A former camel trader from Darfur, General Hamdan — also known as Hemeti — found prominence as the commander of the Janjaweed militia, a feared group that rode through villages in Darfur and committed some of that conflict’s worst atrocities against civilians.
Experts have estimated that the R.S.F. has 70,000 to 150,000 fighters, compared with an estimated 100,000 in the Sudanese Army.
How is it affecting civilians?
The violence is deepening a humanitarian crisis in Sudan, where millions of people are facing shortages of food, water, medicine and electricity in besieged cities across the country. Khartoum already had problems with crumbling infrastructure, and conditions in the city have swiftly deteriorated since the clashes began.
Many in the city’s outer neighborhoods have escaped to safer areas in the south or north or the country, toward Port Sudan or Egypt, but the threat of gunshots, sniper fire and airstrikes at any moment has left others stranded in the center of the city.
Reports have also emerged of gunmen attacking civilians, including a European ambassador, in their homes, and several countries have been trying to organize evacuations for their citizens. But Khartoum’s international airport has been closed because of fighting nearby.
Children have been killed in the attacks, and thousands of families have been displaced, the United Nations said, adding that breaks in the power supply risked ruining medicines like vaccines and insulin.
Aid groups have reported armed raids on homes and on warehouses that store medical supplies. The street violence has left medical teams unable to deliver aid to the few hospitals still open, and conditions in the hospitals are rapidly deteriorating, according to the Central Committee for Sudanese Doctors.
Declan Walsh and Elian Peltier contributed reporting.
