Sudan’s largest civilian political coalition, Taqadum, has split into two factions following disagreements over forming a government in areas controlled by paramilitaries battling the army.
Taqadum, which includes political parties and professional unions, stated that the split resulted from “two opposing stances on the issue of forming a government.”
The Sudanese army, which has been fighting the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since April 2023, has accused Taqadum leader and former Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok of aligning with the RSF.
Taqadum announced that each faction would now operate with a separate political and organizational structure, pursuing its own approach to the war, peace efforts, and the establishment of civilian rule.
Former Taqadum spokesman Bakry Eljack said RSF-controlled areas “feel abandoned without solidarity.” He noted that the faction opposing a government in those areas includes “most of the coalition’s political parties and public figures,” including Hamdok himself.
Hamdok, ousted in a 2021 coup by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan with RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Daglo’s support, remains Sudan’s most prominent civilian politician. Most civil society groups within Sudan are focused on humanitarian aid.
In January 2024, Hamdok and Daglo signed a joint declaration in Addis Ababa, pledging to work toward ending the war. The conflict, which began in April 2023, has killed tens of thousands, displaced over 12 million, and created “the biggest humanitarian crisis ever recorded,” according to the International Rescue Committee.
Both the army and the RSF have been accused of war crimes, with the RSF specifically linked to ethnic cleansing and systematic sexual violence. Mediation efforts by Saudi Arabia, the U.S., and the African Union have so far failed.
