A Sudanese Court on Sunday sentenced Rapid Support Forces (RSF) leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo and 15 others to death in absentia over the killing of West Darfur Governor Khamis Abbakar and crimes committed during the conflict in Darfur.
The ruling, the first against the RSF leadership since the war began on the 15th April 2023, found the defendants guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and attacks on civilians and public facilities. Those convicted include Dagalo’s brother and deputy, Abdelrahim Hamdan Dagalo, along with several RSF officers and tribal leaders.
The case centres on the killing of Abbakar in June 2023, shortly after RSF forces captured Al Geneina, the capital of West Darfur. The governor was killed hours after accusing the RSF and allied militias of attacking civilians. The court said it would forward the case to the Supreme Court for review and seek the arrest and extradition of the convicted individuals through Interpol and other international channels.
The conflict between the Sudanese army and the RSF, which erupted in April 2023 following a dispute between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Dagalo over integrating the RSF into the national army, has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced more than 11 million, and fuelled what the United Nations describes as the world’s largest displacement and hunger crises.
