KHARTOUM — Senior Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commander Siddiq Ander says he has defected from Sudan's paramilitary group, in exclusive video footage obtained by Al Jazeera and published on Friday. Al Jazeera's video report identified him as Major General Siddiq Abdelrahman Ander.

Source: Al Jazeera

"It has become clear to us beyond any doubt that we were serving a purely family-based project controlled by Hemedti's relatives in every aspect — money, weapons, fighters' movements and the granting of ranks," Ander said in the footage, referring to RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti. "Anyone who speaks out and tells the whole truth faces expulsion, imprisonment or a hidden death." Those are Ander's own accusations, made in his defection video; the RSF had not responded to them in the reports available at the time of publication.

Hemedti's brother, Abdul Rahim Hamdan Dagalo, serves as the RSF's deputy commander, Al Jazeera noted.

A wave of defections

Ander's exit follows a string of high-profile defections from the RSF this year. Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed Azraq al-Fanjari announced on October 8 that he was leaving, along with 300 officers and soldiers and 30 military vehicles, Al Jazeera reported. On September 25, Al-Tayeb al-Wahidu defected to the rival Sudanese Armed Forces with 50 fighters in Omdurman, across the Nile from Khartoum, according to The Sudan Tribune, cited by Al Jazeera.

Sudan's war erupted in April 2023 after a power struggle between the army and the RSF, including disagreements over plans to integrate the paramilitary into the regular military. The conflict has since displaced about 13 million people and pushed parts of the country into famine, and the United Nations says drone strikes have become the leading cause of civilian deaths in the war, Al Jazeera reported.