Minister for Minerals: RSF Militias Lost Hope in Taking over of Al-Fashir by Force

Interviewed by Sabah Moussa

The current battlefield in Sudan is witnessing a remarkable shift in favor of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), following the great victories scored at axes and at all levels. The recovering of the Republican Palace is a new and important turning point in the course of the war. Khartoum State is about to liberated and completely cleansed from the Rapid Support militia remnants. In order to find out the course of events in the country, sudanhorizon conducted an interview with the Minister of Minerals, a prominent leader within the Sudan Liberation Army, Mohamed Bashir Abu-Numo, in which he talked about the latest developments in the country, in Darfur, and a number of vital questions of interest to the Sudanese audience. The following is the text of the interview.

– First of all, how do you see the army’s victories over the Rapid Support Militia in Khartoum?
The entire Sudanese people are happy and impressed by the dramatic transformation in the battles in the capital, the restoration of the of the symbol of the country’s sovereignty, which is the Republican Palace, all the ministries along the bank of the Blue Nile, and the entire area of the Muqran neighborhood between the two Niles, with its towers represented in the Central Bank, Zain Tower, the Sahel and Sahara Bank Tower, the Coral Hotel, the Friendship Hall and the headquarters of the Egyptian embassy, which was desecrated by the militia and turned into a huge warehouse for ammunition, missiles and anti-missiles,
– And how do you evaluate these victories?
The battles now have taken one direction: attack by the Sudanese army, and the other side is fighting not for defense to maintain the positions as was the case with the army at the beginning of the war, but rather fighting to create a gap in the siege wall imposed on it, so as to find a way out. The chances for escape are now very limited if not non-existent, there is no chance to maintain the sites, and there is no way to escape and survive, the only safe opportunity is to surrender, because the chances of defense and escape have become a sort of suicidal for the militia.
– What is your comment on Hemedti’s recent statements, in which he said that the Presidential Palace is a red line and three days later it was liberated by the army?

Hemet or whoever (impersonates him), or even his advisers abroad speak based on the situation on the ground at the end of the first year of the war, where they controlled large areas of the capital and the regions, and thus they are not aware of the repercussions of their brutal conducts against the Sudanese citizens, who came out from all walks of life to defend their homeland against the invaders of the Arab diaspora and their supporters from evil countries. Thus, it has been proven to the Sudanese people that this statement is coming from someone who is far from following the course of the war on the ground.
– How do you see the future of the partnership between the Rapid Support and Abdulaziz Al-Helou?

The partnership between the RSF and Abdulaziz Al-Helou was born dead like the parallel government that has not seen the light of day until now and will never see it.
– What are the latest developments in Darfur?
Three days ago, a major battle took place in the Malha area of the desert axis, northeast of Al Fashir, in which our forces destroyed what remained of the militia’s solid force in that area, and now the armed and joint forces and the special operations forces of the intelligence service and all the supporting forces are moving at an accelerated pace to reach Al-Fashir and lift its siege, and the militia force around Al Fashir is now in its lowest state, after the militia leadership persuaded and abandoned the plan to takeover Al Fashir, to storm in, after failing in more than 190 attacks, and now it has turned to burning villages around the city, destroying water sources in it, displacing its people to Zamzam camp, and trying to cut off all supply routes to the city and the camp, for the purpose of starving the people of Al Fashir and Zamzam camp and preventing them from drinking water, a crime that amounts to war crimes and genocide, and the international community must play its role to condemn the militia and classify it as a terrorist militia.
– Do you still think that one should focus on the war in Darfur?
Yes. Focusing on the war in Darfur is a priority in the next stage, first to break the siege imposed on Al Fashir, and to make the most of the high morale of the armed and joint forces and the supporting popular forces, in order to eliminate the remaining militia, who are now at their lowest level of morale, whether those defeated groups fleeing from the desert axis, or those groups that were lucky to withdraw from the battles of Khartoum before closing all possible gaps to escape from the center of Khartoum, and now it is impossible to escape from the capital to other areas beyond, and it is impossible to escape from the center of Khartoum to Jebel Awlia, where the only gap left for temporary escape for those who survive the pursuit of air hawks after crossing from there heading towards western Sudan.
– In your view, after all these victories of the army, what are the chances of success in forming a parallel government in the areas controlled by the Rapid Support?

