Sudan’s RSF accuses Egypt of involvement in airstrikes against its forces Conflict Matters

Egypt has denied the group’s leader’s allegations and says its soldiers are not involved in the conflict.

The leader of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has accused Egypt of being involved in airstrikes on the military group, but Cairo dismissed the claims by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.

Dagalo, who is also known as Hemedti, said that Egypt is using US bombs in its strikes targeting its soldiers near Jebel Moya, which is an important area south of the capital, Khartoum.

“If the Americans had not agreed these bombs would not have reached Sudan,” he said in a video posted online on Wednesday.

“Egypt is at war with us,” he said, accusing it of being one of the six countries for meddling in the conflict, including Iran.

The Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) recently gained strength in the fighting that broke out in April 2023, when a long-standing conflict between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Dagalo erupted in a war that has left more than 10 million people dead. people – about 8.1 million people inside Sudan and about two million have been forced to flee the country – according to United Nations data.

Dagalo also said that Egypt is providing training and drones to the SAF and al-Burhan.

Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has denied allegations that its military is involved in the ongoing war in Sudan.

“Although Egypt denies those allegations, it is asking the international community to find evidence that proves the truth of what the RSF military leader said,” the Ministry said in a statement.

Egypt has participated in joint efforts with the US and Saudi Arabia to mediate the conflict. It also hosted talks between the warring political parties earlier this year.

The SAF recently made advances in Khartoum and the southeastern province of Sennar, where an RSF commander suggested that Egyptian airstrikes on his forces pushed them back to the strategic Jebel Moya area.

Dagalo also said that Tigrayan, Eritrean, Azerbaijani and Ukrainian soldiers were present in the country.

The war in Sudan has seen waves of ethnically motivated violence that is widely blamed by the RSF, which is also accused of crimes against humanity and sexual violence.

But rights groups said the SAF had also attacked civilians, raided settlements and blocked aid. In August, the military refused to attend talks in Switzerland aimed at ending the war.

“This war will not end in one or two, three, four years. Some are talking about one million soldiers, soon we will reach one million,” said Dagalo.

The United Arab Emirates has also been accused of meddling in the war. Sudan’s ambassador to the United Nations, Al-Harith Idriss al-Harith Mohamed, accused the UAE in June of arming the RSF.

In January, a UN report compiled for the UN Security Council said it had “credible” evidence that the UAE had sent weapons to the RSF “several times a week” through Amdjarass in northern Chad. The UAE has denied the allegations.

Sudan’s military government has denied allegations by the UAE in September that it bombed the emirate’s embassy in Khartoum, targeting rival RSF.