Sudan’s military is increasingly welcoming senior defectors from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) into its ranks, a strategy aimed at weakening its rival force but one that is provoking anger among victims who fear accountability for wartime atrocities is being sacrificed for military advantage.
The controversy comes as the United Nations warns that the RSF may be preparing a major offensive against the central Sudanese city of al-Obeid, raising fears of another humanitarian catastrophe in a war that has already killed hundreds of thousands, displaced millions, and triggered famine and disease since fighting erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF in April 2023.
Last month, former RSF commander Ali Rizkallah, widely known as “al-Savannah,” arrived in Khartoum and was formally incorporated into the Sudanese military, receiving both a rank and uniform despite having spent nearly three years fighting against the army. His defection is among several high-profile switches that have reshaped alliances on the battlefield and strengthened the military’s position.
The military-backed government has celebrated the defections as strategic victories. However, many Sudanese, particularly in Darfur where some of the war’s worst atrocities have occurred, view the development with outrage.
Halima Ismail, a displaced woman from western Darfur, told Reuters she could never forgive RSF fighters for what she witnessed during attacks on villages around al-Fashir.
“These RSF soldiers, even if they seek God’s forgiveness, I can’t forgive them because of what I saw face to face,” she said.
Ismail said she witnessed women being raped, was whipped by RSF fighters, and saw armed men under Rizkallah’s command terrorise civilians during raids that forced repeated displacement.
The RSF has repeatedly denied committing atrocities in Darfur, though rights groups and international investigators have documented widespread allegations of killings, ethnic violence, rape, and forced displacement.
Another former RSF commander from North Darfur, al-Nour Guba, who defected in April, rejected suggestions that commanders were joining the army to avoid prosecution.
“If anyone from the Sudanese people has anything against us, I swear we are ready,” Guba told Reuters, adding that any former RSF members found responsible for crimes should face justice.
Calls for accountability extend beyond Darfur. In North Kordofan, a trader from al-Nuhud said he intends to pursue legal action against Rizkallah over the alleged looting of goods from his warehouses during the conflict.
Human rights advocates warn that Sudan’s fractured judicial system and ongoing war make individual prosecutions unlikely. Mohamed Salaheldin of the Emergency Lawyers group argued that Sudan would ultimately require a broader transitional justice process rather than isolated court cases.
Military analysts say the army’s strategy is designed to exploit growing divisions within the RSF, particularly among rival Arab tribal groups in Darfur. According to Emadeddin Badi of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, the military hopes defections can replicate earlier successes in central Sudan, where the switch of influential militia commander Abuagla Keikal helped reverse battlefield losses in 2024.
“There is a military rationale, but the social repercussions are probably underappreciated by the armed forces,” Badi said.
As political and military tensions intensify, the United Nations is warning of an even greater danger ahead.
Speaking in Geneva, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warned that the RSF appears poised to launch a major assault on al-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan state and one of Sudan’s largest cities.
“The imminent offensive against al-Obeid risks commission of serious international crimes and deepens the catastrophic impact on an already beleaguered civilian population,” Türk said.
“We have seen this playbook before. We cannot allow the repeat of the preventable atrocities we documented in El Fasher and Zamzam IDP camp in North Darfur last year.”
Türk described the situation as an “impending human rights disaster” and urged countries with influence over the warring parties to intervene immediately to prevent further escalation.
A coalition of 22 countries, including Norway through the Coalition for Atrocity Prevention and Justice for Sudan, has also called on the RSF to halt its operations around al-Obeid and avoid actions that could place civilians at greater risk.
Al-Obeid has emerged as a key battleground in recent months as both sides seek to consolidate control over strategic transport routes linking western and central Sudan. Aid agencies fear that a full-scale assault on the city could trigger another wave of mass displacement in a conflict that has already uprooted nearly 14 million people.
The army’s effort to attract RSF defectors may be strengthening its military position, but for many Sudanese victims, the prospect of former commanders being absorbed into state institutions while allegations of war crimes remain unresolved underscores the difficult balance between achieving battlefield gains and delivering justice.
