Sudan’s War: How Hemedti’s gold empire is driving the country toward division

While global attention is fixed on Gaza and Ukraine, another catastrophe is unfolding largely out of sight — a war tearing Sudan apart and threatening to redraw Africa’s map once again. Sudan now stands on the brink of disintegration, pulled apart by one of the most destructive conflicts the continent has seen in decades.

This is not a clash between equal rivals. It is a war between a national army fighting to preserve the unity of the state, and a rebel militia sustained by gold, foreign backing, and separatist ambitions. Yet many international actors persist in framing it as a political quarrel between “two factions”, placing the Sudanese Armed Forces — an institution rooted in the country’s post-independence identity — on the same moral plane as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti.

Hemedti’s RSF is a hybrid force of tribal fighters (the Janjaweed), Chadian gunmen and paid mercenaries, mobilised to serve a personal empire far removed from Sudan’s national interest. His ascent has been meteoric. By seizing Darfur’s gold mines, Hemedti accumulated vast wealth and built a parallel power structure that now rivals the state itself.

Under former president Omar al-Bashir, Hemedti was tasked with crushing the Darfur rebellion — a campaign marked by atrocities against civilians that he continues to deny. That alliance later collapsed, and Hemeti joined forces with General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and civilian groups to topple Bashir.

Burhan then sought to rehabilitate Sudan internationally, even courting Western approval through an attempt to normalise ties with Israel in 2021. But this overture failed to dispel deep-seated suspicions among foreign powers who viewed Sudan’s army as a relic of nationalist and Islamist rule. In that context, Hemedti emerged as a useful counterweight — a militia leader through whom outsiders could weaken the army’s hold and reshape Sudan’s political order.

Since fighting erupted on 15 April 2023, Sudan has plunged into ruin. Hemedti’s forces have swept across western Sudan, carving a path that increasingly resembles South Sudan’s secessionist trajectory.

Their latest and bloodiest objective was El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur. After an 18-month siege, RSF fighters stormed the city, unleashing massacres that recalled the horrors of Rwanda and Bosnia — atrocities committed as the world looked away, numbed by the genocide in Gaza. The fall of El-Fasher gives Hemedti control over every Darfur state capital, making partition not a distant risk but an imminent reality.

Yet international statements remain couched in neutral language — calls for “de-escalation” and “cessation of hostilities” that refuse to name the aggressor or acknowledge responsibility. This deliberate ambiguity rewards the rebellion, entrenching a de facto division under the guise of “mediation” and “balance”.

Sudan today needs clarity, not balance. It needs a principled stand that supports its national institutions — foremost the army — while still holding them to account. For all its flaws, the army remains the last structure standing between Sudan and total collapse.

Sudan’s long tradition of resisting foreign domination must not be forgotten, nor its immense natural wealth — gold, water, fertile land — which has always drawn covetous eyes from within and beyond its borders. For too many, Sudan is not a homeland to preserve but a treasure to plunder.

Silence in the face of Sudan’s tragedy is a moral betrayal before it is a political one. The duty today is to keep speaking about Sudan, to expose those conspiring against it both at home and abroad, and to reject every separatist agenda that threatens its unity and future. Sudan’s fate will not be decided by warlords or generals but by the resilience of its people, a proud nation that must not be sold for gold or divided by foreign designs.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.