Sudanese court sentences RSF leader Hemedti to death in absentia
A court in Port Sudan sentenced Rapid Support Forces (RSF) leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti, to death along with 15 other senior RSF figures, convicting them of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide tied to atrocities in West Darfur, particularly the city of el-Geneina. The defendants were tried in absentia; Hemedti’s whereabouts are not known.
The verdict is a legal marker in a war that began in April 2023 as a power struggle between Hemedti and army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan over integrating the RSF into the regular military. The RSF and allied militias have been accused of ethnically targeted killings and sexual violence against non-Arab communities, and the conflict has since shifted westward, with fighting now centered on el-Obeid.
Because the sentence was handed down by the army-aligned government while the RSF still controls large parts of the country, its immediate effect is largely symbolic. It hardens the split between the two sides and signals that any negotiated settlement will be harder to reach so long as Hemedti faces execution if captured.