Following the recapture of Khartoum's airport by Sudanese army troops, leading to Abdel Fattah Al Burhan's declaration of the capital's liberation from the presidential palace, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo "Hemedti" delivered a televised address on Saturday, March 15, 2025. In his speech, he threatened an escalation of conflict with the Sudanese army and affirmed that his forces would not retreat from the presidential palace or Khartoum.

Coinciding with Hemedti’s televised address — in which he appeared wearing the kadamol for the first time since the conflict began — a hashtag #كدمول_حميدتي (Hemedti’s Kadamol) spread across social media platforms.

The kadamol, a traditional head covering, had transformed from a well-known cultural symbol in the Darfur region into a symbol of combat adopted by both armed movements and the Rapid Support Forces alike. The hashtag appeared to be a last-ditch attempt to polish the image of the RSF leader before his forces’ defeat and withdrawal from the capital.

Fast Spreading Short-Lived Campaign

To verify the spread of the hashtag "#كدمول_حميدتي" (Hemedti’s Kadamol), we used Meltwater, which showed that the hashtag began trending on March 15, 2025—the same day Hemedti’s televised speech aired—and continued until March 26. Although the total number of posts containing the hashtag did not exceed 2,000, it achieved significant reach, surpassing 9.5 million views, with an average of 317,000 views per day.

But what was more suspicious is the list of countries that participated in the hashtag, with Saudi Arabia ranking first by a wide margin, followed by Sudan, then Kuwait, Egypt, the United States, and Oman with relatively similar levels of participation.

The word cloud accompanying the hashtag (Hemedti’s Kadamol) included other hashtags and commercial accounts that had no connection to Sudan.

This campaign was associated with a high rate of reposts and quote posts, reaching about 55% of the total posts related to the hashtag. When replies were added, the combined percentage of reposts, quote posts, and replies rose to about 72% of the total content linked to the hashtag. Meanwhile, the original content accounted for approximately 27% of the total posts.

Why Did the Hashtag Achieve Wide Spread Despite Its Short Duration?

Although the actual duration of the hashtag's spread did not exceed three days, with the number of posts decreasing significantly before it vanished on March 26th, it still achieved widespread dissemination. This happens when accounts with a large number of followers engage with the hashtag, granting it substantial reach to a larger audience.

Upon reviewing the prominent accounts that participated in the hashtag, we found that they are divided into two groups. The first group consists of Saudi commercial accounts, such as the account @3q3____, which uses a profile picture of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. From the account's name (Bank Loan Settlement) and username, it appears to be automated. It does not post any personal content and instead frequently shares posts related to settling loans for individuals. This account shares posts from another account located in Riyadh, using the same name with a different profile picture and username, but following the same posting pattern as the first account.

The first group also included other commercial accounts, such as a house cleaning company account in Riyadh, @mg__noor, which appeared to be a fully automated commercial account. It only posts promotional and commercial content and uses the logo of the company "Al Fanar Clean" as a profile picture, with a suspicious username. A similar pattern was observed with the account "Sickleave Sehati" @9rageb, which is a commercial account offering medical promotions and includes a contact phone number in the bio. Within this group, the account “Saudi Arabia’s Khatabah” (matchmaker) appeared; it is a fully automated Saudi commercial account that had previously been revealed for its involvement in a digital campaign promoting the TV series "Muawiya."

The second group consisted of Sudanese accounts that are supportive of the RSF. They used the hashtag #كدمول_حميدتي (Hemedti’s Kadamol) as a form of propaganda and political promotion for the RSF. For example, the account @sudani_24 displays a picture of a Sudanese soldier with another soldier wearing the kadamol behind him, but it was unclear whether the image belonged to the account holder or not.

What stands out about the account @sudani_24 is that it is verified and has a large number of followers, reaching 138,000. Its posts suggest that it wholeheartedly supports the RSF, even appearing to be a member of the forces who possibly participates in ongoing battles. Similarly, the account Malik Al Taghfeel @t8feeel (King of Fooling) follows the same approach; it is verified with around 40,000 followers and has listed its location as "General Command" in its description. It features a profile picture of a soldier driving a four-wheel-drive vehicle equipped with an anti-aircraft gun used by the RSF, suggesting the possibility that the account holder is also a member of the RSF.

Another account was "بنت جنيد @betgened1," which used the hashtag #كدمول_حميدتي (Hemedti’s Kadamol) to praise and promote the RSF. This is also a verified account, based in Sudan, with around 30,000 followers.

As for the account "Doha Salah @DohaSaladin," it is a verified account with fewer followers—about 8,500. It lists its location as Khartoum and displays the logo of the The Coordination of Civil Democratic Forces (Taqaddum) movement. The account used the #كدمول_حميدتي (Hemedti’s Kadamol) hashtag in a context that does not suggest political promotion, especially since it includes the slogan #لا_للحرب (No to war) in its bio.

