Sudan's RSF: How a Militia Built a Statelet Richer Than Most Governments
By Sanna the Weaver • Sat Mar 21 2026 • Geopolitics
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the Sudanese paramilitary group that turned against the Sudanese Armed Forces in April 2023, controls roughly half of Sudan's territory in early 2026, including the country's most productive gold-mining regions. What began as a civil war has become something more complex: the construction of a functioning proto-state with its own revenue streams, foreign relationships, and strategic ambitions that extend across the Sahel. The Gold Machine The RSF's financial engine is gold. Sudan is Africa's third-largest gold producer, and the RSF now controls several of the most productive artisanal and industrial mining areas in Darfur and Kordofan. RSF-linked trading companies export gold through the UAE, which has maintained economic ties with the paramilitary force despite international criticism. Analysts estimate the RSF generates between
.5 billion and $2.5 billion annually from gold exports alone — a revenue base that rivals the budgets of many recognized governments. Drone Warfare Transforms the Battlefield The RSF's ability to hold territory against a conventional military is partly explained by its investment in drone warfare. Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones, Chinese-sourced commercial drones modified for weapons delivery, and Iranian-design loitering munitions have been documented in the RSF's arsenal. The RSF has demonstrated a willingness to use these systems against civilian infrastructure — including hospitals, markets, and water treatment facilities — in a deliberate strategy to make areas loyal to the Sudanese Armed Forces ungovernable. "What we are seeing in Sudan is a preview of how resource-rich militias with access to commercial drone technology can defeat conventional armies." — International Crisis Group, February 2026 Geopolitical Weight Beyond Borders The RSF's influence now extends across the Sahel. Its commander, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemeti), has cultivated relationships with the Wagner Group's successor organizations in Mali and the Central African Republic, with Gulf state investors, and with trafficking networks that move gold, weapons, and migrants across the region. The humanitarian cost — an estimated 15,000 civilians killed in 2025 alone, and millions displaced — has made Sudan the world's largest displacement crisis. The international community's failure to halt the RSF's expansion is a case study in the limits of diplomacy when an armed actor is financially self-sufficient and diplomatically protected by powerful external patrons.