Sudanese Court Sentences RSF Leader To Death for War Crimes and Genocide

Sudanese Court Sentences RSF Leader to Death for War Crimes and Genocide SUDAN Sudan A Sudanese court on Sunday sentenced Rapid Support Forces (RSF) leader Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo and 15 co-defendants to death in absentia for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the killing of West Darfur Governor Khamis Abbakar. The ruling, issued by a court in the army-controlled city of Port Sudan, marks the first judicial conviction of the RSF’s senior leadership since Sudan’s civil war erupted in April 2023. The case focused on the June 2023 killing of Abbakar, who was slain hours after publicly accusing the RSF and allied Arab militias of targeting civilians in West Darfur. The charges also relate to widespread war crimes committed during the RSF’s capture of El Geneina, where United Nations experts estimated that between 10,000 and 15,000 people, predominantly from the Massalit ethnic community, were killed. Those sentenced include Dagalo’s brother and deputy, Abdel-Rahim Hamdan Dagalo, along with a number of RSF commanders and tribal leaders. The court announced it would forward the case to Sudan’s Supreme Court for review, as well as seek the arrest and extradition of those convicted through Interpol and other international mechanisms. The international community has accused the RSF of genocide and both the RSF and the Sudanese army of war crimes and other abuses, allegations both sides deny. The verdict represents a symbolic legal step by the Sudanese judicial system, although the defendants remain outside government custody and the likelihood of enforcement is uncertain. The ruling comes amid Sudan’s civil war, which began in April 2023 after a power struggle between army chief Abdel-Fattah Burhan and Dagalo following their joint role in the 2021 military coup. Now entering its fourth year, the conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced more than 11 million, and created what the United Nations describes as the world’s largest displacement and hunger crisis, with no political resolution currently in sight.