SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Radio Dabanga – Sudan releases former janjaweed leader Musa Hilal

12/3/2021: Radio Dabanga – Sudan releases former janjaweed leader Musa Hilal

Radio Dabanga report that Musa Hilal, the former janjaweed leader and head of the Revolutionary Awakening Council (RAC)* was released by Sudanese authorities following more than three years in detention.

Hilal is held responsible for numerous atrocities committed in Darfur. With full government backing, his militiamen, popularly called janjaweed, targeted villages of African Darfuris.

In 2008, Hilal was appointed as Presidential Assistant for Federal Affairs. Six years later however, he announced his defection from the ruling National Congress Party (NCP), returned to Darfur and established the RAC.

The RAC consists of Hilal’s militiamen and a number of North Darfur native administration leaders. RAC commanders took control of the Jebel Amer gold mining area in July 2015. According to a UN Security Council report in April 2016, Hilal and his entourage were profiting from vast gold sales in Darfur.