Senior figures linked to Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group have amassed a portfolio of more than 20 luxury properties worth £17.7 million in Dubai, as the militia's two-year war against Sudan's national army continues to devastate the country's civilian population, a new investigation has found.
The findings, published by the Sentry, a US-based investigative organisation, reveal that family members, sanctioned individuals, and entities connected to RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo — widely known as Hemedti — have acquired villas, apartments, and plots of land across the United Arab Emirates. Properties owned by a company linked to the RSF and members of Hemedti's family are valued at approximately £7.4 million, while real estate held by separately sanctioned individuals tied to the militia accounts for a further £10.3 million. Among the more striking findings: Hemedti's wife purchased a plot of land for £627,000 in a luxury development near Dubai's Trump International Golf Club six months after the war began, while a financial figure linked to the Dagalo family reportedly owns an apartment worth £516,000 in the Burj Khalifa skyscraper.
Much of the wealth is believed to originate from Sudanese gold. Hemedti seized control of Darfur's largest goldmine in 2017, and a network of UAE-based firms has since been used to convert smuggled gold into hard currency — Dubai being a major global hub for the precious metal, currently trading near record highs. The Sentry describes the broader structure as a "paramilitary-industrial complex" stretching across Africa and the Middle East, with the UAE acting, in its assessment, as a "safe haven" for the RSF leadership's family and finances. The Gulf state is widely accused of supplying the RSF with weapons and mercenaries, allegations it categorically denies.
The war, which began in April 2023 when a rivalry between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Hemedti erupted into open conflict, has produced catastrophic consequences. Some 33 million of Sudan's 50 million people now require humanitarian assistance, and at least 19 million face acute hunger, making it the world's largest humanitarian crisis according to the United Nations. The RSF's capture of El Fasher — the last army stronghold in the vast western Darfur region — in late October has been followed by grave reported abuses. The Sudan Doctors Network says more than 1,470 civilians, 907 military personnel, and 20 doctors are being held in dire conditions in the city, with hundreds of women and children among the detainees. The UN has said the RSF's actions in El Fasher bear the "hallmarks of genocide", an assessment echoed by the United States government.
The Dagalo family told the Sentry that any properties had been properly obtained and that family members had long engaged in legitimate commercial activities, including livestock trading. One sanctioned individual named in the report stated he had served as a financial director seconded to the RSF since 2017 and denied acting as a financial adviser or taking actions that hinder peace since the war began. The broader investigation underscores the gap between the immense suffering inside Sudan and the apparent security of those accused of driving it — with Dubai's real estate market providing a visible paper trail of wealth accumulated at the conflict's margins.