Sudanese Rapid Support Forces commander, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, met with Sudanese opposition politicians in Addis Ababa on Monday. This concluded his international tour, which previously included meetings with leaders from Uganda, Ethiopia, and Djibouti—a move that sparked frustration from Sudan's Transitional Sovereignty Council head, Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who described it as hostile actions.
In neighborhoods across Sudan, committees supporting democracy and opposing the military accused the Rapid Support Forces of killing hundreds of civilians and committing acts of kidnapping and plunder in Wad Madani, the capital of Al Jazirah State, which they took control of late last month.
During a meeting on Monday with Abdullah Hamdok, the head of the coordination of civil democratic forces, Hemedti apologized for the violations in Al Jazirah State. He stated that the Rapid Support Forces leadership is working to apprehend the "outlaws."
"We reiterate our call to the regional and international community to regard our struggle and efforts with optimism…This is in view of Sudan's new future post-achieving peace," he added.
Former Prime Minister Hamdok was ousted from power in 2021 when the military and the Rapid Support Forces led a coup that halted Sudan's democratic transition following the removal of ex-President Omar al-Bashir in 2019.
In a late Sunday speech, al-Burhan claimed that those who provided support to the Rapid Support Forces were complicit in their crimes.
Referring to earlier talks held by the military with the Rapid Support Forces in Jeddah, al-Burhan emphasized that the path to ending the war includes the withdrawal of the Rapid Support Forces from Sudanese cities and Al Jazirah State and the return of looted properties.
The leaders accepted an invitation to meet from the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), an Eastern African regional organization. The Burhan-Hemedti meeting was initially scheduled for last Thursday in Djibouti but was postponed according to the Sudan News Agency (SUNA).
The Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that a technical issue had prevented Hemedti from traveling to Djibouti for the scheduled meeting and stated that the meeting would be coordinated again for the following month.
