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RSF-controlled territory circulates freshly printed Sudanese pound notes as economic split deepens

Newly manufactured banknotes bearing a pre-war central bank governor's signature have appeared in Darfur, weeks after the RSF's parallel Tasis authority appointed its own central bank head

Conflicts·Money· active Whose Money·What They're Not Saying ·2 takes ·

Summary

Freshly printed Sudanese pound notes dated May 2022, bearing the pre-war central bank governor's signature, began circulating in Rapid Support Forces-controlled territory, including Darfur, in June 2026. A Nyala-based banker confirmed to Reuters that the notes are newly manufactured, though the printing source was not confirmed. The RSF's parallel civilian authority, the Tasis, appointed its own central bank head on May 21, weeks before the notes appeared. The Sudanese pound has collapsed from under 600 to over 5,000 per US dollar since the civil war began in April 2023, creating a severe liquidity crisis in RSF-held areas that Western Sudan is unable to address through the Khartoum-based official banking system. The new notes are the clearest sign yet that the RSF is building a separate monetary system to match its separate administrative, military, and diplomatic structures.

The split

Arab News and Al-Monitor, both operating from outside Sudan, reported the notes through Sudanese banking sources. Khartoum-based official media have dismissed the parallel currency as illegal counterfeiting under Sudanese law. The RSF's information channels presented it as a practical measure to address a liquidity emergency, without formally claiming issuance of a new currency. The UN and AU-led peace process mediators have not commented on the monetary split, despite it making eventual economic reunification significantly harder. The Gulf states most associated with RSF support have not commented publicly.

By the numbers

  • 5,000+ Sudanese pounds per US dollar, exchange rate in RSF-held Darfur versus under 600 before the war
  • May 21, date the RSF's Tasis authority appointed its own central bank head
  • May 2022, the date printed on the new notes, predating the war's start by 11 months
  • 27 months, the length of Sudan's civil war as of June 2026

Why it matters

A separate monetary system is one of the hardest partition facts to reverse. Once a territory has its own currency and banking infrastructure, reunification requires either a new monetary union agreement or a currency replacement operation, both of which assume a negotiated political settlement that does not yet exist. The RSF's move mirrors the pattern of other de facto separatist economies (Republika Srpska, Transnistria) and signals that RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemetti, is building for permanence, not a negotiated return to a unified Sudanese state.

What to watch

  • Whether the RSF formally announces its own currency or continues the legal fiction of Sudanese pound issuance
  • Reaction from the Sudanese central bank in Khartoum and any formal legal or international measure to block the parallel notes
  • IMF and World Bank position on recognising either monetary authority for Sudan's debt restructuring process
  • Whether the African Union-led Jeddah peace process addresses monetary unification as part of any ceasefire framework