It is difficult to assess whether the major loss incurred by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)’s military leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo in Sudan’s second city is more damaging than the imposition of international sanctions on his financial assets. After being defeated in Madani by the Sudan Armed Forces, led by Abdul Fatah Al-Burhan, the RSF leader’s reputation and financial standing has been impacted. His considerable fortunes amassed from his private army for hire, his vast gold assets and his holding companies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) now all appear to be at risk.
Almost two years after his failed attempt to overthrow Al-Burhan in April 2023, Dagalo and his paramilitary militia RSF continue to be locked into a protracted war with the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF). However, many commentators – including journalists – do not believe Dagalo is still alive. Rumours about his whereabouts persist as he has not been seen in public for the past year. Nevertheless, notwithstanding the doubts, Dagalo’s forces’ presence in the capital and other parts of the country still remain a major threat to the stability of Sudan and the region.
Removing Dagalo and his family from the political and historical heritage of Sudan may still prove a difficult task. Commonly known as Hemedti, Dagalo is from the Rizeigat Arab tribe, a native of Chad and Sudan’s old kingdom of Darfur. His grandfather was the head of a sub clan of the Mahariya Rizeigat and his uncle was chief of the elite Awlad Mansour clan of the tribe. Dagalo left formal education in the third grade and became a camel trader. Landless and marginalised in both countries, the young man became involved in the unrest and instability in Darfur. His family became a core element of the Arab militia that fought in Sudan’s government counterinsurgency efforts against rebels from the JEM and SLA Armed Movements.
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Rising rapidly in the ranks of the Arab militia, Dagalo became a commander of the notorious ‘Janjaweed’ militia formed by former President Omar Al-Bashir. The effectiveness of his quelling rebellions eventually won him the affection of Al-Bashir, and he soon regarded as part of Al-Bashir’s elite force. The nickname “Hemedti” was given to him by the former president, meaning “my protector”. Ironically, the nickname proved to be a misnomer as Hemedti eventually turned against Al-Bashir, removing him from office.
In 2007 Dagalo led a rudimentary Janjaweed rebelled against Al-Bashir and the Khartoum elites. He led his Janjaweed militiamen into the bush, promising to fight Khartoum “until Judgment Day”. Through a series of bold moves, including shooting down a military plane and initiating an alliance with the Darfur rebels they fought against, they were able to bring Al-Bashir and the ruling party to the table for negotiations. Out of these negotiations, he was able to collect unpaid salaries for his militiamen, and receive compensation for the wounded and the families of those killed. The ‘crown jewel’ was his promotion to general, and a handsome cash payment. This sharped Hemedti’s prowess and exposed his opportunist nature.
In 2013 Dagalo’s notorious Janjaweed officially became the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary unit under the oversight of the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS). Affiliation with the NISS gave Dagalo, an outsider to Khartoum political circles, and his reformed Janjaweed, a newfound legitimacy. He soon exploited his new status by securing international security contracts signed under Al-Bashir’s National Congress Party (NCP). In 2015, when the US supported Saudi Arabia-UAE air strikes on Yemen’s Iranian allied Houthis failed to bring about their objective, Hemedti stepped in supplying mercenaries for the ground invasion of Yemen.
Within a year, the European Union (EU) contracted the RSF to lead a migration control programme. Hemedti’s forces were now receiving training and payment from the EU. Hemedti garnered more international acceptance when he dispatched mercenaries to Libya to fight alongside General Khalifa Haftar, further ingratiating himself with the ruler of UAE. By this time, the RSF’s strength “had grown tenfold”, according to Alex de Waal, a Sudanese researcher. However, despite these new developments, the command structure remained static, unchanged. It consisted of Arab tribesmen from Darfur firmly under the control of the Dagalo family. The RSF was now a Dagalo-owned transnational mercenary company enjoying financial autonomy from the state. Leaked documents show bank accounts are under their name.
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Following South Sudan’s separation from the north, the loss of oil revenues for the north led the government to focus on gold. By 2017, gold sales accounted for 40 per cent of Sudan’s exports. Gold mines in Jebel Amir, Darfur, were under the control of the Janjaweed commander Musa Hilal. There, Musa Hilal’s militiamen and allies controlled not only the production of some of the mine’s shafts but also the taxation of the mining site, functioning as the local governmental authority challenging Al-Bashir and denying the government access to Jebel Amir’s mines. With Al-Bashir’s full consent, Hemedti’s RSF went on the counter-attack, arrested Hilal, and the RSF took over Sudan’s single largest source of export revenues, gold. Hemedti now had his hands on the country’s two most lucrative sources of hard currency, mercenary contracts and gold mines.
The influx of wealth provides the Dagalo family opportunities to expand their commercial activities, notably the founding of Al Junaid, a mining and gold prospecting firm. Al Junaid Company is owned by Hemedti, his brother, Lt. Gen. Abdelrahim and Abdelrahim’s two young sons. Through Al Junaid the RSF could effectively demand and seize all mining concessions. Al Junaid wielded state regulatory and enforcement powers, granted by the NCP, allowing it to monopolise portions of Sudan’s gold mining sector with no government oversight. However, with the latest imposition of sanctions, the Dagalo family may begin to look for new and interesting ways to break the financial restrictions now imposed on his wealth. Recently, the family hired the services of the Canadian lobbying firm Dickens & Madson with the explicit aim of repairing his image and gaining favourable recognition.
Despite these external efforts to polish his image, unless there is a major change on the ground – he will continue to be seen as a brutal war profiteer, filling the family coffers from the suffering of millions.
It remains to be seen whether the latest events may limit or curtail his ability to wage war.
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The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.