With 35,000 fighters, the Sudanese army announces the first defection of the "Rapid Support Militia"

The Sudanese army announced, on Sunday, the defection of military commander Abu Aqla Muhammad Ahmed Kikil from the leadership of the Rapid Support Forces in Al-Jazeera State (central), and his joining the fighting in the ranks of the army.

The army statement said: "The militia commander Abu Aqla Kikil, along with a large group of his forces, sided with the side of truth and the homeland today (Sunday), after leaving the ranks of the rebels, deciding to fight alongside our forces, after they discovered the falsehood and invalidity of the Rapid Support Forces' claims."

He added: "The Armed Forces welcome this courageous step by them, and confirm that its doors will remain open to all who side with the nation and its Armed Forces."

This is the first defection of its kind in the Rapid Support Forces, according to what the Anadolu Agency correspondent reported.

The army confirmed that "the Chairman of the Sovereignty Council, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, will pardon any rebel who sides with the homeland and reports to the nearest military command in all regions of Sudan."

Accounts supporting the Sudanese army published pictures of the defected commander among the Sudanese army forces, amid a celebratory atmosphere.

For his part, an informed source in the Rapid Support Forces told Al Jazeera that the commander of the Fifth Division of his forces, Major General Abu Aqla Kikil, defected and surrendered to the Sudanese army.

The sure news is that they said the lining was bribed.
A mast that blew until the morning, but did not blow
The stallion of Umm Sirisir is agitated and the camels are crying
And the night passed by, and the team humped and had dinner

The moment the rebel #Kikal surrendered himself to military intelligence in the Butana region #Sudan pic.twitter.com/vtJpTpugZR

- Sudan News (@Sudan_tweet) October 20, 2024

Kikil joined the Rapid Support Forces in August 2023 and led its forces in Al-Jazeera State.

Since December 2023, the Rapid Support Forces, led by Kikil, have controlled several cities in the island, adjacent to Khartoum from the south, including Wad Madani, the state capital.

Kikil is the commander of the "Sudan Shield" forces, which were formed in early 2022 in the eastern regions of Al-Jazeera State, and whose members are estimated at more than 35,000 fighters.

Kikil said at the time that his forces were seeking to create a strategic balance for the country, after the Juba Peace Agreement signed in 2020 between Khartoum and the armed Darfur movements, considering that the agreement came at the expense of the states of northern, eastern and central Sudan.

There are growing international and UN calls to end the war in order to spare Sudan a humanitarian catastrophe that has begun to push millions to famine and death due to food shortages caused by the fighting that has spread to 13 of the 18 states.

Since mid-April 2023, the army and the Rapid Support Forces have been waging a war that has left more than 20,000 dead and more than 10 million displaced and refugees, according to the United Nations.

Source: Anadolu + Al Jazeera