Lieutenant General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo — known throughout Sudan as Hemedti — is synonymous with much of the country’s political turmoil over the last decade.
Now the second most powerful man in the country, his precipitous rise took him from humble origins via control of the Janjaweed militia to become one of Sudan’s wealthiest men. He has also been linked to war crimes.
He crushed a rebellion in his native Darfur against Omar al-Bashir, only to go on to help with the 2019 overthrow of the ruler with whom he was once very close.
Hemedti’s command of Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group, which grew out of the Janjaweed, helped him become the vice-chairman of the ruling Transitional Sovereignty Council.
Accusations that he helped crush popular pro-democracy protests after the overthrow of his former ally followed, as Hemedti held several of the most important ministerial portfolios in the country, including responsibility for the collapsing economy and peace negotiations with rebels.
Desert warfare and links to war crimes
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) is the source of his influence. His fighters have mastered desert warfare during the conflict in the Darfur, in western Sudan. They are distinct from the country’s regular army and are considered to lack its discipline.
Conflict began in Darfur in 2003 when mostly non-Arab rebels rose against the government. It was to forge Hemedti’s political powerbase. He formed pro-government militias, known as the Janjaweed, from Arab tribes, reshaping it into the more versatile RSF.
The International Criminal Court linked al-Bashir and other officials with genocide and crimes against humanity in Darfur, which resulted in the killing of about 300,000 people and the displacement of 2.7 million citizens. Hemedti has never faced formal charges.
