RSF sets up civilian administration in Khartoum as war grinds on

RSF creates civilian administration in Khartoum

Sudan's Rapid Support Forces have set up a civilian administration in Khartoum, according to The National, formalizing the paramilitary's grip on much of the capital even as the army continues to fight to regain ground. The move is symbolically significant because Khartoum is the political center of the country and the most visible prize in Sudan's civil war.

The RSF said the new local administration and 90-member assembly were created after residents called for an authority that could provide services, maintain security and help distribute humanitarian aid. The group named Abdelateef Al Hassan to head the administration and Babkr Nasser to lead the assembly. Similar structures already exist in Darfur and Al Jazira, but placing one in Khartoum gives the RSF a public institution in the heart of the state.

The report says the army-backed government moved to Port Sudan on the Red Sea, while army forces have made some advances in Omdurman and Bahri. That is important because it shows the war is not frozen: the RSF may be in control of much of the capital area, but the army is still trying to claw back ground in the wider metropolitan zone.

The wider human toll remains staggering. The National said tens of thousands have been killed and more than 10 million displaced since the war began, while about 26 million people face acute hunger. Those figures explain why even a local administration matters: when services collapse, whoever claims to provide them can strengthen its political position as well as its military one.

The packet supports a clear conclusion. The RSF is trying to turn battlefield control into administrative legitimacy in Khartoum, and the army is still fighting to reverse that reality. What it does not tell us is whether the civilian administration has any chance of operating beyond the RSF's own zones, so the article should stop at the verified move and its immediate significance.

The RSF's move is also an attempt to turn military control into a governing narrative. By creating a local administration and assembly, the group can point to services and security as evidence that it is more than a battlefield force. That matters in Khartoum because the capital is where symbols of statehood matter most, and whichever side can claim to organize daily life can start shaping postwar politics even before the war ends.

The article should also keep the human cost visible. Tens of thousands dead, millions displaced and acute hunger in much of the country mean that any administrative announcement lands against a backdrop of collapse, not normal governance. The RSF may be trying to formalize its authority, but the broader picture is still one of a nation where civilians are paying the price for every territorial gain.

In that sense, the administration is as much a message as a management tool. It tells residents and rival institutions that the RSF wants to present itself as a governing authority, not just a force of arms. Whether that message persuades anyone beyond the areas it already controls is unclear, but the political intent is visible in the structure of the announcement itself.