ISTANBUL

The ongoing war between Sudan’s army and the Rapid Support Forces, now a powerful independent force, has sparked what the UN calls the “world’s worst humanitarian crisis,” drawing global scrutiny to the RSF’s origins, rise, and decade-long atrocities.

This report traces the evolution of the RSF from its roots in Darfur’s Janjaweed militias to its role in the current conflict, highlighting accusations of mass killings and human rights violations.

What is the Rapid Support Forces?

The RSF is a militia led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, and traces its origins to the Janjaweed, a group of militias first mobilized in the early 2000s in Sudan’s western Darfur region. Most fighters are recruited from tribes in Darfur. Prior to the current war, analysts estimated the RSF’s manpower at around 100,000 fighters deployed across Darfur and other regions.

Origins and leadership

Although Janjaweed militias were active in Darfur as early as 2003, the RSF was formally established as a semi-regular security unit in 2013. Hemedti emerged as the undisputed commander of the reorganized force, transforming it into an institution with its own command structure, recruitment networks, and revenue streams.

Shift in legal status

When officially created in 2013, the RSF operated under Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Service, with a mandate to “combat rebellion” and protect borders.

In 2017, under former President Omar al-Bashir, Sudan’s parliament passed a law transferring the RSF to the Sudanese Armed Forces, declaring it a “national military force.” Analysts say this created a dual military structure in which the RSF operated with its own chain of command – a gap that later fueled the power struggle with the army over a proposed merger.

Darfur war

In its early phase as Janjaweed militias, the force played a central role in the government’s campaign against armed movements in Darfur beginning in 2003. UN and international investigations documented mass killings, systematic sexual violence, village burnings, and ethnic cleansing. Rights groups have linked these abuses to the same structure that later evolved into the RSF.

Role in the 2018-2019 revolution

The RSF helped remove Bashir from power in April 2019 and Hemedti was appointed deputy chair of the transitional Sovereign Council, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

The current war and map of control

The war between the RSF and the Sudanese army broke out in April 2023 over disputes on security-sector reform, including when and how the RSF would be integrated into the regular army and who would command the unified force.

The RSF adopted an urban-warfare strategy, seizing large sections of Khartoum and Omdurman. The army regained control over the capital on May 21.

The RSF now controls broad areas of western and central Sudan, particularly in Darfur, where it holds the capitals of all five states – El-Fasher, Nyala, El Geneina, Zalingei, and Ed Daein.

Gold as a primary source of funding

The RSF has built a vast economic network largely independent of the Sudanese state. Its most profitable source is gold extracted from mines in Darfur and South Kordofan, which has allowed the force to finance recruitment, weapons purchases, and foreign partnerships without relying on Sudan’s national budget, according to media reports.

Long history of atrocities

According to Human Rights Watch, the RSF and its allies have committed widespread unlawful killings, sexual violence, and destruction of civilian property, and repeatedly used heavy explosive weapons in densely populated areas.

From April to November 2023, the RSF killed thousands of people and displaced hundreds of thousands in El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur, a 2024 Human Rights Watch report said.

The International Criminal Court’s Office of the Prosecutor confirmed in January 2025 that it had collected sufficient evidence to establish “reasonable grounds to believe that a wide range of crimes under the Rome Statute have been committed and continue to be committed in Darfur.”

On Oct. 27, 2025, the Sudan Doctors Network accused the RSF of killing civilians based on ethnicity and plundering health facilities in El-Fasher, North Darfur.

After the fall of El-Fasher, the UN Fact-Finding Mission detailed a pattern of violations amounting to atrocity crimes. “The RSF’s conduct involves systematic and ongoing attacks against civilians,” it said.

On Oct. 26, the RSF seized El-Fasher and committed “massacres” against civilians, according to local and international organizations, amid warnings that the assault could entrench Sudan’s geographic partition, displacing over 62,000 people.

Since April 15, 2023, the Sudanese army and RSF have been locked in a war that regional and international mediations have failed to end. The conflict has killed 20,000 and displaced more than 15 million people as refugees and internally displaced persons, according to UN and local reports.