Khalifa Haftar Libyan warlord who could fuel a drawn-out proxy war

The Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar helped to prepare the Rapid Support Forces RSF), a militia fighting for control of Sudan, for battle in the months before the devastating violence that broke out on 15 April, according to former officials, militia commanders and sources in Sudan and the UK

- Jason Burke and Zeinab Mohammed Salih

The involvement of Haftar, who runs much of the eastern part of Libya, will raise fears of a long-drawn-out conflict in Sudan fuelled by outside interests. Analysts have described a "nightmare scenario” of multiple regional actors and powers fighting a proxy war in the country of more than 45 million people.

The conflict has pitted army units loyal to Sudan’s military ruler, Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, against the RSF, led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, the deputy head of the ruling council. Neither appears inclined to compromise, analysts say.

The sources told the Observer that Haftar had passed on crucial intelligence to Hemedti, detained his enemies, increased deliveries of fuel and possibly trained a detachment of hundreds of RSF fighters in urban warfare between February and mid-April.

Haftar's connection with Hemedti goes back to well before the fall of Omar al-Bashir, Sudan's veteran authoritarian ruler, after months of protests in 2019. However, the relationship has grown warmer in recent years, with Hemedti sending mercenaries to Libya to fight alongside Haftar's military force, the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), the sources said.