Sudan commander breaks with RSF over who gives the orders
KHARTOUM — Siddiq Ander says he has left Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces because relatives of its leader, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, decide who gets promoted, where fighters deploy and who controls the group’s money and weapons. The senior commander made the allegations in a video Al Jazeera released on 30 October.
Ander also accused the leadership of punishing officers who challenge it. Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti, has a brother, Abdul Rahim Hamdan Dagalo, serving as his deputy. Ander offered no independent evidence in the published account for his broader claim that the family controls military decisions throughout the RSF. Al Jazeera’s report carried no response from the group.
Ander is the latest commander to announce a break with the paramilitary force. On 25 September, Al-Tayeb al-Wahidu joined the Sudanese Armed Forces in Omdurman with 50 fighters, according to Sudan Tribune. Wahidu told reporters that abuses within the RSF had prompted him to leave and urged others to lay down their weapons.
Ander’s announcement leaves the military consequences less clear. He has publicly challenged Hemedti’s authority, but it remains unconfirmed whether he has joined the Sudanese army or whether any fighters under his command have left with him.
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