UAE Hired Sudanese Mercenaries to Fight in Yemen and Libya, Documents Reveal
The American newspaper The Wall Street Journal has revealed leaked documents proving that the UAE contracted Sudanese mercenaries from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia to fight in Yemen and Libya.
According to the newspaper, in 2020, the UAE signed a deal with RSF leader Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, known as “Hemedti,” to lease his fighters as mercenaries in Yemen and Libya, after Abu Dhabi paid him $27 million, based on banking documents.
The report highlighted that Hemedti’s militia in Sudan is accused of killing tens of thousands in the Darfur region.
Regarding Hemedti’s early days in forming his militia, the newspaper noted that after being ambushed, he took steps to protect his family and livelihood. He gathered a number of young men, mostly from his Rizeigat Arab tribe, armed them, and established a personal guard force. However, his bodyguards quickly transformed into a private army and then into a ruthless gang of killers and rapists, according to Sudanese and international human rights organizations.
Hemedti’s militia, locally known as the “Janjaweed” or “Knights of Evil” and now officially called the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has become a paramilitary force accused of committing genocide twice in the past two decades.
In both cases, its Arab fighters were accused of killing thousands of Sudanese of African descent in western Darfur.
Alex de Waal, Executive Director of the World Peace Foundation at Tufts University, stated that Hemedti specializes in violence, and after failing to seize the Sudanese state, he decided to destroy it. De Waal estimated that the approximately 50-year-old Hemedti is now close to achieving that goal.
Two years ago, after breaking away from Sudan’s military council following a clash with Army Chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, turned into an urban battlefield where rival factions fought for control.
This conflict has led to catastrophic consequences, including the deaths of tens of thousands due to violence, starvation, and disease, according to U.S. State Department reports.
De Waal continued, stating that Hemedti is officially accused of genocide, as U.S. officials have accused his forces of committing “a series of documented war crimes, including ethnic killings and sexual violence as a weapon of war.”
With escalating violence in Africa’s third-largest country, concerns are growing over control of some of the continent’s largest gold reserves, the management of the Nile River—Sudan and Egypt’s lifeline—and the regulation of migration routes across the Sahara toward Europe.
Hemedti’s rise to international prominence began after a raid in 2002, during Sudan’s civil war between the Arab-led government in Khartoum and Christian and animist African groups in the south.
The war ended in 2005, leading to South Sudan’s independence in 2011. During the subsequent period, widespread arms proliferation allowed Hemedti to arm hundreds of his Arab tribal members.
His fighters described him as a charismatic leader who won their loyalty by allowing them to loot the lands they seized.
He cultivated an image as a desert warrior, wearing sand-colored military fatigues and a white turban, earning him the nickname “Hemedti” or “Little Mohammed.”
His forces became part of the Janjaweed militia, which proved highly effective in desert warfare.
Hemedti’s military skills caught the attention of then-Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who was fighting a rebellion by marginalized African groups in Darfur.
Hemedti’s forces used brutal tactics, including raping African women, running over men and boys with trucks, burning African villages, and destroying wells and farms to make way for Rizeigat tribal pastures, in addition to carrying out the Darfur massacres.
The United States has officially accused Hemedti of genocide for his role in these atrocities.
In 2017, Hemedti seized the Jabal Amer gold mine in Darfur, selling gold to Russia and the UAE, according to a Global Witness report. He continued smuggling gold through Chad and the Central African Republic.
Hemedti hoarded stacks of gold bars in his palaces in Khartoum and Darfur.
In 2019, he turned against al-Bashir, aligning with al-Burhan to overthrow him. He then became Sudan’s deputy leader but soon entered a bloody power struggle with al-Burhan.
Hemedti’s militias took control of a third of Sudan and brought in Colombian mercenaries to reinforce his forces.
In mid-2023, his troops overran the city of El Geneina, a stronghold of African communities in Darfur, carrying out mass executions.
By December 2023, the UN estimated that more than 15,000 people had been killed.
However, in recent months, he lost control of Wad Madani, leading to internal turmoil within his forces. He became increasingly anxious and disconnected from reality, blaming his military commanders for their failures.
