capital and eastern and southern regions.
RSF control had disrupted supply routes and posed security challenges that hampered trade and public services. Recapturing the city, therefore, gives the army a strategic advantage in securing key routes and ensuring the flow of supplies.
RSF leader Hemedti commented briefly on Friday, stating, “We lost a battle but not the war,” signalling that the RSF remains committed to a protracted conflict with alternative strategies to offset its losses.
Beyond Wad Madani, RSF withdrawals from other parts of Gezira has allowed the army to extend its control. These areas include critical road networks connecting Khartoum to the eastern states, improving logistical conditions for the military. This territorial expansion represents a strategic gain that could strengthen the army’s position in the next phases of the conflict.
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