Paramilitary force grown out of the Janjaweed militias of the Darfur war, commanded by Hemedti (Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo). Co-author of the 2021 coup, at war with the Sudanese Armed Forces since April 2023; by late 2025 it held all five Darfur state capitals (El Fasher fell in October 2025) and declared a rival Government of Peace and Unity.
2023Civil war in Sudan The Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces turn on each other in Khartoum; the war displaces over 14 million people and leaves the RSF ruling Darfur from El Fasher while the SPLM-N holds the Nuba Mountains.
Further reading
Sudan's Unfinished Democracy: The Promise and Betrayal of a RevolutionWillow Berridge, Justin Lynch, Raga Makawi & Alex de Waal · 2022
The 2019 revolution, the 2021 coup and the RSF's rise to co-ruler — the road to the 2023 war.
Darfur: A Short History of a Long WarJulie Flint & Alex de Waal · 2005
The Darfur war that created the Janjaweed, the milieu the RSF was built from.