Frontmen for Businesses Linked to Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces Identified in the UAE

October 2, 2025 (London and Washington, DC) – A new investigation by The Sentry reveals the expansive business dealings in the United Arab Emirates of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia, which is currently waging a devastating war in Sudan and stands accused of genocide and crimes against humanity.

The report, “The RSF's Business Network in the UAE,” describes how enablers in Dubai set up a business network of more than a dozen firms linked to RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, or “Hemedti,” and his family. The companies include jewelry trading firms, an interior design business, and a management consultancy.

Three of the enablers set up at least four Dubai-based gold and precious metal trading companies among them. The RSF has long been accused of funding its violence by exploiting and smuggling gold from Darfur to the UAE, and these companies provide a glimpse into the conflict gold supply chain.

One of the enablers identified, Mazin Fadalla, previously played a core role in RSF procurement, supplying vehicles to be converted and used for battle. Two other men, Sudanese citizen Abozer Habib and Emirati national Naser Alhammadi, set up Capital Tap, a group of management consultancy and investment holding companies that worked for both RSF-linked companies and other clients. The US Department of the Treasury has accused Capital Tap Holding of providing military equipment and money to the RSF.

John Prendergast, Co-Founder of The Sentry, said: “Having identified previously unknown parts of RSF's business network in UAE, it is critical that governments urgently investigate these businessmen and companies further to determine the nature and extent of their RSF contacts and that banks and companies do the same in the context of using enhanced due diligence before engaging or continuing to engage with them.”

Nick Donovan, Investigator at The Sentry, said: “The RSF are currently besieging El Fasher, where hundreds of thousands of people face starvation. By allowing RSF-linked businessmen to operate in Dubai, the UAE is yet again providing critical support to this brutal militia.”

While Abozer Habib (aka Abu Dharr) and eight of the companies are now sanctioned by the US Treasury Department, others—including firms that have traded with sanctioned entities—are still operative.

Selected report excerpts:

• The RSF’s business network is ultimately controlled by the Dagalo family. Initially, Hemedti and his brothers took key positions in these companies: Hemedti and Abdulrahim were the directors of Al Junaid, and Algoney owned Tradive. As their presence on the international stage grew, however, the Dagalo family and, perhaps, the RSF apparently came to rely on a small team of loyal lieutenants to run their business empire.
   
• Abozer Habib, also known as Abu Dharr, has already been sanctioned as the owner and manager of Capital Tap Holding, which was itself sanctioned for providing money and weapons to the RSF. The Sentry has also identified another individual, Mazin Fadlalla, for whom there are reasonable grounds to suspect that he has established companies on behalf of the militia. A leaked internal RSF accounting spreadsheet identifies both “Abozer” and “Mazin,” suggesting that the two may have been part of the RSF’s Dubai support team since at least 2019.
   
• The Sentry has also identified three other individuals whose ties to established RSF individuals and companies are significant enough to merit further investigation to determine whether they act on behalf of the Dagalo family or the RSF: Sudanese national Ahmed Hashim and Emirati businessmen Naser Alhammadi and Essa Almarri.
   
• In the years before the war in Sudan began in 2023, the RSF and its leaders diversified their business interests into a wide array of economic sectors. As the war has progressed, however, the militia has become more reliant on a narrower business model, with gold mining playing a vital role. Within that model, the RSF needs corporate vehicles and banks to turn smuggled gold into hard currency.
   
• The leadership of the RSF owns a major gold producing company, and there have been persistent reports that conflict gold is smuggled out of Sudan for sale in the UAE. Habib, Alhammadi, and Fadlalla set up four precious metal trading companies among them.

Key recommendations detailed in the report:

• Sanctions authorities should investigate Mazin Gamareldin Mohamed Fadlalla and his companies, including Aoun Commercial Brokers, and, if appropriate, designate them for sanctions under the Sudan country or other appropriate programs.
   
• Sanctions authorities should investigate companies with active business licenses that have Ahmed Hashim Hamad El Basher, Naser Helal Abdulla Helal Al Hammadi, or Essa Mohammed Rashed Saif Al Marri listed as either a director or a shareholder in order to ascertain whether the RSF exercises any control over these entities or if they are owned or controlled by sanctioned persons.
   
• Banks should conduct enhanced due diligence when handling transactions for companies set up by Fadlalla, Hashim, Alhammadi, or Almarri to guard against the possibility that the RSF may be involved in these companies via proxy directors.
   
• Banks and companies in the gold supply chain should conduct enhanced due diligence when handling transactions involving Fadlalla, Hashim, Alhammadi, and Almarri to ascertain whether they are providing material support to the RSF or any sanctioned person and whether the RSF or any sanctioned person still exercises any control over entities related to them.

Read the full investigative report: https://thesentry.org/reports/sudan-rsf-business-network-in-the-uae/

For media inquiries, please contact: Jen Lonnquest, Deputy Director of Communications, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

About The Sentry
The Sentry is an investigative and policy organization that seeks to disable multinational predatory networks that benefit from violent conflict, repression, and kleptocracy. Pull back the curtain on wars, mass atrocities, and other human rights abuses, and you’ll find grand corruption and unchecked greed. These tragedies persist because the perpetrators rarely face meaningful consequences. The Sentry aims to alter the warped incentive structures that continually undermine peace and good governance. Our investigations follow the money as it is laundered from war zones to financial centers around the world. We provide evidence and strategies for governments, banks, and law enforcement to hold the perpetrators and enablers of violence and corruption to account. These efforts provide new leverage for human rights, peace, and anti-corruption efforts. Learn more at: https://TheSentry.org