Disagreements Sweep RSF Militia and Turns them to Gangs: Has the War Reached its Final Stretch?

Sudanhorizon – Azmi Abdel Razek

Although Brigadier General Omar Hamdan, head of the negotiating delegation for the Rapid Support rebels, tried to hide the truth about the differences that struck their ranks and the unruly behavior of their forces in the field, he, in another way, proved what he intended to explicitly deny, when he admitted in his interview with (Al Jazeera Mubasher) that they were forced to form forces to protect civilians in the areas they controlled, and tried more than four hundred members of their forces for committing various violations. What Omar Hamdan said in that interview is almost the same as what Al-Walid Madbou had previously indicated that “Hemedti no longer controls his forces”!!

Loss of Political Compass

The matter is bigger than that, and in a way that Hemeti himself, who is hiding somewhere, may not know, as the leadership of the Rapid Support Forces rebels, which is running operations from an unknown location, many facts indicate that it has completely lost control of its forces, and is suffering from chaos and a state of moral and military collapse, and the loss of the political compass, until it seemed to many that it is fighting without guidance, and its soldiers are bleeding for mysterious reasons, as the democracy that burned their bodies under its fire, and millions of Sudanese were looted and displaced in its name, was not their cause and does not deserve all this blood at all.

The leadership of the Rapid Support Forces rebels entered into a hidden crisis since the first day of the war, when its leader, Hemedti, felt that he was involved in a battle that he could not handle, and requested mediation from the leaders of the armed movements to bridge the gap between him and Burhan, but his brother Abdel Rahim insisted on continuing the fighting, and took over the leadership after that, in coordination with external parties that have ambitions for Sudan’s wealth, and which are the ones who provide the militia, to this day, with weapons and information, which was hinted at by the deposed advisor Youssef Ezzat in his farewell speech, when he referred to the restructuring of civil and political work and the transfer of responsibility for its management, under the name of the “Civilian Coordination Council of the Rapid Support Forces”, which is supervised by Abdel Rahim Daglo, with his nervous personality, full of doubts and suspicions.

The Struggle Over Spoils

The field dispute began, more clearly, after the Rapid Support Forces occupied Al-Jazeera State in particular, so Abdel Rahim Daglo sent his uncle “Saleh Issa” to accompany Abu Aqla Kikil and tighten the noose on him so that he would not be alone in the matter. Issa took over the financial and administrative aspects, in a way that angered Kikil, who insisted on appointing guards for him from among his relatives, whom he trusted and reassured. He then clashed with forces affiliated with Ahmed Yaqoub and Al-Sameh in Al-Kamlin locality, and the (Quja) forces in the Al-Hasahisa locality, killing dozens of them, and tried to appoint a commander in the Al-Ma’aliq area, but his attempt failed due to the limited armament of his forces.

Without equivocation, it can be said that the main reason for this deadly conflict is the looting of citizens’ money and property. At a time when Kikil promised the residents of the areas who called on him to defend them and protect their property, the forces of Qaja and Jalha were plundering all the villages, killing, looting, and displacing them. With the continuation of looting and robbery and setting up checkpoints on the roads and bridges of Al-Jazeera State, the differences between the rebel groups (Kikil, Jalha, Al-Kassaba, Al-Mustanfirin, and mercenaries) expanded to the point of distributing localities among them and imposing taxes, fees, and fees on merchants and the carts that transport citizens. The markets in Al-Jazeera State and south of Khartoum became a fertile ground for the leaders and soldiers of the militia, to provide money from illegal activities, such as selling drugs and weapons. In the city of Hasahisa alone, there are about five Rapid Support Forces bases, setting up checkpoints and collecting fees, and extending to Fadasi and Wad Madani. Its members are busy opening Starlink service shops, or renting them out to make money, while the rest are active in attacking markets and villages and looting everything of financial value.

Special Salaries and Forced Recruitment

It is important to note that the leadership of the Rapid Support Forces rebels has stopped paying salaries to its forces in the states of Al-Jazeera and Sennar, and is only sending money transfers to the sons of (Rizeigat – Mahariya) who are fighting in its ranks, via the Bankak application, with favoritism that has aroused a state of discontent among the rest of the mobilized tribes.

CNN published an investigation, several months ago, in which it said that the leadership of the Rapid Support Forces rebels forced hundreds of men and dozens of children to be forcibly recruited into the ranks of the rebellion after taking control of Al-Jazeera State in central Sudan last year. The investigation revealed that about 700 men and 65 children were forcibly recruited to increase their forces in Al-Jazeera State alone.

The American network quoted eyewitnesses as saying that the forces led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo are using hunger as a weapon, as they deprive those who refuse to join their ranks of food and food supplies. The network broadcast a video report showing Sudanese men and boys being tortured by members of the Rapid Support Forces, which means that the militia has lost its trained forces due to airstrikes and special operations, and above all due to disputes between the tribes fighting in its ranks.

There are differences that have reached the point of verbal abuse between Abdel Rahim and the rest of the Al-Dagalo family, who feel that they have lost many investments and personal privileges due to the war they started, and curses have begun to haunt them, and they hide their faces while moving in airports and streets – outside Sudan – and what happened to Qoni Dagalo in London is not far away. In addition, Abdel Rahim asked them to direct money to weapons and military equipment and to buy the loyalty of the civil leaders, and to bring in more mercenaries, to win the battle that he has always bet on, while his brothers (Al-Qoni and Adel Dagalo) insist on preserving what remains of their wealth, and to be satisfied with limited spending on the media and some activists, and the leadership of the Progress Coordination.

