Military source: Kabbashi agreed with Gezira RSF commander to join Sudanese Armed Forces

Rapid Support Forces commander in Gezira State Abu Agla Keikel, along with several of his troops, surrendered to the Sudanese Armed Forces on Sunday after a deal was struck with military leadership. In exchange for amnesty, Keikel agreed to join the fight against the RSF, a military source told Mada Masr.

In an official statement, the Sudanese military welcomed Keikel and his forces, calling their decision a turn toward justice and the nation after realizing "the falsehood of the terrorist Dagalo militia and their collaborators,” adding that the RSF  are merely “cheap tools” used to further international and regional criminal agendas aimed at destroying Sudan.

The military also reiterated the offer of amnesty presented by Transitional Sovereignty Council head and armed forces Commander-in-Chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan for “any rebel who sides with the nation and reports to the nearest military command base in all parts of Sudan.”

A military source told Mada Masr that Keikel had been in communication with the military command since April through former military spokesperson Al-Sawarmi Khaled Saad, a former member of the Sudan Shield Forces that Keikel led. Keikel requested a meeting with Burhan in a neutral location, but Burhan refused.

However, the source added, communication remained open in the months that followed. As a gesture of goodwill, Keikel provided critical information about RSF positions during the battle for Jebel Moya in October, the military source said. Keikel also withheld reinforcements to RSF fighting troops, who lost the battle to the military.

"Two days ago, Assistant Commander-in-Chief Shams Eddin al-Kabbashi contacted Keikel, and they reached an agreement for him to join the military and fight against the RSF," the military source said.

According to the source, Keikel met with the commander of the Butana region, Brigadier General Ahmed Shaa Eddin, at Jabal Lebitor, about 50 kilometers from Wad Madani, where the former RSF commander announced his defection to the military.

Around 400 officers and soldiers defected with Keikel, bringing along 12 combat vehicles. More of his troops, scattered across eastern Gezira all the way to Aylafun, northeast of Khartoum, also joined the military’s side.

Even before his formal decision to switch sides, Keikel’s decision to join the military was having an impact. On Friday, the military advanced toward Tambul in eastern Gezira, the military source said, taking control of several areas near the city. Following Keikel’s surrender, the military fully secured the city as residents celebrated. The source anticipated further expansion of the military’s control in eastern Gezira in the coming days. 

However, the RSF posted a video on its Telegram channel asserting their continued presence in Tambul, showing several prisoners from Keikel’s forces. 

An RSF source told Mada Masr they foiled a military plot in which Keikel would have opened routes for the military to enter Wad Madani, having “uncovered the conspiracy.” The source added that Keikel fled with a limited number of his troops before surrendering to the military.

The RSF source also said that they reinforced their advanced defenses east of Wad Madani with troops and vehicles. Several military and political leaders suspected of communicating with Keikel were arrested.

According to the source, intense clashes broke out between Keikel’s forces retreating from the cities of Hasahisa and Wad Madani and other RSF troops, leading to the closure of the Refaa bridge connecting the two cities.

In the first official response from the rebel group, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo’s advisor, Al-Basha Tabig, stated that Keikel had left of his own volition, much like the 480 officers who had previously returned to the military and security forces, without affecting the RSF.

In a statement later on Sunday, the RSF said they had recently observed suspicious movements by Keikel, who had been in hiding with family members. 

The statement added that they tracked his engagement with several leaders of the National Congress Party, adding that Keikel had been “bought off in a deal brokered by his brother through a series of meeting in Gadarif and Port Sudan,” which culminated in a bargain for Keikel to surrender to the Sudanese Armed Forces in exchange for military and intelligence support. 

The statement added that after Keikel joined the military, a significant force aligned with him in an attempt to capture Tambul. 

According to the statement, RSF troops swiftly responded and defeated the attacking force, killing over 200 soldiers and capturing 45 fully equipped vehicles, including several vehicles that had joined Keikel earlier on Sunday.

In August 2023, Keikel, who led the Sudan Shield Forces, publicly aligned with the RSF.

Hailing from Gezira, Keikel had previously been among the allied forces who fought alongside the military in the Blue Nile region under Bashir's regime before founding the Sudan Shield Forces after the Juba Peace Agreement. Keikel opposed the agreement at the time, calling for a military balance in central and northern Sudan, arguing that all armed movements signatories to the agreement originated from western and southern Sudan. 

On December 15, 2023, Keikel led his forces in a military operation that resulted in the fall of Wad Madani by December 18. Over the course of the following 10 months, more than 5 million people were displaced from the state, and more than 3,000 civilians were killed, a source in the Gezira State government told Mada Masr.

Following battles Keikel fought alongside Abdel Rahman al-Bishi, the RSF commander in Sennar State, in June 2024, the RSF took control of the capital Singa, Jebel Moya, and large parts of Sennar State. 

Bishi’s death in an airstrike in July 2024 created a leadership gap that triggered disputes between Keikel and Bishi’s relatives over command. Simultaneously, an internal rebellion broke out within the RSF, led by groups from Darfur fighting in Gezira who refused to follow Keikel’s orders, plunging Gezira into chaos.

In September, the military launched a major ground offensive, regaining control of Jebel Moya and repelling an attack by Keikel’s forces along the Faw axis. As the military amassed its forces on the outskirts of Gezira State, Keikel withdrew to northern Gezira in early October and then moved east of Khartoum, attempting to reach the Jaili oil refinery, but his forces of 60 combat vehicles were hit by airstrikes, a leader in the 17th Division in Singa told Mada Masr. 

Not everyone within the military was pleased with the latest deal Keikel struck with the military, given the scale of RSF violations committed in Gezira. 

According to another military source who spoke to Mada Masr, Keikel had been planning his surrender since late September, in line with military arrangements based on a May 2023 directive from Burhan, offering amnesty to any RSF fighters who defected to the military.

However, with Burhan’s decision to dissolve the RSF, that amnesty period would have expired, according to the source. Any criminal charges against Keikel should be pursued under Sudanese law, the source said, and investigations are underway into crimes and violations committed in Gezira and Sennar.

Former officer in the Sudanese National Democratic Alliance forces Hossam Zuelnoon told Mada Masr that Keikel’s surrender was not surprising but rather long overdue. He said that, had Keikel received better advice from more informed consultants, they would have called on him to surrender after the RSF captured Wad Madani last year.

Zuelnoon noted that Keikel’s surrender follows the destruction of Gezira and the devastation of neighboring Sennar State, where widespread killing, displacement, and looting took place under his leadership, putting him in a precarious position.

He added that Keikel’s surrender at this point reflects the RSF’s inability to stand its ground against the military, due to several factors such as shortages of combat and food supplies, the declining combat capabilities of their troops, the loss of combat vehicles to airstrikes, and an overall exhaustion that far exceeded the RSF leadership’s expectations.

While rebel surrenders are not uncommon in Sudan’s political history, Zuelnoon pointed out a major challenge the government now faces: the scale of crimes committed in this war compared to previous conflicts. He said that while the government may be able to pardon public offenses, like treason, it cannot offer amnesty for private offenses, such as the thousands of violations against Gezira residents, placing the state in a challenging position. 

Zuelnoon stressed that the eastern command’s advance toward Wad Madani on Friday was a decisive factor in demonstrating the military’s superiority and the effectiveness of its strategy. “Before the military defeat, one could say the psychological defeat had already set in among the militia’s troops, which is a key factor in warfare,” Zuelnoon said.

Meanwhile, battles continue in the central region, with the military advancing along the Faw and Managil axes. According to a military source, the armed forces are approaching Wad Madani.