This man Algoney Daglo: The force behind RSF operations

Despite serious sanctions facing him, he still moved across the globe with striking ease, from Darfur, Khartoum, to Nairobi and elsewhere, slipping quietly through international airports without raising alarm.

A raging war back home in Sudan demanded that Algoney Hamdan Dagalo Musa, the chief procurement officer of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), remained constantly mobile, and not even international sanctions could ground him.

His role was critical-securing the lifeblood of war, including sourcing weapons, vehicles, and essential logistical supplies to sustain his side’s operational dominance.

A day before this story was published for the first time in The Standard, his Kenyan passport remained active and fully functional within immigration systems. But just hours later, it had been quietly and curiously deleted, lifting the lid on what appears to have been an opaque and highly questionable acquisition process.

It remains unclear exactly when he obtained the Kenyan passport. What is known, however, is that on October 8, 2024, the Office of Foreign Assets Control, a division of the United States Department of the Treasury, formally added him to its sanctions list, identifying him as a key financial architect within the RSF’s war machinery.

Armed with at least three passports-two Sudanese and one Kenyan-Dagalo possessed the tools to move across jurisdictions with remarkable freedom, at times making Kenya a temporary operational base.

Investigations by The Saturday Standard reveal that on multiple occasions, he was spotted at some of Nairobi’s most exclusive five-star hotels in the Upper Hill and Arboretum areas, where he appeared to move without restriction.

Intelligence by a regional security investigator suggests that several senior RSF operatives may have established quiet residences in upscale apartments along Dennis Pritt Road.

At just 36, Algoney occupies one of the most powerful and sensitive positions within the paramilitary’s command structure. But just how did he rise so fast?

Within the RSF, Algoney stepped into the spotlight around 2023 after several senior RSF commanders started to suffer sanctions and restrictions on movement.

According to Africa Intelligence, Algoney consolidated power by winning a bitter internal struggle against RSF stalwart Mr Mahri, positioning himself as both a military and financial operator within the militia. The report also notes he worked for a Russian military company.

“He is the RSF’s money man—the one charged with overseeing financial flows, sourcing weapons and vehicles, securing logistical support, and coordinating the networks that keep the outfit running,” a senior regional security source said.

“In the RSF hierarchy, after his elder brother, commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti, Algoney is among the most consequential figures. His influence is immense. This is not a minor player.”

Since the passport scandal surfaced, Kenyan officials have largely gone silent, offering no public explanation of how a sanctioned war financier casually acquired one of the country’s most protected sovereign documents.

Kenya’s opposition leaders, led by Rigathi Gachagua, leader of the Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP) and former Deputy President, have sharply criticised the government, accusing it of openly facilitating the RSF, an outfit implicated in grave human rights violations and alleged crimes against humanity.

Gachagua now claims that Algoney may not be the only RSF figure holding Kenyan documentation.

“It’s not just him who has a Kenyan passport,” Gachagua told The Standard. “There are more commanders of the rebel group—more RSF commanders and sympathisers—who hold Kenyan passports. Now that this brother of Hemedti has been sanctioned by the U.S. and other international bodies, the international community must go further and apply these sanctions to the actual RSF commanders.”

The Standard formally wrote to the Embassy of Sudan in Nairobi seeking clarification on Algoney’s citizenship status and his possession of two Sudanese passports, and whether the dual issuance was lawful. However, despite repeated inquiries, the consular office did not respond to our questions.

Apart from the U.S., Algoney is also sanctioned by Canada and the European Union (EU).

The EU sanctions name two holding companies linked to him—Tradive General Trading Co., based in the United Arab Emirates, and GSK Advance Company Ltd., based in Sudan.

Investigators say these firms functioned as part of the RSF’s financial network, enabling the movement of funds and the procurement of military assets.

Tradive General Trading Co. was associated with the acquisition of vehicles that included Toyota Hilux and Land Cruiser pickups, later adapted for combat use, while GSK Advance Company Ltd., in which Algoney holds a controlling stake, was used to facilitate procurement processes and financial transactions tied to military supplies such as drones and surveillance equipment.

