Sudan paramilitary commander quits RSF over claims family controls force

A high-ranking commander has abandoned Sudan's Rapid Support Forces, alleging that the paramilitary organization is run as a private family enterprise, according to video obtained by Al Jazeera.

In the recorded remarks released on Friday, senior commander Siddiq Ander criticized the relatives of RSF chief Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti. Ander stated that Dagalo's family members exert total control over the paramilitary's financial resources, weapons stockpiles, operational troop deployments, and internal promotions. Hemedti's brother, Abdul Rahim Hamdan Dagalo, currently serves as the group's deputy commander.

Ander characterized the paramilitary effort as a project centered entirely on the leader's family interests. He alleged that internal dissent is harshly suppressed, claiming that any officer or soldier who dares to voice criticism risks detention, expulsion, or being quietly killed.

The departure marks the latest in a sequence of high-level defections plaguing the paramilitary force throughout the year. On October 8, Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed Azraq al-Fanjari broke away from the RSF, taking 300 soldiers and officers alongside 30 military vehicles, while pleading with other members to lay down their arms and quit the conflict.

Earlier departures included Al-Tayeb al-Wahidu, who crossed over to the rival Sudanese Armed Forces in Omdurman with 50 troops in late September, citing internal abuses. In May, Brigadier Ali Rizqallah, known as Savannah, also announced his exit. That followed the April defection of Major General al-Nour Ahmed Adam, known as al-Qubba, who was received by Sudan's army chief, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, after disputes regarding RSF military appointments.

Sudan fell into widespread armed conflict in April 2023 following a breakdown in relations between the regular military and the RSF, largely driven by disputes over integrating the paramilitary into the formal armed forces. The fighting has since forced around 13 million people from their homes and plunged regions of the nation into famine.

The internal divisions within the paramilitary occur alongside intensifying aerial warfare. Both warring factions have stepped up drone operations across Sudan, resulting in substantial civilian casualties. Recent strikes on an RSF-held market and residential neighborhood in Nyala, South Darfur, reportedly killed dozens of civilians, with local legal monitors recording more than 100 fatalities. The United Nations has identified drone bombardments as the leading contributor to civilian casualties in the ongoing conflict.