RSF’s Hemetti backs African mediation following Museveni meeting
February 20, 2026 (KAMPALA) – Rapid Support Forces (RSF) leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemetti, said on Friday that his current visit to Uganda follows a request from Ugandan authorities after the Sudanese government moved to reactivate African mediation.
The visit follows Sudan’s Deputy Chairman of the Sovereignty Council, Malik Agar, meeting with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni at State House in Entebbe on February 13 to discuss reviving the peace process.
The diplomatic push follows African Union Peace and Security Council Resolution 1308, issued on October 28, 2025. The resolution directed the AU Commission to work with a presidential committee led by Museveni to facilitate negotiations between the army and the RSF.
Speaking to a crowd of Sudanese in Kampala, Hemetti criticised the Saudi-U.S.-led Jeddah platform, describing it as a “tactic” used by the army to secure the escape of military chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan from the besieged General Command.
Hemetti said the Jeddah process harmed the RSF because his delegation remained silent out of respect for Saudi Arabia, while the army used the time to recruit mercenaries.
He claimed his forces implemented mediators’ requests for a year before realizing the path was not “moving in the right direction,” leading them to reject the platform while still accepting its technical clauses.
The RSF leader maintained that negotiations should have been held under an African umbrella, specifically through IGAD and the African Union, since the start of the conflict.
Colombian mercenaries
In an admission of foreign involvement, Hemetti said his forces used a limited number of Colombian mercenaries. He said their role was limited to “supervising the operation of drones.”
However, he accused the Sudanese army of bringing in Iranian and Ukrainian mercenaries. He alleged that Ukrainians arrived under the pretext of fighting the Wagner Group, which he said had been in Sudan since the era of former President Omer al-Bashir.
Field escalation and political goals
Hemetti labelled the Director of the General Intelligence Service, Ahmed Ibrahim Mufadal, a “terrorist,” accusing him of trying to bring Somali al-Shabaab fighters into Sudan. He vowed to eliminate them if they arrived.
The RSF commander claimed his force has grown significantly, stating its numbers rose from 143,000 at the start of the war to over 500,000 currently, excluding allied forces.
Concluding his remarks, Hemetti said the RSF has a fixed program for peace based on a constitutional solution and a national charter. He asserted that any future political reality must exclude the “Kezan,” a term used for the Islamists of the former regime.
He expressed his readiness to cooperate with any peace initiative led by President Museveni.