African Union warns of huge risk of partition in Sudan

ADDIS ABABA: The African Union on Wednesday said the announcement of a parallel government in war-torn Sudan risked cleaving the country, already ravaged by nearly two years of unrest.
The conflict between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the regular Sudanese army has left tens of thousands dead and displaced more than 12 million people, in what the UN has described as an “unprecedented humanitarian crisis on the African continent.”
The war, which was initially sparked by disagreements over the integration of the RSF into the army, has torn the country apart, with the army now controlling eastern and northern Sudan and the RSF dominating almost all of western Darfur and parts of the south.
The RSF and its allies last month signed in Nairobi a “founding charter” of a parallel government.
On Wednesday the AU said in a statement that it condemned the move and “warned that such action carries a huge risk of partitioning of the country.”
The signatories to the document, seen by AFP, intend to create a “government of peace and unity” in rebel-controlled areas.
They have also pledged to “build a secular, democratic, decentralized state, based on freedom, equality and justice, without cultural, ethnic, religious or regional bias.”
In early March, the RSF and its allies signed, again in Nairobi, a “Transitional Constitution.”
The AU called on all of its member states as well as the international community “not to recognize any government or parallel entity aimed at partitioning and governing part of the territory of the Republic of Sudan or its institutions.”
The AU added it “does not recognize the so-called government or parallel entity in the Republic of Sudan.”
On Tuesday, the European Union said in a statement that the parallel government threatens Sudanese democratic aspirations, echoing a statement by the UN Security Council last week.