CAIRO: Sudan’s army chief appointed a raft of new senior officers on Monday in a reshuffle that strengthened his hold on the military as he consolidates control of central and eastern regions and fights fierce battles in the west.
Sudan’s army, which controls the government, is fighting a more than two-year civil war with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, its former partners in power, that has created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.
General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan made new appointments to the Joint Chiefs of Staff a day after announcing the retirement of several long-serving officers, some of whom have gained a measure of fame over the past two years.
Burhan, who serves as Sudan’s internationally recognized head of state, kept the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mohamed Othman Al-Hussein, but appointed a new inspector general and a new head of the air force.
Another decree from Burhan on Sunday brought all the other armed groups fighting alongside the army – including former Darfur rebels, Islamist brigades, civilians who joined the war effort and tribal militias – under his control.
Sudanese politicians praised the decision, saying it would prevent the development of other centers of power in the military, and potentially the future formation of other parallel forces like the RSF.
The RSF has its roots in Arab militias armed by the military in the early 2000s to fight in Darfur. It was allowed to develop parallel structures and supply lines.
The reshuffle comes a week after Burhan met US senior Africa adviser Massad Boulos in Switzerland, where issues including a transition to civilian rule were discussed, government sources said.
The war erupted in April 2023 when the army and the RSF clashed over plans to integrate their forces.
The RSF made quick gains in central Sudan, including the capital Khartoum, but the army pushed them westward this year, leading to an intensification in fighting in Al-Fashir in Darfur.
Sudan’s Burhan shakes up army, tightens control
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Sudan’s Burhan shakes up army, tightens control
- Sudan’s army is fighting a more than two-year civil war with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces
- General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan makes new appointments to the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Turkiye ‘closely’ monitoring Kurdish groups as Iran war rages
- “We are closely following PJAK’s activities in Iran and regional developments,” the Turkish defense ministry said
- “Turkiye supports the territorial integrity of neighboring states, not their fragmentation“
ANKARA: Turkiye’s defense ministry on Thursday said it was “closely” following the actions of Kurdish militant groups over concerns they are being drawn into the war, reportedly by US-led efforts to destabilize Iran.
The conflict began on Saturday when US-Israeli strikes hit Iran, which retaliated with strikes across the region, with Tehran on Wednesday saying it had hit Kurdish militant groups based in Iraq.
The move came as reports suggested Washington was looking to arm Kurdish guerrillas to infiltrate Iran — a move that would likely raise hackles in Turkiye.
“We are closely following PJAK’s activities in Iran and regional developments,” the Turkish defense ministry said of an Iran-based Kurdish group which is an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdish militant PKK.
“Activities of groups like the PJAK terrorist organization, which promote ethnic separatism, negatively affect not only Iran’s security but also the overall peace and stability of the region,” the ministry said.
“Turkiye supports the territorial integrity of neighboring states, not their fragmentation.”
On February 22, the PJAK (the Kurdistan Free Life Party) and four other exiled Kurdish groups announced a political coalition to seek the overthrow of the Islamic Republic and ultimately to secure Kurdish self-determination.
Spread across Turkiye, Syria, Iraq and Iran, the Kurds are one of Iran’s most important non-Persian ethnic minority groups and have long supported anti-government protests in the Islamic Republic.
Turkiye has been seeking to end its conflict with the PKK, which formally disbanded last year after four decades of violence that claimed some 50,000 lives.
Although most PKK-linked groups embraced the call to disarm, the PJAK did not, with Ankara concerned any regional unrest could embolden recalcitrant Kurdish separatists.
In late January, following a wave of deadly anti-government protests in Iran, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi that “the complete neutralization of PJAK constitutes an urgent necessity for Iran’s security.”
