Nairobi, 3 June 2026 – The Sudanese Humanitarian Relief and Operations Agency (SARHO), an aid body affiliated with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), is participating today and tomorrow in the AidEx Conference and Exhibition, a major international event focused on humanitarian assistance and development being held in Nairobi, Kenya. According to its profile on the conference’s official website, SARHO is presented as an independent organization.
The event brings together humanitarian organizations, donor agencies, emergency response actors, and development practitioners from around the world.
In its conference materials, SARHO is described as “an independent Sudanese-led humanitarian organization dedicated to facilitating, coordinating, and enabling safe access for life-saving assistance across Sudan.”
Beam Reports contacted AidEx Chief Executive Officer Nicholas Rutherford by email to inquire about the criteria and procedures used to approve and host SARHO at the conference.
Responding to our questions, Rutherford said that AidEx seeks to bring together a broad range of humanitarian actors in a neutral environment that supports dialogue and improves humanitarian outcomes. He added that, “as with the United Nations and other humanitarian organizations, this may at times require engagement with actors whose presence or participation is considered controversial.”
The issue, however, concerns the way SARHO has been presented as a neutral and independent humanitarian actor, despite the fact that it was established by decree of RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti) to manage and coordinate humanitarian operations in areas controlled by the force, particularly in the Darfur region.
In What Context Was SARHO Created?
On 13 August 2023, RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo issued a decree establishing the Sudanese Humanitarian Relief and Operations Agency (SARHO).
According to the decree, the agency was created to coordinate humanitarian relief and aid operations in territories under RSF control, including parts of Darfur, Kordofan, and Khartoum, as well as displacement-affected areas. Its mandate includes issuing permits to humanitarian organizations and facilitating administrative procedures related to their work.
As the war expanded and territorial control became increasingly divided between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF, SARHO emerged as a parallel structure to Sudan’s Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC), which continues to oversee humanitarian assistance in government-controlled areas.
The development did not stop there. On 10 September 2025, Mohamed Hassan Al-Taayshi, Prime Minister of the RSF-backed parallel administration, announced the establishment of National Humanitarian Access Authority (NAHA), a new body tasked with regulating humanitarian organizations operating in RSF-controlled territories and requiring them to re-register under its authority.
Humanitarian aid and the Legitimacy Struggle
The conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces extends beyond the battlefield into a broader contest over legitimacy, authority, and sovereignty. Humanitarian aid has become one of the central arenas of that struggle.
This struggle is reflected in the competition between bodies seeking to regulate and manage humanitarian operations in Sudan. On one side, the Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC), which operated from Port Sudan before recently returning to Khartoum, traditionally regulated the work of humanitarian organizations across Sudan and now does that in areas under the control of the SAF-aligned authorities. The commission faced persistent accusations of obstructing humanitarian assistance, including by restricting the work of aid agencies and hindering the issuance of visas for humanitarian personnel.
On the other side, SARHO and the National Humanitarian Access Authority seek to perform similar functions in areas controlled by the RSF.
SARHO is widely viewed as more than a humanitarian coordination mechanism. It also forms part of broader RSF efforts to establish parallel institutions and secure practical recognition from international organizations operating in its areas of influence, reinforcing its claims of administrative authority over those territories.
This reality places humanitarian organizations in a difficult position. In practice, aid agencies cannot operate independently of the authorities controlling territory. While SARHO and NAHA require organizations to register and coordinate through their structures in RSF-controlled areas, Sudan’s Humanitarian Aid Commission warns that engagement with these bodies could be interpreted as recognition of a parallel authority, potentially exposing organizations to punitive measures or jeopardizing their ability to continue operating in government-controlled regions.
In February 2025, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) stated that SARHO continued to impose restrictions and bureaucratic obstacles that hinder humanitarian operations. Despite repeated commitments by the agency, humanitarian workers reportedly continue to face undue interference, unjustified restrictions, and operational constraints that are inconsistent with the principles and provisions of international humanitarian law.
