Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commander Lt-Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, framed his fight as a “war of dignity” against coup-minded officers in Burhan’s army (SAF), adding that any tensions with Egypt should be settled at the negotiating table and all neighbouring borders respected.
Addressing thousands of fighters in a forest clearing outside El Geneina, Dagalo accused General al-Burhan’s army (SAF) and allied Islamists of planning the conflict years in advance and of smearing the RSF as smugglers and narcotics traffickers. “We never sought power,” he said. “They imposed this war; we took up arms only to protect our people.”
The RSF commander said his units now hold the sparsely populated “border triangle” where Sudan meets Egypt and Libya, a desert zone long used by traffickers of gold, weapons and migrants. Captured on 11 June, the area is now “secured for Sudan and our neighbours,” he told the crowd, adding that any dispute with Cairo would be handled through dialogue, not force.
“We respect the borders of every neighbour,” Dagalo said. “We are not against Egyptians, Libyans or anyone else.”
Origins of the war
The power struggle that exploded into open fighting on 15 April 2023 grew out of a failed transition to civilian rule after the 2019 uprising that toppled Omar al-Bashir. A shaky power-sharing deal left the SAF’s commander, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and RSF chief Lt-Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo sharing Khartoum but competing for control of the security sector and state revenues.
When plans were drawn up to fold the RSF into the regular army, mutual distrust tipped into gun-battles that rapidly spread nationwide. Two years on, the United Nations says the conflict has killed more than 150,000 people and driven almost 12 million from their homes, creating the world’s largest displacement crisis.
Triangle border point, why it matters
The Jebel Uweinat border triangle—an arid massif where Sudan meets Egypt and Libya—sits astride long-established smuggling routes for gold, weapons, fuel and migrants.
Its capture on 11 June 2025 gave the RSF access to fresh revenue streams and a launch-pad toward southern Egypt and eastern Libya, both security flash-points.
Egypt’s role
Egypt has been Burhan’s closest foreign backer since the war began—hosting SAF aircraft during training exercises, supplying intelligence and, according to RSF claims, covertly delivering drones and munitions.
Cairo denies direct involvement, but analysts say it views the RSF as an unpredictable force that could push instability across the 1,200-km desert frontier and complicate Egypt’s own struggle with militant groups in the Western Desert.
By publicly pledging talks “at the negotiating table,” Dagalo is signalling to Cairo that RSF control of the triangle need not endanger Egyptian security, even as both sides trade accusations of cross-border strikes.
Humanitarian collapse
With fighting raging from Khartoum to Gezira and Darfur, aid convoys are routinely looted and roads bombed, pushing parts of the country toward famine.
UN human-rights chief Volker Türk last week warned of “boundless horror,” citing mass rapes, forced displacements and child-soldier recruitment around El Fasher, where activists say hunger is acute after a year-long siege. Nationwide, the UN says 30 million people need assistance and 25 million face acute hunger; relief agencies report that RSF and SAF checkpoints alike have blocked life-saving cargo.
Resource control
Sudan’s gold boom has become the war’s financial engine. Output rebounded to roughly 80 tonnes in 2024—worth more than $6 billion—with over half smuggled through various corridors to the Gulf and, increasingly, Russia.
High global prices allow both factions to swap bullion for drones, armoured vehicles and fuel despite Western sanctions. Investigators say the RSF funnels gold through shell traders in Dubai, while SAF-linked firms tap refinery networks around Port Sudan.
Control of oil fields in White Nile state, livestock markets in Kordofan and fertile sorghum land along the Blue Nile offers additional cash, making resource control as decisive as battlefield gains.
Political manoeuvring
Dagalo invited Darfur rebel leaders Minni Arko Minawi and Gibril Ibrahim to join what he called a coalition for “justice and change,” portraying the RSF as guardian of Sudan’s 2019 revolution against Islamist hard-liners.
At the same time he dismissed fresh allegations of RSF atrocities, accusing SAF units of training with chemical weapons and “destroying Sudan in the name of dignity.”
“We are men of peace,” he concluded, “but either we remove them or they remove us. There is no middle ground when the dignity of Sudan is at stake.”
