Freshly printed Sudanese currency has started showing up in territory held by a powerful paramilitary force that has been at war with Sudan’s national military, potentially widening the nation’s growing divide.
The Rapid Support Forces, known as the RSF, once worked alongside Sudan’s armed forces before the relationship broke down and full-scale fighting erupted in April 2023. The group now holds large portions of the country, including the sprawling western Darfur region.
In an effort to consolidate its hold on these areas, the RSF established a rival governing body last year called the “Tasis” government, which has been gradually taking on governmental responsibilities — including paying the salaries of civil servants.
The question of who controls Sudan’s currency became a flashpoint in 2024, when the military-backed government declared older Sudanese pound notes worthless and rolled out new 500 and 1,000-pound denominations. The RSF rejected these new bills as illegitimate, and residents in RSF-held areas reported that usable cash became increasingly difficult to find. Four residents shared their experiences with Reuters.
That cash shortage appeared to ease in late May, when both civil servants and RSF fighters received payments in Sudanese pounds — something that had been virtually unheard of in RSF-controlled territory. Residents described the notes as brand new and untouched. A photograph shared with Reuters showed the bills were dated May 2022.
The origin of the notes remains unclear. They appear nearly identical to banknotes that were in use before the war began. However, a banker based in Nyala — the Darfur city that serves as the headquarters of the Tasis authority — confirmed to Reuters that the notes were freshly printed.
The bills carry the signature of Hussein Yahia Jangol, who served as Sudan’s central bank governor before the conflict began. Notably, Jangol was named to lead a newly created Tasis-run central bank on May 21, just days before the new notes began circulating.
Tasis Prime Minister Mohamed Hasan al-Taishi said his administration continues to recognize pounds that were issued before June 2024. He declined to address questions about where the new notes came from, but stated that “any arrangements related to cash management or liquidity provision” were based on “well-thought-out technical plans aimed at maintaining economic stability and meeting the needs of citizens and markets.”
Al-Taishi also directed criticism at the military-aligned government, accusing it of hurting ordinary people “by changing the currency, drying up the markets, and exploiting the currency as a tool of war.” The army-backed central bank did not respond when Reuters sought comment.
Sudan’s military has alleged that the RSF receives both financial and military backing from the United Arab Emirates — a claim the UAE denies. Regardless, experts say the RSF may face an uphill battle gaining international recognition for its central bank. Suliman Baldo, who leads the Sudan Transparency and Policy Tracker think tank, noted that most countries would be hesitant to legitimize a parallel banking system.
“But they are moving ahead … because they have a real problem they need to resolve,” Baldo said.
With physical cash hard to come by, many Sudanese have turned to Bankak, a digital payment app operated by the Bank of Khartoum that functions on both sides of the conflict’s front lines — though users often pay steep fees that make it costlier than using cash. In RSF-held areas, a competing transfer service called Future Bank has emerged this year and was reportedly used to distribute at least some of the May salary payments, according to residents.
Since the war began, Sudan’s currency has lost an enormous portion of its value. The pound has recently fallen to more than 5,000 to the dollar, compared to fewer than 600 to the dollar before the fighting started.
