Sudan Hemedti's links to terrorist groups raise world fears

The world fears the spread of terrorism in the African Sahel if Hemedti [RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo] and his militias take control of Sudan due to his close links with tribes that support terrorist groups in the region.

Sudan urged the international community to designate the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as a “terror group”, accusing it of committing crimes against the state, citizens, and diplomatic missions in the country.

In a written statement, the Sudanese Foreign Ministry called on “the international community and IGAD (Intergovernmental Authority on Development) to condemn the rebel group for the ongoing violations and crimes against the state, citizens and diplomatic missions in the country and designate it as a terrorist organization.”

It stressed that the “rebel group” disregarded international law and continued its irresponsible behavior by violating the IGAD-proposed truce which took effect Thursday morning.

Stressing that the Sudanese army is committed to the cease-fire on humanitarian grounds, it said rebel Rapid Support Forces Thursday morning launched a sudden attack on several locations, including the military area in Bahri.

The ministry also accused the RSF of looting and pillaging the premises of diplomatic missions and international organizations and using hospitals and health centers as military headquarters.

Earlier in the day, the ministry strongly condemned “the recent assault on the Indian Embassy in Khartoum, Korean Embassy, Saudi Cultural Office, the residence of Swiss diplomats, and the consular division of the Turkish Embassy.”

It said the paramilitary group also expelled Sudanese people from their homes and used them as human shields.

Recent years saw the fall of democracy and the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Sudan. The group led a military coup planned by their late leader Hassan Al-Turabi under former president Omar Al-Bashir in June 1989.

Al-Bashir used the Bedouin tribes in the war in south Sudan. When the non-Arab tribes in Darfur demanded economic and social equality, they saw the Janjaweed’s guns pointed at them.

In Sudanese Arabic, Janjaweed means “djinn [devil] on horseback carrying a GM [rapid fire gun]”.

The International Criminal Court later accused the Janjaweed, their leaders, Al-Bashir, and prominent figures in his regime of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, killing 300,000 people, according to UN estimates, and being responsible for the rape of up to 40,000 women and girls, according to reports of humanitarian organisations operating in the region.