RSF turns to tribal mobilisation after Sudan battlefield losses

The Sudanese rebel Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia has launched a new tribal mobilisation campaign in Darfur as it seeks fresh fighters following a series of battlefield setbacks against the Sudanese army and allied forces.

RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, called late last month for his forces to mobilise for an eventual return to Khartoum and intensified fighting across Kordofan.

The call followed significant RSF losses in the Blue Nile region and North Kordofan, including Bara, the second-largest city in North Kordofan state, and the strategic border town of Kurmuk.

The losses have increased pressure on the rebel paramilitary force as the Sudanese army and forces fighting alongside it attempt to push westwards towards Darfur, the RSF’s principal stronghold.

Media outlets and social media platforms close to the RSF have since reported that a number of tribal leaders in Darfur have responded to Hemedti’s mobilisation call.

Ibrahim Abdullah Mohammed, a prominent Fur tribal leader in South Darfur, reportedly pledged four combat brigades drawn from members of the tribe following a visit by Hemedti to his home in Nyala.

Arab tribal leaders have also reportedly promised to mobilise tens of thousands of fighters after RSF-affiliated civilian authorities held meetings with tribal figures in El Daein, El Geneina and Zalingei.

The new recruitment drive marks a return to a strategy that has played a central role in the RSF’s expansion since long before the outbreak of Sudan’s current war in April 2023.

The paramilitary force developed out of armed networks recruited heavily from communities in Darfur, and tribal mobilisation has remained an important source of manpower throughout the conflict.

In July 2023, only months after fighting erupted between the RSF and army, leaders of seven predominantly Arab tribes gathered in Nyala and publicly announced their support for the paramilitary force.

The tribes included the Rizeigat, Beni Halba, Tergem, Habbaniya, Ta’aisha, Misseriya and Fallata.

However, the latest mobilisation comes amid growing indications of pressure on the RSF’s manpower after more than three years of war and recent territorial losses.

The RSF was driven from Khartoum in 2025 following a major army offensive and has subsequently concentrated much of its military strength in Darfur and Kordofan.

Recent army advances have placed additional pressure on the RSF’s positions along routes connecting Darfur and Kordofan with central and eastern Sudan.

In Blue Nile, the loss of Kurmuk near the Ethiopian border was accompanied by the loss of several other towns and positions along the frontier.

In North Kordofan, the RSF has lost a number of strategically important locations, including Bara, which lies along the key route connecting Khartoum with the state capital El Obeid.

Hemedti’s latest mobilisation call appeared aimed at reversing that momentum.

In his 29 July address, the RSF commander called for fighters to be gathered for what he described as the “liberation of Khartoum”, while also signalling an escalation of operations in Kordofan.

The scale of the response remains unclear despite claims from RSF-aligned media of large pledges from tribal communities.

The campaign also risks further deepening the tribal dimensions of a conflict that has already fuelled communal violence, particularly in Darfur.

Calls for communities to remain outside the fighting have emerged in parts of Darfur and Kordofan amid concern that continuing mobilisation could draw individual tribes more directly into the conflict and expose their areas to retaliatory violence.

For the RSF, however, the immediate challenge is military.

Its ability to translate pledges of tribal support into trained and effective fighting forces could prove increasingly important as the army and its allies attempt to carry their recent advances towards the paramilitary group’s heartlands in western Sudan.