Sudan RSF Appoints Former Central Bank Governor to Parallel Bank

The move comes as both sides in Sudan’s conflict attempt to assert control over fiscal and monetary levers in areas they govern, with the RSF’s “Tasis” administration setting up a Transitional Currency Council tasked with overseeing currency circulation and banking operations. While supporters frame the initiative as an effort to stabilise liquidity in RSF-controlled regions, analysts caution that the emergence of parallel financial systems risks weakening national coherence, disrupting banking channels and further isolating Sudan from international financial networks already strained by war.

Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF)-aligned “Tasis” administration has appointed former Sudan Central Bank governor Hussein Yahya Jangoul to head a parallel central banking authority in Nyala, a move economists warn could deepen the country’s already fragmented monetary system amid wartime economic collapse.

The appointment was formalised after Tasis Prime Minister Mohamed Hassan al-Taayishi issued a decree on 11 May 2026 establishing a “Transitional Currency Council” tasked with monetary stabilisation and banking regulation. Jangoul was formally appointed on 21 May. The council is mandated to oversee currency circulation, manage exchange operations, and issue banking licences in coordination with the central bank governor.

Jangoul reportedly used information from his previous tenure to print quantities of banknotes bearing his own signature in the 500 and 1,000 pound denominations, backdated to May 2022, which have since been distributed in RSF-controlled areas across most of Darfur’s five states and parts of Kordofan. Traders and residents in Nyala and other Darfur areas confirmed the appearance of a new cash injection bearing Jangoul’s signature, reportedly channelled through a company called “Al-Mustaqbal” banking services. RSF members were said to have received their salaries in Sudanese pounds rather than dollars for the first time.

However, banking analyst Walid Dalil told Sudan Tribune that the notes in circulation are not newly printed currency, but old banknotes bearing Jangoul’s signature from his previous time in office, likely seized from central bank vaults or currency printing facilities at the outbreak of war. He said the developments amount to a de facto monetary split between rival authorities, warning that large cash injections without productive backing are accelerating inflation and eroding purchasing power.

Dalil noted that Sudan’s official authorities have responded by changing the signature on banknotes, replacing Jangoul’s with that of his successor, and introducing measures to withdraw high denomination notes through the formal banking system. The Central Bank of Sudan has also declared any currency circulating outside the official system “illegal and non-discharging.”

Former Central Bank regulatory director Mahmoud Salah warned that any attempt at economic separation “will only lead to more confusion, price instability, and currency deterioration,” adding that unregulated monetary expansion without transparency or governance would accelerate financial isolation and economic decline. He said currency withdrawn from official circulation and later reintroduced carries no domestic or regional recognition.

Economic analyst Dr. Haitham Fathi said printing money outside official frameworks would further weaken the Sudanese pound and worsen living conditions, particularly in an economy heavily dependent on imports. He warned the move could disrupt external banking relations, lead to the closure of correspondent accounts abroad, and trigger a broader banking crisis in Darfur as confidence collapses and depositors withdraw funds.

Jangoul, born in North Kordofan, graduated from the University of Khartoum’s Faculty of Economics and holds a master’s degree from Columbia University. He joined the Central Bank in 1982 and held several senior positions, including multiple terms as governor. His most recent tenure ran from February 2022 until his removal in May 2023.

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