RSF leader threatens new offensive after Khartoum setbacks
January 31, 2025 (KHARTOUM) – The leader of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Mohamed Hamdan Daglo “Hemetti”, on Friday vowed a new offensive against the army following significant territorial losses in recent months.
The army has pushed back the RSF in key areas, including Khartoum, the Jazeera region, Sennar, and North Kordofan. The army recently broke a months-long RSF siege of its general command in central Khartoum and gained control of much of the Bahri district north of the capital.
In a video address, Daglo, also known as Hemetti, said the RSF would target specific locations but declined to provide details. “We want to liberate specific areas, and the field commanders will inform you of the matter, I will not broadcast it in the media,” he said.
He referenced earlier battles in Khartoum, saying, “They were with us inside Khartoum in Al-Mogran, the Bank of Sudan, and the Strategy (area), and we expelled them, and we will expel them again, but this time it is not like before,” referring to the army.
On January 25, the army announced it had linked up its forces from Omdurman and North Bahri with those at the Signal Corps, effectively ending the RSF’s siege of the general command, which had lasted over 20 months.
Daglo also threatened to prosecute army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. “You and those with you will be tried, the people will try you, and we will also… and we will not leave you alone,” he said. He dismissed recent protests in support of the army as representing only a segment of the population.
He also claimed to be monitoring Ali Karti, the secretary-general of the Islamic Movement, accusing him of establishing military bases north of Omdurman. “We are following him, and we know where he resides in the Military College and Wadi Sidna, he, Ahmed Haroun, and Osama Abdullah,” Daglo said.
He added, “But you are wrong, and God has taken power away from you because taking it away is difficult, and your continued attempts are the taking away.”
The RSF accuses the Islamic Movement of instigating the ongoing conflict, which erupted on April 15, 2023, and of wielding undue influence within the military.