Sudan is planning to create a joint force that would disrespect the Transitional Constitution rights

Sudan Transitional Government announced last weeks that they were elaborating plans to create a new joint security force that would have the purpose of ensuring security across the country and protecting the rule of law. Ultimately, this would allow to assert the state’s authority in the capital and nationwide as economic crisis and regional tensions plague a fragile transition towards elections.

The Announcement was made through an order made by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (also known as Hemedti), vice chairperson of the transitional sovereign council and head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The new joint force will include Sudan’s Armed Forces (SAF), the police, the RSF, the General Intelligence Service (GIS) and “representatives” of rebel groups and the public prosecutor, according to the order published by Dagalo. The force is to be established “immediately” and will be managed by General Yasser al-Atta, member of the sovereign council.

The announcement has generated great concern among Sudanese rights activists, since this nationwide joint force has no legal basis under Sudan’s Constitutional Charter or the more recent Juba Peace Agreements of 2020 that aimed at ending the conflict between Khartoum and various rebel groups throughout Sudan. Therefore, human rights activists are alarmed by this order, since they believe that is not the way to implement the much-needed security sector group. They argue that this nationwide joint force is a way of “justifying a rights crackdown in the name of imposing the rule of law”, that reminds many of the more authoritarian context that is widely knows in Sudan.

Besides this, many point out at the recent record of some of the forces that will be involved. Notably, SAF forces violently dispersion of protesters in Khartoum last May, which led to the deaths of two individuals and injured many others. In addition, the RSF forces killed five protesters in Kassala last October, including a 16-year old boy and are well-known for having executed unlawfully detentions of civilians in Sudan’s capital of Khartoum throughout last year, including one who was tortured to death by RSF personnel.