On whose side is Hemedti by Dr el-tahir El-faki

07:31 PM March, 22 2023

Sudanese Online
Dr.El-Tahir El-Faki-UK
My Library
Short URL



Hemedti and his brother are running political campaigns for public support to portray themselves as defenders and restorers of democratic transition through commitment to the Framework Agreement and labelling the October 2021 coup as a mistake. Abdul Raheem Dagalo, deputy commander of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) went even more to demand that those clinging to power must hand it over to the civilians immediately without twisting and turning tactics and vowed to protect demonstrators and not allow detention of political dissidents. It is not known in what capacity he dared to address his superior military leaders! Whether authentic or rhetoric flirtation with the sentiments of the public to redeem and reinvent their images at all costs; we can only guess!
Hemedti earned repute in 2019 for refusing to kill the protestors against President Bashir, but that repute vanished amid the civilian deaths in the dispersion of the sit-in protests in 2019 and the bloody confrontations with the demonstrators against the October coup since 2021 in partnership with Gen Al- Burhan.
Now, the relationship between the leadership of the Rapid Support Force (RSF), with the Generals of the regular armed forces is far from amicable opening the doors for too many interest groups willing to chant; "If it wasn't for Hemedti what would have become of the country”؟
President Bashir implanted the Janjaweed for malicious massacres, murderous campaigns, and displacement of specific population groups in Darfur. Oblivious of the hidden ambitions of the newcomers from the desert, Bashir sanctioned recruitment of Al-Dagalo family members and roving bandits from the Sahel to build strong militia under Hemedti and nicknamed him Himaiti; literally means ‘My protector’. Hemedti proved not to be the ‘Useful Fool’ and not contented with the level of his military and political authority.
He began by displacing Musa Hilal, his chief and close relative from the leadership of the Border Guards to become Bashir’s servant and the leader of the RSF. He then joined the conspirators against Bashir in the April 2019 coup with Lt General Awad Ibn Oaf. When the latter stepped down twenty-four hours later, he supported Lt Gen Al-Burhan for the leadership of the Interim Military Council. He then connived with Al-Burhan against Prime Minister Hamdok and brought the civilian government down in the coup of October 2021.
Now, he is vigorously swaying in support of the Forces for Freedom and Change to restore democracy and accuse the Sudanese Army Generals of clinging to power. It is difficult to believe that a man shrouded in fear of indictment and convictions will ever relinquish power and withdraw from public life into oblivion! His impromptu statements are reflexes and responses to impulses of the moments to seduce public sympathy and political gains. The Dagalo brothers are trying to portray to the public they are credible to defend democracy and redeem their past bloody conducts.
Sudan is not enough for the ambitions of the men whose tribal roots spread across the borders into Chad, Niger, Mali, and Central African Republic with allegiance to the family and tribal ties if they are well cared for. The monopoly of Al Dagalo family of the high military ranks in the Rapid Support Forces exceed the tallies of the militia recruited from Sudan and across the borders offering Al Dagalo and their Arab allies in Chad, Niger and Central African Republic control and deterrent against unexpected mutiny or infighting for the leadership in the event of disappearance from the scene.
In the long-term Al Dagalo aims to replace the Zaghawa from political power and end their domination in Chad with unknown military and social consequences.
The presence of the private military company, (Wagner Group), owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin in Africa and those who support or assist its activities in the Sahel is worrying to the West. Classification of the group by the US as an international criminal organization has brought the USA and France upon the scene to antagonize the growing Russian ambitions in the region. This development will gradually drag Hemedti into the danger zone of assisting the Russian war economy with tons of smuggled gold and other minerals from Sudan and Central African Republic creating direct threat to Western national security.
The West will not forget, tolerate, or reconcile with the visit Hemedti made to Russia at a crucial time of the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. With connections of RSF to Wagner Group in the events in Central African Republic and Chad, Western involvement will no longer adopt a wait and see policy and the possibility of imposing international sanctions on the RSF, its companies, investments, and its international financial dealings and prevent purchasing and importing weapons will sooner or later mature. Labelling the RSF as criminal or terrorist group is not unforeseen unless new regional fluctuations emerge with rubrics in favour to the West.
Hemedti knows that he must answer for his role in the atrocities committed in Darfur since 2003, the bloody massacre in Khartoum in 2013 and the deadly dispersal of the sit-in protestors in Khartoum in June 2019 and apologising for taking part in the October 2021 coup will not absolve him from indictment.
For Hemedti to confront the SAF with qualitative capabilities of artillery, tanks, air force, drones, and missiles he needs to deploy the bulk of his RSF into the cities, especially in Khartoum to counteract and neutralize the advantages at the disposal of the SAF. The RSF is unpopular and widely detested for its atrocities and scorched campaigns and will not be able to build public and political support and national military recruitment of veterans and deserters to split the ranks of the Sudan Armed Forces through tribal, regional loyalty and financial inducements. The RSF will try to form regional alliances in Niger, Chad, and Central Africa to gain Emirati-Russian support in the face of the Egyptian-American project of non-tolerance to presence of armed militias in Sudan.
The Sudanese Armed Force with its historical experiences in military intelligence is competent, if not already done, to infiltrate the RSF and create wide popular rally behind the national army and dispossess RSF of weapons through military defeat or sanctions. The RSF will have no options but to revert to roving banditry with thousands dispersed in the desert and the Sahel creating new insecurity in the region.

We must not forget, by now, that Hemedti managed symbiotic coexistence with the different contradictory directives due to absence of unblemished political or ideological insight to prevent him from reflex mutation to changing political environment. The set-up is a real dilemma for the steadfast supporters of peace and stability and perilous for the future of Sudan to trust the intentions and directions of an unstable character.
Worst of the predicaments is the existence of the Rapid Support Forces outside the national army under the leadership of a fragile and weaker civilian rule leading to political turmoil and protracted battle of resolve. And, the mantra of “Hemedti is on our side" will simply become an amulet.



عناوين الاخبار بسودانيزاونلاينSudaneseOnline اليوم الموافق March, 15 2023

• موقع امريكي يكشف عن مشاركة السودان في قمّة عربية إسرائيلية بأبوظبي برعاية امريكية
• توقف صادر اللحوم لـ(8) دول عربية
• جبريل يصدر توجيهات لديوان الضرائب ويصرح السودان ثاني أقل دولة أفريقية في تحصيل الضرائب

Arabic Forum