- Title: PROFILE: Profile of Sudan RSF leader Hemedti as war pushes into third year
- Date: 15th April 2023
- Summary: JANUARY 2024 Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) group on January 2, 2024 signed a declaration with the Taqaddum civilian coalition and invited the army to do the same. The so-called Addis Ababa Declaration is intended to serve as the basis for further negotiations and a political settlement. ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA (FILE - JANUARY 2, 2024) (REUTERS) ***WARNING:
- Embargoed:
- Keywords: Abdallah Hamdok Abdel Fattah al Burhan Addis Ababa Declaration African Union Coup Dagalo Election Ethiopia Hemedti Juba Kenya Khartoum Military Omer al Bashir Paul Kagame RSF Rapid Support Forces Rwanda SAF South Sudan Sudan Sudan Army Forces Taqaddum Uganda
- Location: VARIOUS
- City: VARIOUS
- Country: Sudan
- Topics: Africa,Conflicts/War/Peace,Military Conflicts
- Reuters ID: LVA008532715042023RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS NOTE: FOR A FILE OF SUDAN'S MILITARY LEADER, ABDEL FATTAH AL-BURHAN, PLEASE SEE EDIT: 5338-SUDAN-POLITICS/BURHAN PROFILE
FOR A COMPREHENSIVE TIMELINE OF TWO YEARS OF WAR IN SUDAN PLEASE SEE EDIT: 6327-SUDAN-POLITICS/TIMELINE
The deadly power struggle between Rapid Support Forces commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti, and his former ally, army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, persists as Sudan's devastating civil war enters its third year this April.
Once a camel trader with little formal education who rose to command a feared Arab militia, Hemedti has transformed himself into one of Sudan's most powerful figures amid a conflict that has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions.
In February 2025, Hemedti assembled allied politicians and armed group leaders in Nairobi to sign a charter providing for a "Government of Peace and Unity" to govern territories his forces control, effectively creating a parallel administration in RSF-held areas.
The move followed U.S. sanctions announced in January determining that members of the RSF and allied militias committed genocide in Sudan. The U.S. imposed sanctions on Hemedti over the conflict that has devastated the country and triggered a massive humanitarian crisis.
Fighting erupted on April 15, 2019, between Hemedti’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which were militias in Darfur before they became a paramilitary force, and army units loyal to Burhan, head of Sudan's transitional governing Sovereign Council, splintering the country and drawing in regional powers.
As deputy head of state, Hemedti has taken on some of Sudan's most important portfolios in the post-Bashir era, including the crumbling economy and peace negotiations with rebel groups.
Much of his power is derived from his RSF paramilitary -- menacing young men armed with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns mounted on trucks -- who mastered desert warfare in the Darfur region but lack the discipline of the regular army.
Hemedti first took up arms in the western Darfur region after men who attacked his trade convoy killed about 60 people from his family and looted camels, according to Muhammad Saad, a former assistant to Hemedti. Conflict had spread in Darfur from 2003 after mostly non-Arab rebels rose up against Khartoum.
A tall imposing figure, Hemedti went on to form a pro-government militia from nomadic Arab tribesmen, locally known as Janjaweed, which he later transformed into the more diverse RSF.
The International Criminal Court charged Bashir and other top officials with genocide and crimes against humanity in Darfur, which began in 2003 and where as many as 300,000 people were killed and 2.7 million were displaced. No charges were brought against Hemedti.
When Bashir wanted protection from rivals during his 30-year rule, he chose Hemedti as his enforcer, insiders said. Impressed by Hemedti's cunning and fighting skills, Bashir leaned on him to deal with enemies of the state in the Darfur conflict and elsewhere in Sudan.
Hemedti's militia was legitimised. He won the rank of lieutenant-general and had free rein to seize gold mines in Darfur and sell Sudan’s most valuable resource. As Sudan limped from one economic crisis to another, Hemedti became wealthy.
“I’m not the first man to have gold mines. It’s true, we have gold mines and there’s nothing preventing us from working in gold,” Hemedti said in a BBC interview.
Hemedti also made powerful friends in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates after he sent RSF forces to back them against Iran-aligned rebels in Yemen’s civil war.
After years of supporting Bashir, Hemedti took part in the ousting in 2019 of his longtime ally, who had faced pressure from mass protests calling for democracy and an end to economic woes.
Under a civilian-military partnership set up after Bashir’s removal, Hemedti wasted no time in trying to shape the future of Sudan, which has been ruled for most of its post-colonial history by military leaders who seized power in takeovers.
He spoke in public about the need for "real democracy", met Western ambassadors and held talks with rebel groups.
Hemedti showed little tolerance for dissent.
The RSF launched a bloody crackdown on a protest camp in 2019 outside the Ministry of Defence after Bashir's ousting, witnesses said. More than 100 people were killed. Hemedti denied ordering the assault.
The military in October 2021 seized power and declared a state of emergency, ending the civilian-military power-sharing deal in a move decried by political groups as a military coup.
In a video statement, Hemedti said that the army seized power to “correct the course of the people’s revolution” and achieve stability.
Hemedti has said the military is prepared to hand over power in case of an agreement or elections. Many Sudanese were not convinced.
Almost two years into the war, RSF assembled allied politicians and armed group leaders in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on February 18, 2025, to sign a charter that would provide for a "Government of Peace and Unity" to govern the territories the force controls.
The RSF has seized most of the western Darfur region and swathes of the Kordofan region in an almost-two-year war, but is being pushed back from central Sudan by the Sudanese army, which has condemned the formation of a parallel government.
The move followed U.S. sanctions announced in January determining that members of the RSF and allied militias committed genocide in Sudan. The U.S. Treasury Department said sanctions were imposed on Hemedti, the group's leader, over a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people and driven millions from their homes.
“As the overall commander of the RSF, Hemedti bears command responsibility for the abhorrent and illegal actions of his forces," the Treasury said.
The RSF denies harming civilians and attributes the activity to rogue actors it says it is trying to control.
(Production: Paul Warren, Olga Vyshnevska and Zainab Elhaj)
SUDAN SOVEREIGN COUNCIL MEDIA OFFICE / REUTERS / VIDEO OBTAINED BY REUTERS / AL ARABIYA / MOHAMED HAMDAN DAGALO OFFICIAL X ACCOUNT / MOHAMED HAMDAN DAGALO / MOHAMED HAMDAN DAGALO’S OFFICIAL YOUTUBE CHANNEL / RAPID SUPPORT FORCES / U.S. TREASURY DEPARTMENT WEBSITE / MOHAMED HAMDAN DAGLO VIA TELEGRAM - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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