(Nairobi) \u2013 The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) should ensure that Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commanders who have defected to the Sudanese army, including two since April 2026, are held to account for their role in serious crimes, Human Rights Watch said today. This includes cooperating with ongoing independent regional and international investigations into serious international crimes in Darfur and other parts of Sudan.
\u201cThose responsible for serious international crimes and human rights violations do not get a free pass if they switch sides,\u201d said\u00a0Mohamed Osman, Sudan researcher at Human Rights Watch. \u201cSudanese people who have experienced horrific abuses under any commander\u2019s watch deserve justice and an end to the vicious cycles of impunity that have long haunted Sudan.\u201d
In May, Commander Ali Rizq Allah, known as Al-Savannah, a key RSF commander who took part in operations in Kordofan and Darfur, defected and joined the SAF. Major General Al-Nour Ahmed Adam, known as Al-Nour Al-Qubba, who led some of the RSF forces in North Darfur, defected in April and immediately joined the SAF.
Human Rights Watch\u00a0documented widespread RSF attacks against civilians in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, including wanton killings and rapes, particularly during the RSF takeover of the city in late October 2025. Human Rights Watch verified videos confirming the presence of both commanders during the RSF\u2019s 18-month siege of El Fasher. Official RSF channels have issued statements that Al-Nour Al-Qubba had a commanding role for the RSF in El Fasher as early as April 2024.
The Sudanese army leader and chairperson of the Sovereign Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan,\u00a0welcomed Al-Qubba into the SAF publicly. On May 17, a few days after announcing his departure from the RSF, Commander Ali Rizq Allah held a\u00a0news conference wearing a SAF uniform where he\u00a0denounced the RSF and vowed to fight with the SAF.
Days into the outbreak of the conflict between the SAF and RSF in April 2023, al-Burhan\u00a0declared a\u00a0general amnesty for RSF fighters who \u201cwould lay down their arms,\u201d saying they could be integrated into the military. He\u00a0renewed the call in February 2026. Meanwhile, the SAF and allied forces have\u00a0targeted civilians they accuse of \u201ccollaborating\u201d with the RSF, including by detaining them unlawfully.
The recent defections are not the first high-profile RSF defections to the SAF.
In October 2024, Abu Aqla Keikel, then-commander of the Sudan Shield Forces, an armed group aligned with RSF forces in Gezira state in central Sudan at the time, defected to the SAF. Keikel, along with his armed forces, had joined the RSF in 2023, and in December 2023, the RSF leader, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo \u201cHemedti,\u201d appointed Keikel as an RSF commander over the newly captured Gezira state. While Keikel was in that position, RSF fighters committed killings, sexual violence, and widespread pillaging across the state.
Following Keikel\u2019s defection to the SAF, Human Rights Watch\u00a0documented abuses by his forces, including targeted killings of civilians, as the army retook Gezira state in January 2025. The European Union\u00a0sanctioned Keikel in July 2025 for these abuses. There is no publicly available information indicating that Sudanese authorities have investigated Keikel or his forces\u2019 abuses when they were under the RSF command or later fighting alongside the army.
Human Rights Watch could not verify whether the army has officially granted amnesty to the two commanders who recently defected or to previous defectors, in line with al-Burhan\u2019s earlier declarations.
Under international law, the Sudanese authorities have an obligation to investigate, prosecute, and punish those responsible for atrocity crimes and other serious human rights violations. This duty cannot be undermined by any pardon, amnesty, or other domestic legal provisions that effectively bestow impunity on those responsible for such crimes under international law.
Using an amnesty to deny accountability for serious crimes, such as extrajudicial executions, sexual violence, enforced disappearances, and torture, is incompatible with Sudan\u2019s obligations under international law, and could amount to a violation of the right of victims to an effective remedy, including their right to access justice, Human Rights Watch said.
\u201cIt is alarming to see RSF defectors roam freely in Khartoum since April this year fearing no consequences,\u201d Adam Musa, the director of Darfur Victims Support Organization, told Human Rights Watch.
Throughout the conflict, neither of the main warring parties has taken credible steps to investigate and prosecute members of their own forces for atrocities, including serious human rights violations. The\u00a0United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan and the\u00a0African Commission on Human and Peoples\u2019 Rights Joint Fact-Finding Mission\u00a0said in April that \u201c[w]ithout holding the perpetrators to account, impunity\u2014a central driver of this conflict\u2014will continue to persist.\u201d
The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC)\u00a0has been investigating war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Darfur from July 2002 onward, following\u00a0a referral by the UN Security Council in 2005. In January 2026, ICC Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan\u00a0said in a\u00a0briefing to the Security Council that \u201cthe Office of the Prosecutor is working intensively, collecting evidence, accelerating its investigations, together with affected communities, both with respect to crimes committed in Al Geneina in West Darfur, and in El Fasher in North Darfur.\u201d
But the ICC\u2019s mandate remains limited to Darfur by the terms of the Security Council referral, even as serious abuses are being committed across Sudan.
Members of the Coalition for Atrocity Prevention and Justice on Sudan,\u00a0formed by the United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Norway in February 2026, should prioritize efforts at the Security Council calling for expansion of the ICC\u2019s jurisdiction to the whole of Sudan, Human Rights Watch said.
The coalition members should also publicly condemn any amnesty or similar measures that effectively grant impunity for those responsible of serious crimes, support documentation efforts, and push to prioritize justice and accountability in any possible talks to end the conflict in Sudan.
\u201cIf anything is to be learned about addressing the ongoing atrocities in Sudan, it is that pushing justice down the ladder will only lead to more violence and atrocities,\u201d Osman said. \u201cThe Sudanese authorities should investigate, as appropriate, prosecute defecting commanders for serious crimes, and cooperate with ongoing independent regional and international investigations, including allowing access to evidence, victims, and survivors.\u201d
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