OMM Newsroom
A senior commander in Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) announced Tuesday that he had defected to the Sudanese army, ending approximately 13 years with the group, Anadolu Agency reported, citing local outlet Sudanese Echo.
Lt. Gen. Khalid Nour al-Daim Bireish, a former Sudanese army officer, declared allegiance to the military after holding senior administrative, security and operational positions within the RSF.
Bireish joined the RSF in 2013 as part of a group of professional army officers recruited to help establish the paramilitary organization’s administrative and military structures.
His departure is the latest in a series of defections by senior RSF commanders amid the group’s ongoing conflict with the Sudanese army. The RSF did not immediately comment on the reported defection.
On Nov. 2, the Sudanese 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 along with 300 officers and soldiers and 30 combat vehicles.
Sudan has been engulfed in fighting between the army and the RSF since April 2023, when a power struggle between the two forces escalated into open warfare. Thousands of people have been killed and millions displaced.
