Highly placed sources have disclosed that Sudan’s Sovereignty Council, chaired by Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, has adopted a controversial policy granting Sudanese citizenship and permanent residency rights to members of Ethiopia’s Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).

The move is strategically intended to ensure the sustained involvement of Tigray fighters in the war against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and to reinforce the overstretched Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) across multiple volatile frontlines. Sources noted, “This development comes more than a year after the SAF began deploying Tigray fighters across several battlegrounds, especially in the capital Khartoum, as well as the Darfur and Kordofan regions.”

“This development comes more than a year after the SAF began deploying Tigray fighters across several battlegrounds, especially in the capital Khartoum, as well as the Darfur and Kordofan regions.”

Ethiopian Tigray fighters have assumed direct combat roles, leveraging their prior military experience from the conflict with Ethiopia’s federal government.

Sources added that the SAF deployed the majority of TPLF fighters earlier this year during its campaign to recapture Wad Madani, the capital of Al-Jazirah State. Around 400 fighters were also mobilized in operations in West Kordofan.

According to field information, these fighters are now mainly concentrated in Wad Madani, the Al-Hashaba area in White Nile State, and across West Kordofan.

Sources further revealed that Tigray fighters aligned with the Sudanese army are recruiting among Ethiopian refugees in Um Rakuba camp, located in the Al-Qalabat Al-Sharqiya locality of Gedaref State, eastern Sudan. These fighters are exploiting deteriorating humanitarian conditions and a security vacuum to attract vulnerable youth into the conflict.

“Tigray fighters aligned with the Sudanese army are recruiting among Ethiopian refugees in Um Rakuba camp, located in the Al-Qalabat Al-Sharqiya locality of Gedaref State, eastern Sudan.”

The refugee camp, plagued by poor oversight, has become a fragile incubator for recruitment by armed factions seeking to expand their ranks.

Amid grim humanitarian realities and the absence of viable return options, many refugees see joining the conflict as a way out of despair, especially when financial incentives are offered to support their families. The naturalization of Tigray fighters forms part of a broader SAF strategy: recruiting foreign combatants to shore up depleted forces since the war’s eruption in April 2023.

Sources confirm, “This policy is not limited to Tigray fighters. In earlier stages of the conflict, individuals from other African nationalities were also granted residency and settlement in exchange for fighting under the SAF banner.”

This highly sensitive policy has been quietly executed, bypassing civilian and parliamentary scrutiny, despite its far-reaching national implications. The SAF seeks to leverage Tigray fighters who fled Ethiopia after losing territorial control and who, due to rifts within TPLF leadership, are now seeking operational footholds elsewhere. Sudan presents them an opportunity to reestablish themselves within new regional conflict theaters in return for new identity and material gain.

However, sources caution that embedding foreign actors in a domestic war may backfire, inciting social friction and long-term instability, especially if these fighters evolve into autonomous armed groups. They further warn that instrumentalizing such foreign elements as post-war bargaining chips could deepen schisms within the military establishment and entrench Sudan’s political crisis.

“This highly sensitive policy has been quietly executed, bypassing civilian and parliamentary scrutiny, despite its far-reaching national implications.”