RSF Defection: Veteran Commander Switches to Sudan Army
(MENAFN) A senior commander in Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said Tuesday that he has switched sides to the Sudanese army, ending roughly 13 years with the group, local media reported.
Lt. Gen. Khalid Nour al-Daim Bireish, a former Sudanese army officer, pledged his loyalty to the military after holding senior administrative, security and operational posts inside the RSF, according to a local news outlet.
Bireish joined the RSF in 2013 as part of a cohort of professional army officers brought in to build the paramilitary force’s administrative and military structures.
His exit is the latest in a string of defections by senior RSF commanders as the group’s war with the Sudanese army grinds on.
The RSF did not immediately comment on the reported defection.
On Nov. 2, the army said a group of RSF members had defected and surrendered to its 4th Infantry Division in Damazin, the capital of southeastern Blue Nile state. The army said the group included a commander who provided information about RSF military operations in the area.
On Oct. 8, RSF Special Tasks Group commander Lt. Col. Mohammed Azraq al-Fanjari announced his defection together with 300 officers and soldiers and 30 combat vehicles.
Sudan has been consumed by fighting between the army and the RSF since April 2023, when a power struggle between the two forces erupted into open warfare, killing thousands of people and displacing millions.
Lt. Gen. Khalid Nour al-Daim Bireish, a former Sudanese army officer, pledged his loyalty to the military after holding senior administrative, security and operational posts inside the RSF, according to a local news outlet.
Bireish joined the RSF in 2013 as part of a cohort of professional army officers brought in to build the paramilitary force’s administrative and military structures.
His exit is the latest in a string of defections by senior RSF commanders as the group’s war with the Sudanese army grinds on.
The RSF did not immediately comment on the reported defection.
On Nov. 2, the army said a group of RSF members had defected and surrendered to its 4th Infantry Division in Damazin, the capital of southeastern Blue Nile state. The army said the group included a commander who provided information about RSF military operations in the area.
On Oct. 8, RSF Special Tasks Group commander Lt. Col. Mohammed Azraq al-Fanjari announced his defection together with 300 officers and soldiers and 30 combat vehicles.
Sudan has been consumed by fighting between the army and the RSF since April 2023, when a power struggle between the two forces erupted into open warfare, killing thousands of people and displacing millions.
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