RSF chief Mohamed Hamdan Daglo sentenced to death in absentia

A court in Sudan's army-controlled city of Port Sudan on Sunday sentenced paramilitary leader Mohamed Hamdan Daglo and 15 others to death in absentia over charges of killing a regional governor and war crimes in Darfur, state media reported.

The ruling, issued by a judiciary functioning under the army, is the first against the leadership of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since war broke out between the paramilitary group and the Sudanese army in April 2023.

The court convicted Daglo and the other defendants of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and attacks on civilians and public facilities, state news agency SUNA reported. Those sentenced include Daglo's brother and deputy, Abdelrahim Hamdan Daglo, as well as several RSF officers and tribal leaders from Arab communities in West Darfur.

The case centres on the killing of West Darfur governor Khamis Abbakar in June 2023, shortly after RSF forces seized El-Geneina, the state capital. Abbakar was killed hours after accusing the RSF and allied militias of carrying out attacks against civilians. UN experts determined that between 10,000 and 15,000 people, mostly from the Massalit ethnic group, were killed in El-Geneina during the violence.

The RSF has repeatedly denied allegations of genocide and other war crimes. The court said it would refer the case to the Supreme Court for review and seek the arrest and extradition of those convicted through Interpol and other international channels.

Sudanese army leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Daglo had jointly led the 2021 coup that derailed Sudan's transition to civilian rule, before falling out over plans to integrate the RSF into the regular army, a dispute that eventually led to war.

Now in its fourth year, the conflict between the army and the RSF has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced more than 11 million and triggered what the United Nations describes as the world's largest displacement and hunger crises.