A general from Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has defected to the army in the third such desertion since 2024, Sudanese sources said on Monday.
Brigadier Ali Rizqallah, better known by his nickname Savanah, announced his desertion in a video clip posted online in which he gave Monday's date. His desertion has been rumoured in Sudan for nearly two weeks, but was only confirmed on Monday.
“Today, Monday, May 11, 2026, I announce my total departure from the (Rapid) Support Forces,” Brig Savanah, wearing a bucket hat and an African-style casual suit, said in the video. 'We are not warmongers. We are for peace, stability and education.”
He did not say whether he was joining the army, but the sources said he has already surrendered to the army and is now in Khartoum, Sudan's capital. The video, they said, was filmed by operatives from the military intelligence. However, there has been no word from the army or the RSF on Brig Savanah's whereabouts or what he did.
“Desertion takes time to plan and execute because those who desert need to protect themselves as well as their men,” said Osman Al Mirghany, a prominent Sudanese analyst. “It's not a straightforward action, there are many tribal and ethnic issues to be considered, as well as revenge attacks against associates left behind.”
The sources said Savanah orchestrated his escape by leading his superiors to believe he was heading from the western region of Darfur towards the front lines in neighbouring Kordofan, but changed course and instead began his journey to Khartoum.
Kordofan has been the main battlefield in Sudan's three-year-old civil war since the army lost its final foothold in Darfur last year.
“He was able to evade several RSF checkpoints along the way, putting to good use his expertise in planning and battlefield deception,” one of the sources said of Brig Savanah's escape.
Brig Savanah is the second senior RSF commander to desert this month and the third to do so since 2024.
Gen Al Nour Ahmed Adam, also known as Al Qouba, arrived in the northern city of Donqola earlier this month and later met Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, the army chief and Sudan's de facto leader. He was stripped of his rank and sentenced to death in absentia by an RSF military tribunal.
Abu Aqla Kaikal, a battle-seasoned and charismatic RSF officer, moved over to the army in October 2024 and went on to play a vital role in the army's campaign to seize back central Sudan and Khartoum from the RSF. His family home was hit by a drone strike blamed on the RSF this month. He was not at the house at the time of the attack, but at least 17 members of his family were killed.
Aside from Darfur and parts of Kordofan, the RSF and allied anti-government rebels maintain a presence in the southern Blue Nile State near the Ethiopian and South Sudanese borders. During the war in Sudan, which entered its fourth year last month, tens of thousands have been killed and at least 12 million displaced. A humanitarian crisis has developed, with more than half the population – 25 million people – facing hunger.
Gen Al Burhan and Gen Mohamed Dagalo, the RSF commander, insist they are fighting to bring democratic rule and inclusion to the religiously and ethnically diverse Afro-Arab nation. However, the two men, who are accused by the US and the UN of war crimes, are widely believed to be fighting for domination of the country.
Al Shafie Ahmed contributed reporting from Kampala, Uganda.
