Sudan’s Hemetti seeks close cooperation with U.S. administration: report

November 15, 2022 (KHARTOUM) – Mohamed Hamdan Daglo aka “Hemetti” General Commander of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan seeks “closer cooperation with the United States”, wrote a former senior adviser to the U.S. Department of State

David L Philips met with Hemetti in early November in Khartoum. After his return to New York, he wrote an article calling to engage Sudanese military officials in a dialogue that should contribute to ending the current political stalemate and regional stability.

“Whatever mistakes were made, Washington should now engage security officials in a dialogue in service of peace and progress in Sudan,” he wrote in the National Interest.

To support his call for dialogue with Hemetti, the Director of the Peace-Building and Human Rights Program, Columbia University’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights said that the RSF leader is ready to cut his ties with Russia.

“Hemeti acknowledges that the Russia trip was a mistake and now seeks closer cooperation with the United States,” he said.

Foreign diplomats in Khartoum confirmed to Sudan Tribune that the deputy head of the Sovereign Council sent signals to several western capitals indicating his readiness to end his awkward relationship with Russia.

After his visit to Moscow, which coincided with the start of the Russian invasion and reports about his role in gold mining and export to Moscow, the RSF is more and more baldy perceived by the international community.

Hemetti has already been seen as associated with the malign Russian influence in Central Africa and the Sahel regions.

Besides backing the president Central African Republic where it is working in diamond mining, Moscow was accused of backing attempts to destabilize political stability in Chad, supporting the military regime in Mali and spreading campaigns hostile to France on social media across Africa.

Philips further underscored Hemetti rejection of political alliance with the Sudanese Islamists when the embattled head of the Sovereign Council started to resort more and more to their political support for his military coup

“During my meetings in Khartoum earlier this month, Hemeti (…) insists that civilian groups—the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) and the Resistance Committees—must be a part of Sudan’s future democratic government, warning that any agreement without their participation will fail and exacerbate conflict in the country,” he wrote.

The former State Department advisor went further to say that Hemetti support calls for transitional justice which is included in the draft transitional constitution crafted by the Sudanese Bar Association.

There were reports about the rift between the head of the Sovereign Council Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy about the comeback of Sudanese Islamists after the  October 25 coup.

Al-Burhan shifted his position in recent weeks when accused the Islamists of seeking to use the army to return to power.

However, the commander in chief of the Sudanese army still resists calls to reform the Sudanese army saying that only an elected government can take such decisions.

At the same time, the SRF leader reportedly seeks to preserve his paramilitary forces in one way or another, despite public statements about its future integration into the national army.

(ST)