Sudan: RSF Lt Gen ‘had hand in Musa Hilal release’

Former janjaweed leader and head of the Revolutionary Awakening Council (RAC) Musa Hilal stated that meetings with Lt Gen Abdelrahim Dagalo, deputy commander of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and member of the Transitional Partners Council (TPC), led to his release last week.

Musa Hilal was pardoned by the Transitional Sovereignty Council last week.

He and the Dagalo family both belong to the Rizeigat tribe.

Hilal was held, together with a number of his relatives and followers, during a raid on his stronghold in Misteriya, North Darfur, in November 2017, after he refused to respond to the government’s disarmament campaign. He was immediately transferred to a prison in Khartoum. His trial secretly began on April 30, 2018.

He is held responsible for numerous atrocities committed in Darfur against civilians after the conflict erupted in 2003. In that year, he was released from prison by the Sudanese government to mobilise Darfuri Arab herders to fight the insurgency in the region.

With full government backing, his militiamen, popularly called janjaweed, targeted villages of African Darfuris. They rarely came near forces of the armed rebel movements.

The militia leader was appointed as presidential assistant for Federal Affairs, and moved to Khartoum in 2008. In January 2014 however, he defected from the ruling National Congress Party (NCP), returned to Darfur and established the RAC. His lawyers argue that resisting the Al Bashir regime can not constitute a crime.

The RAC consists of Hilal’s militiamen and a number of North Darfur native administration leaders. RAC commanders took control of the Jebel Amer gold mining area in El Sareif Beni Hussein locality in July 2015. According to a UN Security Council report in April 2016, Hilal and his entourage were profiting from vast gold sales in Darfur.

After his detention, the RSF, commanded by deputy chairman of the Sovereignty Council Lt Gen Mohamed ‘Hemeti’ Dagalo, took over control of the Jebel Amer gold mines. In October 2020, he handed the mines to the Sudanese government took over control of the gold mines.

Yesterday, Hilal called for “an end of injustice, hatred and enmity which spoil the country”. He affirmed “the satisfaction of all parties” with regard to the handling of his case, called for unity, and stated that “everyone must look at issues with reason rather than emotions”.

The RAC renewed its demand for the release of Ali Rizgallah, known as “El Safina”, Ali Majok, Yahya Bahreldin, Mohamed Saleh and Adam Hamid. It welcomed the release of Hashim Teribou, who had been detained since November 2017 on charges related to opposing and overthrowing the Al Bashir regime.

Lt Gen Abdelrahim Dagalo, deputy commander of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and member of the Transitional Partners Council (TPC), said yesterday that “the case of Musa Hilal was finally resolved”.

He condemned “the media campaign that tries to distort the image of the Rapid Support Forces”. Dagalo also warned those he described as “promoters of sedition” that the government and its institutions must be allowed to do their duty to protect the Sudanese people.

Hilal is still subject to UN sanctions that include a travel ban and an asset freeze. He has not been indicted by the International Criminal Court.