Al-Safna: “I Worked Like Raafat Al-Haggan Inside the RSF Milita for the Benefit of the Army”
Brigadier General Ali Rizgallah, widely known as “Al-Safna,” a former senior Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commander who defected and joined the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), has revealed that he maintained continuous intelligence and operational contact with the Sudanese Armed Forces throughout his time within the RSF ranks, from the outbreak of the war until he officially announced his defection and arrived in the capital, Khartoum.
Al-Safna explained that, after being released from Kober Prison following the outbreak of the war, he was intercepted near the Bahri car market (Krein Bahri) by RSF personnel manning checkpoints, who recognized him. He said this left him with no choice but to join the paramilitary force, stating, “I had no other option but to take that path.” He stressed, however, that his ties with the Sudanese Armed Forces had never been severed.
He disclosed that he had succeeded in luring and drawing RSF forces towards the city of Bara, where the army subsequently eliminated them. He also said he had delivered 1,163 artillery pieces to the Sudanese Armed Forces, comparing his intelligence role to that of Raafat Al-Haggan, the famous Egyptian intelligence operative who operated undercover in Israel.
Al-Safna categorically denied committing any violations, challenging anyone to prove otherwise. “I am cleaner than the RSF. I never attacked protesters, dispersed a sit-in, or entered people’s homes,” he declared. He also said he had sustained 47 injuries and survived several assassination attempts.
He called for the completion of security arrangements for supporting forces as a necessary step towards building a unified national army. He further accused foreign actors of orchestrating the war through prior diplomatic meetings with RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti. He affirmed that the people of Darfur reject the rebellion and long for the Sudanese Armed Forces to reach their region.