Sudan RSF paramilitary leader Hemedti says ready to fight for decades

Lead

The leader of Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, said this week that his fighters are prepared to continue their war against the regular army for decades if required. Speaking to soldiers at an undisclosed location, Dagalo stated that while the RSF does not want the conflict to drag on, it would persist "until they are uprooted" should the army choose a prolonged fight lasting as long as 40 years, or until 2040. The remarks, carried by multiple outlets, came shortly after Sudan's army chief and head of the Transitional Sovereign Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, vowed to keep fighting until the country is "cleansed" of the RSF and estimated the war could extend to 2033.

The exchange of hardened rhetoric underscores how both sides increasingly frame the conflict, now in its fourth year, as an existential struggle for control of Sudan. Fighting that erupted in 2023 between the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces has produced one of the world's most severe humanitarian emergencies, according to United Nations assessments cited across reporting. Drone strikes have intensified in recent weeks, including attacks on the capital Khartoum and its airport, while millions of civilians remain displaced or without basic services.

Coverage Comparison

Reporting from Africa News and Al Jazeera converges on the central development of escalated war rhetoric from both Hemedti and al-Burhan, presenting the leaders' statements as signals that neither side anticipates a swift resolution. Both outlets describe the RSF commander's readiness for a multi-decade conflict and place it in the context of ongoing hostilities around Khartoum, where RSF elements remain positioned on the outskirts of Omdurman despite the army's earlier recapture of much of the capital. Africa News emphasizes the immediate military and diplomatic angles, including accusations leveled by Sudan's army-aligned government that Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates have launched drone attacks from Ethiopian territory since March, with strikes hitting Khartoum and its airport. Those two countries have denied involvement and any hosting of RSF or UAE forces, denials that Africa News notes could not be independently verified by AFP regarding the strike details.

Al Jazeera's account expands more extensively into the cumulative human and institutional toll, drawing on a joint United Nations Development Programme and Institute for Security Studies report to outline long-term projections. It highlights al-Burhan's parallel vow of a fight lasting potentially until 2033 and frames both leaders' comments as evidence that the war is viewed as a struggle for survival. While Africa News focuses on recent drone incidents, civilian returns to Khartoum, and infrastructure decay, Al Jazeera provides broader statistical assessments of deaths, displacement, food insecurity, and economic scarring, along with warnings about the near-collapse of state institutions. The two sources align on the basic facts of Hemedti's statement and the war's duration but differ in emphasis: one prioritizes battlefield positioning and external accusations, the other the projected socioeconomic devastation. Neither outlet's extract contradicts the core timeline or the leaders' quoted positions; differences appear mainly in the breadth of humanitarian data presented.

Key Claims

• RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo announced his forces' preparedness to fight until 2040 if necessary, a statement reported across outlets and framed as a response to the army's stance.
• Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan vowed to continue combat until Sudan is "cleansed" of the RSF, with an estimated possible duration until 2033, according to accounts citing his remarks.
• Over 150,000 people have been killed since fighting began in 2023, a figure drawn from a joint UNDP and Institute for Security Studies report referenced by Al Jazeera.
• Nearly 15 million people have been displaced, up to 24 million face food shortages, and at least 19 million lack access to safe drinking water and sanitation, per the same UNDP-linked assessment.
• Sudan's state institutions stand on the verge of total collapse, with governance paralyzed and key sectors shattered, according to the UNDP and Institute for Security Studies findings reported by Al Jazeera.
• Under a protracted-conflict scenario lasting to 2030, Sudan's GDP in 2043 would be US$34.5 billion lower than in a no-war baseline, with GDP per capita falling by roughly $1,700 and more than 60 percent of the population in extreme poverty, as projected in the joint report.
• Healthcare indicators show a severe long-term crisis, with 70-80 percent of health facilities in conflict zones non-functional and at least 145 verified attacks on healthcare facilities and personnel documented, according to Al Jazeera's citation of available data.
• Sudan's army-aligned government has accused Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates of launching drone attacks on Sudanese states, including Khartoum; both countries have denied the allegations, a sequence reported by Africa News.
• More than 1.8 million displaced people have returned to Khartoum since its recapture by the army, only to encounter limited access to electricity and water and dilapidated infrastructure, according to United Nations figures cited by Africa News.
• Drone attacks by both sides have killed nearly 700 civilians since January, per UN figures noted in Africa News reporting, with recent strikes in Omdurman killing civilians and damaging a hospital.

Perspectives

From the RSF side, Hemedti's comments portray the paramilitary as unwilling initiators of endless war yet fully committed to prevailing if the army prolongs hostilities. He positioned remaining RSF forces on the edges of Omdurman as evidence of continued operational presence even after setbacks in the capital, framing the conflict as one that will end only with the army's defeat. This viewpoint, conveyed through his address to soldiers, presents the RSF as prepared for generational struggle while claiming a preference for de-escalation.

The Sudanese army and its aligned government perspective, reflected in al-Burhan's vow and the accusations against Ethiopia and the UAE, casts the war as a necessary campaign to eliminate the RSF threat entirely. Officials describe external drone support as interference that prolongs the fighting, while asserting control over Khartoum and rejecting any legitimacy for RSF claims. Denials from Ethiopia and the UAE form a counter-perspective, rejecting both the strike allegations and any territorial hosting of RSF or related forces; these denials remain unverified in independent reporting on the specific incidents.

Humanitarian and international institutional perspectives, articulated through UNDP representative Luca Renda and the joint UNDP-Institute for Security Studies report, stress the compounding human cost. Renda described the conflict as "the economics of suffering," warning that longer duration multiplies misery, pushes millions more into extreme poverty, and risks irreversible damage to health, education, markets, and agriculture. UN figures on returns to Khartoum highlight a secondary crisis of inadequate services even in areas of relative calm, while documented attacks on health infrastructure underscore the erosion of civilian protections. These assessments treat the leaders' long-war rhetoric as a direct driver of projected GDP losses and institutional failure, independent of which military actor prevails.

Temporal context remains important: the war entered its fourth year with both conventional and drone warfare escalating, civilian casualties mounting into the hundreds from recent aerial attacks alone, and earlier army gains in Khartoum now tested by renewed strikes. No comprehensive ceasefire or political settlement is referenced in the available reporting, leaving the competing declarations of multi-decade resolve as the dominant public signals from the principal armed parties.