RSF’s Seizure of the Al-Muthalth (triangle) Area: New Falsehoods using Irregular Migration this time

RSF's Seizure of the Al-Muthalth (triangle) Area: New Falsehoods using Irregular Migration this time

Amgad Fareid Eltayeb 

June 2025

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia's recent statement announcing its seizure of the Al-Muthalth border area—claiming that control over this region adjacent to Egypt and Libya will aid in combating irregular migration—evokes the old Sudanese proverb: "A bankrupt merchant rummages through his old ledgers." During the Bashir era, the RSF similarly exploited the specter of irregular migration to bolster its image and present itself as a partner to the international community, particularly European states, from which it secured considerable support under this pretext. Find more details on this can be found here (http://sudanseen.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-judas-face-of-europe-what-can-you.html).  

This blatant fallacy is one that resonates with both naïve and malicious circles within the international community, which have previously adopted distorted narratives of Sudan's war—framing it as a campaign against Islamists, portraying the RSF as aligned with civilian rule, democracy, or the December Revolution camp, absolving the militia of responsibility for instigating the conflict, and other such disingenuous claims. These narratives are aggressively promoted by opportunistic politicians seeking power through the barrel of the RSF's gun, even at the cost of Sudanese blood and the UAE's brazen occupation of Sudan.  

The construction of this fallacy serves a direct purpose: to legitimize the RSF's war and atrocities, as well as to justify alignment with its rhetoric and positions. This stance is shared by the militia's external Emirati patron and its domestic allies, including factions within the Ta'sis (Establishment) camp and certain Sudanese political forces—such as some of those in Sumoud coalition—that have persistently obscured the RSF's true nature as a fascist militia, one whose predatory looting and systematic brutality have been ingrained in its DNA since its inception under the Bashir regime as his personal protection force.  

To dispel the deliberate obfuscation surrounding Sudan's war, it may be useful to revisit some incontrovertible historical facts about the RSF:  

- The RSF is a fascist-design militia established by the Bashir regime in 2013 as a rebranding of the Janjaweed, intended to serve as a personal security force to suppress social and political unrest, as well as potential coups from within the military. For this reason, it was placed under the supervision of Sudan's security apparatus, directly overseen by Taha Osman Al-Hussein, then Bashir's office director and now an advisor to the UAE.  

- The RSF institutionalized its presence in Khartoum with the massacre of September 2013 protesters, killing over 200 unarmed demonstrators in the streets of the capital (for further details, see: https://www.hrw.org/report/2014/04/21/we-stood-they-opened-fire/killings-and-arrests-sudans-security-forces-during).  

- Between 2013 and 2015, the RSF committed countless atrocities—including rape, looting, identity-based killings, mass executions, torture, village burnings, and forced displacement—across North and South Darfur, Jebel Marra, South Kordofan, and other regions. The most egregious of these were the "Decisive Summer" operations (February–May 2014) in North Darfur, followed by "Decisive Summer 2" (January–May 2015) against civilians and forces loyal to Abdul Wahid Nur in Jebel Marra, and the RSF's assault on Golo in 2015 (despite it being under Bashir's control at the time), which featured mass rape, arson of public buildings, and systematic executions. For additional documentation see here: (https://www.hrw.org/report/2015/09/09/men-no-mercy/rapid-support-forces-attacks-against-civilians-darfur-sudan)).  

- The ousted Bashir regime used gold mining concessions as a political bribe to secure the RSF commander's loyalty through his company, Al-Junaid, while Taha Osman facilitated the militia's ties to the UAE via its participation in the Yemen war, transforming it into Abu Dhabi's proxy in Sudan.  

- The RSF formalized an alliance with Russia's Wagner Group, including economic partnerships in gold mining and military cooperation across the Sahel (

see here for more details: (https://www.theafricareport.com/280902/sudan-the-wagner-rsf-ties-that-block-the-path-to-democratisation/).  

- The war in Khartoum erupted on April 15, 2023, though RSF-aligned actors attempt to absolve the militia of responsibility. In reality, the RSF had mobilized two days earlier, encircling a military airbase on April 13.  

- Since the war began, the RSF has committed innumerable war crimes—mass killings, starvation sieges, occupation and destruction of civilian infrastructure, systematic rape, sexual violence, and looting—all under the guise of fighting the "56 State," the Muslim Brotherhood, or even claiming to uphold civilian democratic rule. Its actions have been formally classified as genocide by multiple entities, including the U.S. government. For more: (https://2021-2025.state.gov/genocide-determination-in-sudan-and-imposing-accountability-measures/). 

- RSF-aligned political factions, such as the Sumoud and Ta'sis coalitions, continue to obscure the militia's crimes to secure a share of power and ensure its armed influence over Sudan's future. This was evident in the Hamdok-Hemedti Addis Ababa Agreement (January 2024), the Manama negotiations (March 2024), and Geneva talks—all attempts to legitimize a new power-sharing formula with the RSF.  

The RSF's statement on controlling the Al-Muthalth area is a transparent effort to launder its image internationally by invoking the specter of irregular migration, ignoring its well-documented history of atrocities. These fallacies, and the epistemological maze constructed by political actors and external patrons, aim to justify continued violence and deepen Sudan's divisions, legitimizing the RSF's existence. This manufactured reality serves no Sudanese interest nor any genuine effort to end the war—it only prolongs the conflict by obscuring its nature, advancing the interests of the RSF and its backers.