New report alleges ‘RSF conflict gold links to UAE firm’

American investigative organisation The Sentry published a new Sentry Alert yesterday, exposing what it calls a “paramilitary-industrial complex” built by Rapid Support Forces (RSF) Commander Mohamed ‘Hemedti’ Dagalo and his network. The group alleges that the RSF relies on a multinational network of companies, including firms Dubai, to turn conflict gold into hard currency.

According to the alert, Hemedti sits at the apex of this corporate empire, which has spanned gold mining, livestock, abattoirs, construction, tourism, and banking. In 2019, Hemedti even claimed he deposited $1 billion with Sudan’s central bank, money The Sentry says came from the RSF’s expanding business operations. 

The network grew through the 2010s as the RSF seized control of gold mines in Darfur, exported mercenaries to Yemen, and established front companies abroad.

In the United Arab Emirates, RSF frontmen set up more than a dozen companies ranging from jewellers to an interior design firm and a consultancy, according to the report.

The Sentry notes that while seven of these firms are already sanctioned, its latest findings identify five men behind additional Dubai structures.

Among them is Mazin Gamareldin Mohamed Fadlalla, who reportedly bought nearly 200 Toyota pickups in 2019 for the RSF to convert into ‘technicals’, which are pickup trucks with mounted machine guns.

The investigative organisation also adds that Fadlalla and his associates controlled firms that traded in gold, vehicle parts, and even financial services. 

A leaked RSF spreadsheet, cited by the watchdog, lists Abozer Habib (also known as Abu Dharr, already sanctioned as owner and manager of Capital Tap Holding) alongside Mazin Fadlalla as members of the militia’s Dubai support team as early as 2019.

These activities, it argues, illustrate how smuggled gold from Darfur flows through Dubai into global markets. “The RSF cannot wage war without money,” the alert concludes. “Cutting off its access to international markets is essential to weakening its grip on Sudan.”

The organisation urges the European Union, US, and the UK to investigate Fadlalla and others, including Sudanese national Ahmed Hashim Hamad El Basher and Emiratis Naser Helal Abdulla Helal Al Hammadi and Essa Mohammed Rashed Saif Al Marri. 

Their past links to RSF-associated companies, it argues, raise serious concerns about whether they continue to act as proxies for the militia.

In May, Sudan severed ties with the UAE, accusing it of arming the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and recruiting foreign mercenaries.

The Security and Defence Council in Port Sudan labelled the UAE an “aggressor state,” claiming its weapons were used in drone strikes along the Red Sea. In August, Abu Dhabi rejected the accusations and reportedly suspended flights to Sudan, further heightening tensions.

Read the full report here: The RSF’s Business Network in the UAE