New Sudanese notes circulate in RSF areas, deepening de facto split
Newly issued Sudanese pounds have begun circulating in territory controlled by a paramilitary group fighting the national army, raising questions about the source of the notes and potentially deepening the country's de facto division.
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) - which cooperated with Sudan's armed forces before the two fell out and began fighting a war in April 2023 - now controls large swathes of the country, including the vast western Darfur region.
Last year, the RSF set up a parallel cabinet, known as the "Tasis" government, in areas under its control and has gradually sought to assume functions such as paying civil servant salaries.
Control over Sudan's currency has been a point of contention since 2024, when the army-led government declared old Sudanese pounds invalid and began issuing new 500 and 1,000-pound notes.
The RSF declared the new notes invalid, and cash gradually became scarce in territory under its control, according to four residents who spoke to Reuters.
BRAND NEW NOTES
That scarcity appeared to ease in late May, when civil servants and RSF fighters were paid in Sudanese pounds — an unusual development in RSF-held areas. The notes, described by residents as new and unused, were dated May 2022, according to a photograph shared with Reuters.
Adding to the uncertainty, the notes bear the signature of Hussein Yahia Jangol, Sudan's pre-war central bank governor, who was appointed head of a new Tasis-run central bank on May 21, shortly before the notes surfaced.
Tasis Prime Minister Mohamed Hasan al-Taishi said authorities continued to recognise pounds issued before June 2024.
Taishi accused the army-led government of harming civilians "by changing the currency, drying up the markets, and exploiting the currency as a tool of war."
With cash in short supply, many Sudanese have turned to Bankak, an online payments app run by the Bank of Khartoum and used across front lines, though high fees can make it more expensive than cash.
In RSF-held areas, a rival transfer service, Future Bank, has emerged this year, and was used to pay at least some May salaries, residents said.
The pound's value has collapsed since the war broke out, weakening in recent weeks to more than 5,000 pounds to the dollar, from less than 600 before the war.
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