In mid January, two senior members of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Jeanne Shaheen and Cory A. Booker, questioned how Algoney entered and remained in U.S despite existing travel restrictions imposed on him.

The letter, addressed to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, divulged details on how Algoney had travelled to Washington, D.C., in October 2025 to attend peace talks as RSF representative hosted by the State Department involving the United States, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. However, concerns were raised after reports and images emerged showing him socialising at the Waldorf Astoria hotel and moving freely in the U.S. capital even after the talks had ended, at a time when RSF forces were accused of carrying out massacres in El Fasher, Darfur.

The lawmakers questioned whether special visas, waivers, or exemptions were granted to facilitate his travel, who financed his stay, and whether U.S. agencies or foreign governments played any role in facilitating his travel.

Kenya’s former Chief Justice and presidential hopeful David Maraga, has strongly condemned the alleged issuance of the passport to Algoney, calling on the government to immediately revoke the document.

In a statement posted on his official X account, Maraga warned that the revelations risk severely undermining Kenya’s declared neutrality in Sudan’s civil war. He said the disclosure raises profound legal and moral questions and could signal potential complicity in enabling individuals linked to atrocities to operate under the protection of the Kenyan state documentation.

“If true, this is not a mere clerical error but a profound constitutional crisis, unveiling dangerous partnerships with individuals linked to death and destruction, and possible violations of international human rights and humanitarian law,” stated Maraga.

Kisii senator Richard Onyonka, a vocal critic of President William Ruto’s foreign policy, has described the unfolding passport controversy as a dangerous and recurring misstep by the current administration.

“What we are seeing again is what short-term political expediency can do to a country. Sooner or later, the very people they are courting will end up becoming a problem to them,” Senator Onyonka warned.

“They should stop. We are simply meddling in another country’s internal affairs—a country with which we have no dispute whatsoever. I wish we would behave a little more responsibly,” he added.

“And because of meddling in other countries’ affairs, whichever side we choose to support, we risk serious retaliation from the opposing side. This is how seemingly simple actions can escalate and push a country into conflict,” Onyonka cautioned.

Being on the U.S. Treasury’s OFAC Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List carries severe financial and legal consequences that include freezing of property and assets of the designated individual within the U.S., or controlled by U.S. persons.

Also, bank accounts, investments, and real estate cannot be accessed or transferred. If a sanctioned individual owns 50% or more of a company, that company is automatically blocked, extending the sanctions to subsidiaries and joint ventures.

President William Ruto’s past association with leaders of the Rapid Support Forces has drawn sharp criticism both locally and internationally, particularly after Kenya hosted senior RSF figures and permitted them to announce plans for a parallel government while on Kenyan soil.

Ahmed Hashi, a foreign policy expert, sees serious repercussions from Kenya’s association with the RSF.

“We all know that it is already very difficult for Kenyans to get passports; how then does a Sudanese who has no birth certificate and cannot speak Swahili get a Kenyan passport? This can only come from the highest office in the land.”

“This broke all the African Union and even international laws. How do you allow this to happen? It’s utterly embarrassing. These are people who have committed genocide against thousands of people, women, and children. This makes Kenyan passports unacceptable documents in international circles,” Hashi added.

On January 15, 2024, the United Nations Security Council, through a report, detailed how the RSF adapted its logistics network in 2023 by establishing new aerial supply corridors, allegedly through airports in Rwanda, Kenya, and Uganda.

The report showed how these transit points, including Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), were used in a pattern of flights that ultimately supported RSF operations.

Shockingly, and leaving many with unanswered questions, just four days after the UN Security Council’s incriminating report was published, President Ruto hosted RSF commander Hemedti at State House in Nairobi before the glare of cameras.

Despite these glaring diplomatic goofs, Nairobi has repeatedly maintained that its involvement was purely diplomatic and with the aim of mediating and fostering regional peace.

A shocking 2025 investigation by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime disclosed how wounded RSF fighters were routinely airlifted to Kenya for treatment while Kenyan-registered aircraft allegedly transported supplies into Nyala Airport in South Darfur, territory under RSF control.