Who are Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces, accused of atrocities in Darfur?

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are at the centre of Sudan’s latest and bloodiest chapter. Accused of massacres in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, the powerful paramilitary group has been blamed for thousands of civilian deaths, mass displacement, and the use of starvation as a weapon of war.

Local and international organisations say RSF fighters attacked hospitals, executed fleeing civilians, and imposed a siege that has cut off food for more than 500 days.

What began as a government-backed militia two decades ago has now become a dominant, semi-independent force at war with Sudan’s army, accused of systematically dismantling the country’s social fabric.

From Janjaweed to Rapid Support

The RSF’s origins trace back to the Janjaweed, Arab militias mobilised by then-president Omar al-Bashir in 2003 to suppress non-Arab rebels in Darfur.

These militias became notorious for atrocities, including mass killings, village burnings, and rape, prompting the International Criminal Court to indict Bashir for genocide.

In 2013, the Janjaweed were reorganised into the Rapid Support Forces under the command of Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Service. Four years later, parliament passed a law recognising the RSF as an autonomous force within the armed forces, led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, and his brother Abdel Rahim Dagalo.

The RSF became the regime’s shock troops, used to suppress uprisings and wage counterinsurgency campaigns in the peripheries. Their rise marked the institutionalisation of the Janjaweed as a permanent part of Sudan’s power structure.

A record of atrocities

The RSF’s record is defined by brutality. During the Darfur conflict, the group targeted non-Arab tribes such as the Masalit and Fur. In June 2019, months after Bashir’s fall, RSF units helped violently disperse a peaceful sit-in outside army headquarters in Khartoum, killing more than 200 demonstrators and committing mass rapes.

Since war erupted in April 2023 between Hemedti’s RSF and the regular army led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the militia has swept through large parts of Darfur, Kordofan, Gezira, and Khartoum. Human Rights Watch accused the RSF of committing genocide in Geneina, West Darfur, through the deliberate and systematic targeting of the Masalit community.

Amnesty International documented what it called "widespread sexual violence against women and girls throughout the war", including gang rapes and sexual enslavement.

A UN fact-finding mission concluded that during the siege of El Fasher, the RSF carried out "a wide range of crimes against humanity", using starvation as a weapon of war in actions that "may amount to genocide".

'Built on bloodshed'

Political analyst Abu al-Qasim Ibrahim told The New Arab's Arabic edition Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the RSF’s composition is "built on bloodshed and conflict". He said the group’s members "place no value on the lives of others, especially those they see as enemies".

He added that the RSF’s methods reveal "a deeply entrenched methodology of subjugating individuals and groups it classifies as enemies", often along ethnic lines. Videos have surfaced, Ibrahim said, showing RSF fighters boasting about plans to "bring their families to take over land and wealth".

Ibrahim warned that the RSF’s leaders have long escaped punishment, enjoying protection under previous governments and now believing "there is no deterrent that can stop them".

Economic power and autonomy

The RSF’s strength extends beyond the battlefield. It controls gold mines, smuggling routes, and businesses, giving Hemedti vast wealth and independence from the central state. The militia’s economic empire has helped sustain its war machine and deepen Sudan’s collapse into parallel zones of authority.

Its long-standing rivalry with the army exploded into open war in 2023, with the RSF taking control of major parts of Khartoum and Darfur. The group has since positioned itself as a quasi-governmental force, levying taxes, distributing aid selectively, and using terror to maintain control.

Sanctions and condemnation

In January 2025, the United States sanctioned Hemedti for his "role in systematic atrocities committed against the Sudanese people". The State Department said RSF members and allied militias "committed crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, and genocide".

The UN Security Council has also imposed sanctions on senior RSF figures for destabilising the country, while bipartisan US senators have called for the militia to be designated a foreign terrorist organisation.

"The atrocities in El Fasher were not accidental," said Senator Jim Risch, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "They were the RSF’s plan from the beginning. The RSF engages in terrorism and commits unspeakable atrocities, including genocide against the Sudanese people."

The UN Secretary-General António Guterres has voiced "deep concern over the recent military escalation in El Fasher", urging an end to the siege. Egypt has reiterated its "complete rejection of any plans to divide Sudan", while Russia condemned "violence against civilians" as "unacceptable" and inconsistent with international law.