Sudanese commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti, made his first public appearance in two years on Sunday, vowing that his Rapid Support Forces will “return with dignity” after recent battlefield setbacks in the country’s two-year civil war.
In a broadcast carried on RSF-affiliated channels, Dagalo addressed thousands of fighters from an undisclosed location he said was inside RSF-held western Sudan. The speech ended speculation that the commander had fled abroad after General al-Burhan’s army (SAF) recaptured Khartoum and swaths of central territory last year.
Dagalo acknowledged the RSF had lost “areas that are very dear to us” but said his fighters last week seized the sparsely populated “Triangle,” a desert border zone shared with Libya and Egypt long used by smugglers.
“Our presence there serves our neighbors,” he said, adding that any dispute with Cairo would be handled through dialogue.
The RSF leader repeated his assertion that the war, which began in April 2023, was forced on his force by remnants of ousted dictator Omar al-Bashir’s regime. He accused SAF chief Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan of “demonizing the RSF” to cling to power.
Dagalo ordered units in western Sudan to vacate civilian homes and “uphold the rule of law,” and he pledged to resume paying salaries to bolster troop morale.
Both the RSF and SAF have been accused by rights groups of killing civilians and committing other abuses, particularly in the Darfur region. The U.N. says more than 150,000 people have died and nearly 12 million have been displaced since fighting erupted.
The commander did not indicate whether peace talks were possible, and there was no immediate response from the SAF.
