Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and its allies have signed a constitution paving the way for the formation of a parallel government, a member of its coalition said Tuesday.
“The constitutional document was signed in Nairobi last night by all parties involved in the signing of the founding charter,” Ahmed Tuqud Lisan, a member of the preparatory committee of the Sudan Founding Alliance told AFP.
For nearly two years, the RSF and the regular army have been in a devastating war that has uprooted more than 12 million people and caused what the United Nations calls the world’s worst hunger and displacement crises.
Last week, the RSF and its alliance of political and military partners signed a charter vowing to establish a “government of peace and unity” in rebel-controlled areas of Sudan.
The “transitional constitution” signed on Monday documents the “tasks of the transitional period, the decentralised governing system and the structures of the executive authority,” Lisan said.
The next step would be to form the government, which will “be announced inside Sudan”, he added.
Kenya has been criticised for hosting the RSF and its allies, with Sudan’s army-aligned government recalling its ambassador in protest last month.
Sudan’s foreign ministry accused Kenyan President William Ruto of acting on “his commercial and personal interests with the militia’s regional sponsors”.
It is considered a reference to the United Arab Emirates, accused by Sudan and Western powers of backing the RSF, which it denies.
Kenya signed an economic partnership agreement with the UAE in January.
The RSF’s constitution, seen by AFP, was signed by 24 signatories including RSF deputy Abdel Rahim Daglo.
The war between the RSF and the army has torn the country in two, with the army controlling the north and east, while the RSF holds nearly all of the western region of Darfur and swathes of the south.
