Sudan’s new PM Kamil Idris demands foreign backers halt RSF’s 'criminal operations'

Newly appointed Sudanese Prime Minister Kamil Idris has urged countries supporting the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to cease “criminal operations”.

“Sudanese national security and state authority are completely upheld by eliminating the rebellion and all forms of insurgent militias, urging countries that support these militias to completely cease these criminal operations, and targeting countries that plan, finance, and cooperate in their execution,” he said in an address in Port Sudan on Sunday.

Separately, Idris said he hopes to "serve the nation and the Sudanese people with the utmost sincerity and dedication".

Sudan’s government has accused the UAE and neighbouring African states including Chad, Libya and South Sudan of supporting the RSF throughout the conflict.

Sudan plunged into civil war on April 15, 2023, when simmering tensions between the military and the RSF exploded into open warfare in the capital Khartoum and other parts of the country.

At least 24,000 people have been reported killed, though the number is likely far higher.

More than 14 million have been displaced and forced from their homes, including over 4 million who streamed into neighboring countries.

The war has been marked by atrocities including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, especially in the western region of Darfur, according to the United Nations and international rights groups.

Famine was announced in at least five locations with the epicenter in the wrecked Darfur region.