Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (“Hemedti”)

Force in Play

Commands the RSF, which a rights group blamed for the October 19 strike near Khartoum's airport that killed three children

Drone strikes killed civilians in West Kordofan, South Kordofan and Blue Nile in the first days of November, adding to a toll that includes at least 153 dead at Amiet Market in Abyei on October 19. The October 26 strike on Tanqong Market in Nyala is now put at 188 killed and 356 wounded by the Sudan Founding Alliance's Government of Peace and Unity, figures not independently verified.

Updated 3 days ago

Force in Play

Commands the RSF; faces defections from senior officers

Major General Siddiq Ander left Sudan's Rapid Support Forces on October 30, saying the paramilitary is run as a family business by relatives of its leader, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti. He also broke with the civilian Tasis alliance and called on other fighters to join the national army.

Updated 6 days ago

Force in Play

As of September 2026: Paramilitary leader at war with the army, holding parts of Darfur and Kordofan

Five million Sudanese have gone home since the army retook Khartoum in 2025. Many are returning to damaged homes, closed schools, and clinics that barely function.

Updated Sep 22

Force in Play

As of July 2026: Sentenced to death in absentia by a Sudanese court on July 14, 2026

For nearly two years, the people of El Obeid lived under a paramilitary siege that cut off food, fuel, and medicine. On July 26, 2026, Sudan's army broke it. Soldiers took the town of Bara and four nearby villages, then seized the full 350-kilometer Al Sadarat highway linking El Obeid to Omdurman.

Updated Jul 27

Rule Changes

As of July 2026: Under US sanctions; not charged by the ICC as of July 2026

In October 2025, Sudan's Rapid Support Forces captured el-Fasher, the last army-held city in Darfur. The United Nations says the paramilitary killed more than 6,000 people there in three days.

Updated Jul 9

Force in Play

As of June 2026: Controls much of western Sudan; has declared a rival government

Sudan's army and a rival paramilitary force have fought for three years. On June 8, the United States and seven allies threw their weight behind a new plan: get Sudanese civilians, not the two warring generals, to negotiate the country's future.

Updated Jun 8

Force in Play

As of May 2026: Controls western Sudan including all of Darfur; faces genocide accusations over El Fasher

The United Nations reopened its Khartoum headquarters Thursday, nearly three years after staff fled when civil war broke out in April 2023. The Sudanese Armed Forces recaptured the capital in March 2025, and more than two million people have since returned.

Updated May 30

Force in Play

As of May 2026: Controls Darfur and parts of Kordofan

Two of every five Sudanese now lack enough food. Three UN agencies said on May 15 that 19.5 million people across Sudan face crisis-level hunger after three years of war between the national army and a paramilitary force.

Updated May 15