A Sudanese court has sentenced the leader of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Mohamed Dagalo, known as Hemedti, to death for crimes committed in West Darfur.
The court in Port Sudan found him guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in absentia.
On Monday, Mr Dagalo received the death sentence along with five other RSF members for the same crimes. Those sentenced include Hemedti’s brother and deputy, Abdelrahim Dagalo, another brother, Al-Qoni Dagalo, and the RSF’s West Darfur commander, Abdul Rahman Barkallah.
Al Jazeera reports that the court also ordered the confiscation of all RSF assets. They issued Interpol Red Notices for the arrest and extradition of those convicted.
This marks the first legal conviction of leaders from the paramilitary group since the civil war started in 2023.
The trial mainly focused on the RSF’s actions in el-Geneina, the regional capital where some of the worst atrocities in West Darfur were said to have happened.
These actions included the killing of thousands of civilians, mostly from the Massalit ethnic community, sexual violence, looting, and forcing many people to flee.
Sudan has a long history of violence, but the current civil war began because of a fierce power struggle. This fight is between the Sudanese army, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the powerful paramilitary RSF led by Hemedti.
The main issues were about merging the RSF into the Sudanese army and who would control the new force. Both leaders wanted to keep their power. The war started in Khartoum and spread to other areas of the country.
This conflict has caused famine and genocide in the western Darfur region, which the RSF has taken over. More than 150,000 people have died in the fighting across the country, and around 12 million have been forced to leave their homes.
The United Nations has labeled Sudan as the country facing the worst health and humanitarian crisis in the world. The UN and other rights groups have accused the RSF of carrying out ethnic attacks against the Masalit people in West Darfur. The deputy chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has also said there is “concrete evidence” linking RSF leaders to war crimes. The RSF has rejected these claims in the past.
The Sudan Founding Alliance, which includes the RSF, has called the court proceedings a “sham trial” that “does not even deserve a comment.”
The paramilitary group has not yet responded to the conviction.
Meanwhile, Hemedti’s location is still unknown.
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