A senior commander of Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Algoney Dagalo, attended a peace conference in The Hague in late 2024 using a fake name and took part in a panel discussion, Dutch broadcaster NOS reported on Monday.
Dagalo attended the event under the name “Ahmed Musa”, according to The Hague Peace Project, which organised the conference. Organisers later discovered his identity, NOS reported.
At the time, Dagalo was already under U.S. sanctions over his alleged involvement in procuring weapons for the RSF. His presence at the conference sparked concern among members of Sudan’s community in the Netherlands.
“It is a very serious mistake,” Anette Hoffmann of the Clingendael Institute told NOS, saying she received calls from Sudan after Dagalo’s appearance.
“In effect, you are providing a propaganda platform. That is enormously problematic,” she said.
The RSF has been at war with Sudan’s army since April 2023 in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions. Both sides have been accused of war crimes, while the United Nations has said RSF attacks in parts of Sudan have shown characteristics of genocide.
The Hague Peace Project said it later discovered that Dagalo was on the U.S. sanctions list and expressed deep regret over his participation, according to NOS.
The organisation said Dagalo had been in Geneva before travelling to the Netherlands and therefore did not need to apply for a visa.
Ruard Ganzevoort, rector of the International Institute of Social Studies, an Erasmus University facility in The Hague where the event was held, told NOS that Dagalo would not have been welcome had organisers known his identity.
The Dutch Foreign Ministry was informed on the day that Dagalo was in the Netherlands but did not notify police or prosecutors, NOS reported.
The ministry said Dagalo held a three-year multiple-entry visa that allowed him to enter the Schengen area and travel within it. There was no arrest warrant or entry ban against him at the time, it said, adding that there was therefore no reason to contact police or the Ministry of Justice and Security.
Dagalo is now subject to European Union sanctions, meaning an entry ban is in force, the ministry said.
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