Overview
- On Sunday, July 13, an anti‑terrorism court in Port Sudan convicted Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, and 15 co‑defendants of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for atrocities in West Darfur, including the June 2023 killing of Governor Khamis Abakar.
- The court ordered confiscation of RSF assets and instructed authorities to seek Interpol red notices to arrest and extradite the convicted men.
- The sentences were handed down in absentia and are unlikely to be enforced because the RSF controls large parts of Darfur and its leaders remain beyond the reach of army‑held authorities.
- The domestic verdict joins active international accountability work, including ICC and UN investigations and universal‑jurisdiction complaints in Kenya, creating overlapping legal avenues and coordination challenges.
- The ruling is likely to further polarize the war, deepen victims’ calls for justice and shift attention to whether states will act on Interpol notices or press the ICC to seek arrests.