Their Plot is Against Them

Returning to the grassroots conflicts and the loss of direction, there is an internal crisis in the states of Al-Jazeera and Sennar, as well as South Darfur, which has reached the point of clashes and killing. In Al-Jazeera State, a group affiliated with Major General Issam Fadil attacked the Al-Masid area where the militia leader Ammar Jarma was holed up. He was given the rank of lieutenant colonel and appointed commander of the (Al-Masid and Alti) area. Jarma set up crossing points to collect money from all passersby, and he amassed a large fortune from those activities, along the Khartoum-Madani road. Fadil’s group clashed with him because of their desire for that money to be delivered to them, which resulted in the death of Jarma and the injury of dozens in the battle that took place near the Al-Masid market.

In the east of the island, the conflict intensified between forces affiliated with (Kikal) on the one hand and other forces brought in from Khartoum State. This group tried to arrest the second commander of the militia (Brigadier General Al-Tahir Jah Allah) in the east of the island, against the backdrop of the independence of Jah Allah’s forces, which were formed from the people of the region. The matter reached the point of exchanging fire between them, and now the area of the east of the island, including Rafaa and Tamboul, is almost outside the control of the field commander of the Rapid Support Militia (Osman Operations), while another loose group affiliated with (Jalha) is entrenched in the Al-Junaid sugar factory, which was subjected to extensive looting and destruction.

In connection with these crises, another crisis erupted after the killing of the commander of the Sennar axis, Abdul Rahman Al-Bishi, over his legacy and who would succeed him, between his brother and the commander Issa Suleiman, who stood as a preacher at Al-Bishi’s grave, but the matter settled temporarily to appoint his cousin Hamouda Al-Bishi, who was known for looting and plundering, to ensure supplies and recruitment, but disagreements struck their ranks again, and warplane sorties completed the rest of the mission.

Escape from the El Fasher Holocaust

In Darfur states, press reports indicated that disagreements struck the ranks of the militia after the defeat it suffered in El Fasher, specifically after the killing of Commander Ali Yaqoub, which caused the loss of cohesion of those forces, and the failure of recruitment campaigns. Reports of the mass death of mercenaries and panic forces on the walls of (the steadfast city) also caused sharp disagreements and divisions between the leaders and soldiers of the Rapid Support Militia. Reports spoke of the anger of the people in the cities of Nyala, Al-Da’ein, Kass, Zalingei and Wadi Saleh due to the throwing of the mobilized and children into the El Fasher holocaust, and the escape of the field leaders, headed by (Al-Nour Quba and Jaddo Abu Shouk).

Likewise, it is difficult to ignore the altercations that developed into threats between the field commander (Jalha Rahma), from the Misseriya, and the Rizeigat within the ranks of the militia. This dramatic chapter began when Omran Abdullah, Hemeti’s advisor, described the field commander Jalha as a mere soldier. The latter became enraged by this statement, and his supporters threatened Omran, as well as Omar Jibril and Al-Jovani. Jalha said in his mocking manner: “I am not Rapid Support, I am the Rapid Intervention Forces. Ask General Hemeti about me, and come to me in the field.” Meanwhile, information – which has not yet been verified – has leaked that the commander of the Rapid Support Militia in East Al-Jazeera (Abu Aqla Kikil) has placed the slogan “Shield of the Batana” on the cars he drives in the Green State instead of Rapid Support, perhaps in reference to his independence of his forces, as well as his decision.

The Doorstep Brigades

In the city of Al-Daien, a similar crisis erupted, against the backdrop of the arrest of Captain Hamid Ibrahim, one of the militia leaders from the Misseriya, and a battalion affiliated with him in Khartoum announced its rebellion against the Rapid Support Forces leadership, and demanded the release of its leader or it would attack Al-Daien, the city that is experiencing a state of terror due to the attack by mercenaries from Niger and the Central African Republic on it, to loot cars and citizens’ money that was stored there, and one of the city’s sons called for help from the army to intervene and calm the turbulent security situation, as appeared in an audio recording, in addition to the repercussions of the conflict over the Civil Support Authority led by Khalifa Bakht, who is close to Youssef Ezzat, and the Advisory Council in Al-Daien, which is controlled by Mohamed Khater, who is affiliated with the Rapid Support Forces Advisor Ezz El-Din Al-Safi, one of Abdel Rahim Daglo’s men. While looting and confrontations extended to the city of Nyala, in order to obtain what they consider to be spoils of war, i.e. “looting the looted”, as if the war had ended, at least for them.

The state of discord and treason within the leadership of the Rapid Support Forces quickly spread to the field leadership, and from there to the forces on the ground, and became islands isolated from each other, without supervision, active in looting and drug trafficking, and most of them made (Dagalo Markets) for stolen goods a refuge and work, and in the atmosphere of chaos and internal division, those forces failed to occupy new areas, the last of which were Hattab and Al-Managil, which also defied them, such as Al-Fasher and Babanusa.

The Finish Line

In light of this internal strife, the fall of all political slogans, the disappearance of many Rapid Support Forces leaders, and its literal transformation into a gang looking for spoils, with the intensification of airstrikes and drones, without the usual sounds of anti-aircraft missiles, it seems that there are changes in the course of the battle, or rather the army may have succeeded in fragmenting the solid force of the Rapid Support Forces, in preparation for a ground battle that it has been preparing for for almost more than a year. In contrast, the rebel forces began to erode internally, if they had not discovered the falsity of the paradise of democracy and the luxury of power, and everything that Hemeti had promised them, and what he promised them was nothing but arrogance, with the loss of the central grip of course, and the absence of a unified military decision, which means that the war, in the first way it broke out, may have reached the finish line, or we have practically entered the eliminations of the battle of breaking bones.