The political adviser to the Prime Minister, Mohamed Mohamed Khair, has described the speech delivered Friday in Kampala by Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, as a “comic interlude” unworthy of any official response from the Sudanese government.
In remarks to the news outlet Al-Muhaqiq, Khair said Khartoum should avoid escalating tensions with Uganda over what he characterized as a “politically insignificant event.” He argued that entering into a diplomatic dispute with Kampala would yield little benefit, noting Uganda’s considerable influence over South Sudan. Provoking a crisis over an incident that “does not rise to the level of a political event,” he said, would be counterproductive.
Khair further suggested that the episode had been arranged—by his estimation—through coordination between United Arab Emirates and Uganda, with the aim of entangling Hemedti and distancing him from Abu Dhabi. According to Khair, the UAE is currently seeking exit strategies from the Sudanese crisis.
He added that mounting RSF losses, increased international scrutiny, and shifting political and military dynamics have created conditions in which such a speech amounts to an attempt to engineer a “media respite” amid a grinding war. Kampala, he said, had effectively become a “stage for this performance.” Hemedti’s rhetorical style, Khair argued, relies more on spontaneous Bedouin oratory than on political professionalism—lending his remarks a tone that some may find inadvertently comedic.
Khair also contended that Hemedti’s speech included implicit acknowledgments of issues previously linked to accusations against the UAE, including the use of foreign fighters—among them Colombians—and drones. These statements, he suggested, could pave the way for a full Emirati disengagement from the RSF, leaving Hemedti to shoulder sole responsibility for the war’s consequences.
He pointed to a UN briefing session held last week, which he said reinforced serious allegations against the RSF, including charges of genocide. In his view, recent developments may reflect a calculated tactic by the UAE to shift full accountability onto the RSF’s field leadership, particularly as the international community does not recognize any parallel authority in Sudan.
Regarding the official reception in Uganda, Khair said President Yoweri Museveni received Hemedti in his capacity as the commander of an armed opposition force, not as a representative of a legitimate government. Uganda, he noted, could host any Sudanese opposition faction leader without implying political recognition. The wartime alliances that emerged, he argued, were based on “mutual instrumentalization” among various actors, but that phase has now ended. The current stage, he said, is one of seeking exits and settlements—adding that Hemedti’s public acknowledgments may mark the beginning of efforts to assign him full responsibility for the trajectory and repercussions of the conflict.
