Sudan RSF leader visits Ethiopia in first public wartime tour

[December 28, 2023]  ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - The leader of Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo visited Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa on Thursday in the second leg of a rare publicly-announced foreign tour. 

Deputy head of Sudan's sovereign council General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo speaks during a press conference at Rapid Support Forces head quarter in Khartoum, Sudan February 19, 2023. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/File Photo

In his first confirmed appearance outside of Sudan since the war between RSF and the Sudanese army broke out in mid-April, Dagalo, whose whereabouts during the war have been unknown, met Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni at his country home on Wednesday.

Ethiopia's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonnen met Dagalo, commonly known as Hemedti, at Ethiopia's Bole International Airport on Thursday, the Foreign Ministry said on Facebook.

Hemedti also posted pictures of his arrival and a meeting with Demeke on social media platform X.

The posts showed Hemedti disembarking from an aircraft belonging to Royal Jet, an United Arab Emirates airline, which flight records show had flown from Abu Dhabi to Uganda's Entebbe airport on Wednesday morning.

Reuters was not immediately able to verify if Dagalo had been on the aircraft's previous flight.

The UAE, which has strategic interests in the Horn of Africa and has pursued investments in Sudan including a Red Sea Port, has been Hemedti's most important foreign ally since before the current conflict.

Last month, a top Sudanese general accused the UAE of backing the RSF's war effort, funneling supplies through countries including Uganda. The UAE said in response that it supported diplomatic dialogue and de-escalation in Sudan, while Uganda said the claims were false.

War between Sudan's army and the RSF has devastated the capital Khartoum, forced more than seven million people to flee their homes and triggered waves of ethnic killings in Darfur.

The RSF has recently made rapid gains including taking control of Wad Madani, one of Sudan's major cities.

Diplomatic efforts, including Saudi and U.S.-led talks in Jeddah, have made little visible progress towards halting the fighting.

Earlier this month, East African regional body IGAD said it had secured an agreement for a meeting between Hemedti and army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and a commitment to a ceasefire, but both sides distanced themselves from the claim.

(Reporting by Dawit Endeshaw and Nadine Awadalla; Writing by Hereward Holland and Aidan Lewis; Editing by Christina Fincher)

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