Sudan: RSF leader sworn in as head of parallel government

The leader of Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, has been sworn in as the head of a parallel Sudanese government, according to The New Arab via Reuters on August 31^st.

Dagalo, who is more commonly known as Hemedti, was sworn into office in the city of Nyala, according to a statement released by the parallel government. However, Reuters was unable to independently confirm his location.

According to The Arab Weekly plus agencies on August 31^st, 13 council members were sworn in alongside Hemedti. This included eight new regional governors for Darfur, Kordofan, South Kordofan, New Funj, Central, Eastern, Northern, and Khartoum.

Nyala, where the ceremony took place, is one of Sudan’s largest cities and is situated in the vast western region of Darfur. It has been used as the de facto capital of the RSF, which announced the establishment of a government to rival the military backed-administration in July.

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The move was denounced by the African Union and rejected by the United Nations Security Council, which warned that it risks “fragmenting the country and worsening an already dire humanitarian situation.”

Hemedti took a constitutional oath before chief justice Ramadan Ibrahim Shamila. Following his formal appointment, he proclaimed that “this is the beginning of the end of suffering by the Sudanese people as a result of displacement and exile”, according to The National on August 31^st.

Throughout the Sudanese civil war that erupted in April 2023 between the RSF and the military, combatants under Hemedti’s authority have frequently targeted and killed civilians in incredibly violent raids on displacement camps.

According to a statement by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on August 13^th, the RSF attacked the Abu Shouk displacement camp in North Darfur “at least 16 times” between January and June 2025, killing at least 212 displaced people and injuring 111 others.