One of these options was the Presidential Palace and it was decided two days ago to seize it by the armed forces, and there was a Kauda option and it was thwarted by the Nuba people in the SPLM and the South Kordofan tribes from the Arab tribes, including the Misseriya groups under the Rapid Support Brigade, and there is now a last, but zero-sum option, which is the option of overthrowing Al Fashir, which as we have explained is difficult. There is a kind of concern and anger about the role of strategic drones that hit some strategic sites in cities and airports, the latest of which is the one that hit the Republican Palace immediately after its liberation and claimed the lives of a team from national television.

– Have the military authorities been able to identify the launching pads for these drones?
The developments of the war now clearly indicate the defeat of the militia and the loss of its positions every day, and these repeated defeats have led to the transformation of the militia’s behavior, which is based on bankruptcy and blind revenge, targeting civilians and strategic places alike, by launching strategic drones from some well-known neighboring countries, and the danger of this development is that these drones are launched from well-known sites and airports in these countries and nothing is hidden, because the world has become a small village, and because those satellites that guide these missiles in return for its goals in Sudan, satellites owned by (others) can be found to carry out the same task to strike airports and strategic targets in the countries from which these drones have been launched, and here we would like to warn these countries, and say that we are now busy internally sweeping the militia from all the land of the country. Sudan in the very short term, and when this mission ends with the final defeat of the militia, and sweeping it from the land of Sudan, then we are preparing to deter external aggression, especially that which comes from neighboring countries, and I hope that these countries do not delude that the hands of Sudan are tied, and these countries know that they are not themselves who manufactured these drones, but brought them, or (they were brought for them) from abroad, and they should not forget that these same entities would stand ready furnish others with these drones provided money is availed, so that they could defend themselves, not necessarily by proxy for others.
– Is there an intention to stop exporting Sudanese gold to the UAE?
As the minister responsible for supervising, managing gold production and supervising its export in coordination with the concerned authorities, we say with a full mouth, yes, we are seeking as much as possible to find destinations other than the UAE for the export of gold.
– What is your other destination for exporting gold other than the UAE?
One of the very preferred options is the State of Qatar, a country that has not harmed Sudan all along its history, on the contrary, Qatar always has extended generous hands in its dealings with Sudan without harm, whether in the field of providing humanitarian assistance or in the field of trade and investment exchange, and ironically I came across a report yesterday about what can be described as naïve and funny, which is the claim that the UAE Foreign Ministry said that the UAE has contracts on importing Sudanese gold for more than 9 years, and that Sudan has received all the dues of gold, and pledged to supply shipments for the next twenty years, and Sudan cannot, no matter what happens, change international agreements ….. At first glance, I thought that the report talks about what was said to be the sale of South Sudan’s oil to the UAE for the next twenty years, but it became clear to me later that the report is indeed talking about Sudan, but the funny and naïve thing is that the report depicts that Sudan’s gold is monopolized by the government, and that the government makes binding deals with the UAE and not others, and that the government of Sudan has no choice but to comply with the fulfillment of binding international contracts towards the UAE, and this is unfortunately nonsense.
– Why nonsense, can you explain further?
A large percentage of the gold exported to the UAE come from private companies, and their association with the UAE is only for past deal, linked to this are the facilities there, from a free market and easy banking services, and we encourage these companies now to search for markets in other countries such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, Turkey and Russia, and we as a government are working to facilitate the opening of these new markets in the mentioned countries or others.

– What is the volume of Sudan’s annual gold production?

Gold production (monitored) fluctuates from year to year depending on the circumstances, for example in 2022 before the war, the annual production was in the range of 42 tons, and in the year of the outbreak of the war 2023, and with the shock of the war, the production by the end of the year reached 23 tons, and last year the production reached 64 tons.

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