Sudan’s Mohamed Hamdan Defies Death Rumors, Embarks on Triumphal Tour

Lt. Gen. ⁣Mohamed Hamdan, the leader of⁢ a notorious paramilitary force fighting⁤ for supremacy in Sudan’s civil war,⁤ is not ​the president ‍of his country. Yet on a recent whirlwind tour ⁤of six African nations, he was treated just like ‍one. Some of‌ the continent’s most powerful leaders rolled out the red carpet for‍ General ⁤Hamdan after he arrived‌ on a luxury jet for ‍meetings‌ in late December and early January, having ‍swapped his military fatigues for business suits. In Kenya,‍ traditional dancers waited at the ‍plane steps. In ⁣South Africa, he sank into an ‍armchair⁣ beside a⁣ smiling ⁤President Cyril​ Ramaphosa.⁣ And in Rwanda, General Hamdan posed solemnly ‌at a memorial to victims of⁢ the 1994 ⁤genocide — even ⁤though his own troops have faced accusations of genocide⁤ in Sudan’s ⁤Darfur region.⁤ The surprise tour​ was a remarkable comeback for a commander often rumored dead or wounded​ since⁣ Sudan plunged into war in ‍April. General Hamdan’s Rapid Support Forces are steamrolling across Sudan, ​beating the‌ country’s regular army into retreat — in large part thanks‍ to military backing from the United Arab​ Emirates, a ​Persian Gulf petrostate that is emerging as a kingmaker in the Horn⁤ of Africa region, according to a⁣ new⁢ report by‌ United​ Nations investigators. The‍ as-yet unpublished report, obtained by The New York Times, offers new detail about ⁣how the​ Emirates has ‌been⁣ smuggling⁢ powerful weapons to General Hamdan’s forces, known ‍as the R.S.F., through Chad since last summer — armed drones, howitzers and antiaircraft⁤ missiles, sent via secretive cargo flights and​ desert smuggling routes.​ The supplies have ⁣boosted ‌his‍ forces to a​ succession of‍ victories that in recent months have altered the ⁣course of ‍the war. “This new‌ R.S.F. firepower had a massive ⁣impact‍ on the balance of forces, both in Darfur and other ‌regions of ⁤Sudan,” the report ⁣says. ⁢War has brought utter catastrophe to Sudan, killing at least 12,000 people since April‌ and displacing another 7.4 million from ‌their homes,⁣ the United Nations estimates. Fighting‍ has laid waste to ​large parts of the capital, Khartoum, and 25 ⁢million of Sudan’s⁣ 45 ⁣million​ people need relief ‌aid to survive.⁢ Experts say the Emirates is using its vast wealth and sophisticated weapons to steer the course of⁣ a turbulent region of Africa dogged by conflict but⁣ endowed with vast ​natural ⁣wealth and ​a lengthy Red Sea coastline. Its motivations​ are ambiguous; experts point to the Emirates’ desire​ for port deals and agricultural land in⁣ a part of Africa that it increasingly sees as its strategic back yard, and its⁢ longstanding hostility to‌ Islamist ‌forces.⁤ But the latest U.N. report, compiled by experts monitoring a 2005 ​arms embargo on Darfur,‌ highlights the cost of those ambitions. It documents⁣ widespread violence against civilians that has accompanied the​ advance of Gen. Hamdan’s⁣ forces⁢ — massacres, bombings and reports of hundreds of rapes that echo ​the genocide in Darfur⁢ of⁢ two decades⁤ ago. That ⁤pattern of… Source: The New York Times