However, upon reviewing the account, it became clear that its owner supports the RSF and regularly posts political content in favor of its leaders—such as Abdul Rahim Dagalo, the brother of Hemedti. The account also uses other hashtags like #ديسمبر_باقية_وستنتصر (December Remains And Will Prevail) and #الحركة_الاسلامية_تنظيم_ارهابي (The Islamic Movement Is A Terrorist Organization) which are commonly used by accounts within the second group.

Nevertheless, the most frequently used hashtags on the account were: #ذكرى_تأسيس_ق_د_س (RSF Founding Anniversary), (Sudan Founding Alliance) #تحالف_السودان_التأسيسي, and #عبدالرحيم_دقلو (Abdul Rahim Dagalo). This prompted us to revisit these hashtags for further analysis and to identify the key accounts promoting them.

Gulf Support for RSF’s Online Campaigns

Using Meltwater, we examined the most visible and frequently used hashtags among Sudanese accounts supporting the RSF, which had used the hashtag #كدمول_حميدتي (Hemedti’s Kadamol) as part of the campaign promoting the latest speech by RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.

The most prominent hashtags were:

#كدمول_حميدتي (Hemedti’s Kadamol)

#ذكرى_التاسيس_ق_د_س (RSF Founding Anniversary)

#عبدالرحيم_دقلو (Abdul Rahim Dagalo)

#قدام_يا_عمك_قدام (Go Forward, Go Forward)

#ميثاق_تاسيس_السودان (Sudan Founding Charter)

#تحالف_السودان_التاسيسي (Sudan Founding Alliance)

Many of these hashtags had been active since the outbreak of the war between the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces in 2024, but they saw a period of decline before recording their first spike in the number of posts on January 18, 2025. The highest level of engagement so far this year occurred on February 18, 2025.

In terms of reach and overall spread, the hashtags peaked for the first time on February 18, 2025, while the highest level of visibility and dissemination occurred on March 13, 2025—two days before Hemedti’s televised speech. Since the beginning of the year and up to the time of writing this report, the total number of posts containing any of the above hashtags reached around 21,000, generating over 223 million impressions, with a daily average of 2.35 million—a notably high figure.

The highest number of posters came from Sudan, followed by Saudi Arabia with nearly half the volume. The United States and the United Kingdom had a similar level of presence in terms of post count, followed by France, Egypt, Qatar, the UAE, and Brazil with comparable figures.

The hashtag ميثاق_تأسيس_السودان (Sudan Founding Charter) topped the word cloud and is associated with the founding charter signed by the Rapid Support Forces, represented by Abdul Rahim Dagalo, along with allied political and armed groups. The charter aimed to establish a "unity government" on February 22, 2025, in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. Among the signatories was Abdul Aziz Al Hilu, leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement–North, which controls vast areas in South Kordofan State.

Following #ميثاق_تأسيس_السودان (Sudan Founding Charter), the hashtags #عبدالرحيم_دقلو (Abdul Rahim Dagalo), #نيروبي (Nairobi), and #تحالف_السودان_التأسيسي (Sudan Founding Alliance) gained prominence. All of these hashtags appear to be closely linked to #كدمول_حميدتي (Hemedti’s Kadamol), which ranked eighth among the most frequently appearing and widely spread hashtags.

The most significant indicator of coordinated digital amplification campaigns surrounding these hashtags came from the analysis of post types. This revealed that replies, reposts, and quotes together accounted for over 80% of the total content related to the hashtags, while original content made up only 17.2% of all posts.

Rapid Support Bots

To identify the most prominent accounts involved in this campaign, we conducted a random sample of 20,000 posts. After analyzing the data, we found that the most widely spread posts, which were linked to one of the hashtags we researched, were published by two main groups of accounts.

The first group consisted of Saudi or generally Gulf-based accounts, some of which were verified accounts of prominent individuals with tens of thousands of followers. These accounts were highly active in posting video clips and contributed significantly to the spread of the hashtags #عبدالرحيم_دقلو (Abdul Rahim Daglo) and #تحالف_السودان_التأسيسي (Sunda Founding Alliance).

The second group of accounts consisted of Sudanese accounts that posted from both inside and outside Sudan, and this group was further divided into two subgroups.

The first subgroup included personal accounts belonging to journalists and political activists. Notable examples are the account of Doha Salah, which we previously discussed in the first part of this investigation, and the account of Khaled Mohi El-Din, who posts intensively in support of the foundational charter signed by the Rapid Support Forces and the allied movements in Nairobi.

Also prominent within this group were Sudanese activists residing in the UAE, such as the account of Hiba Elwassilla, who posts politically supportive content for the UAE, as well as anti-Sudanese army posts. Her posts and the videos she broadcasts have gained widespread reach, as they are frequently shared by many accounts that support the RSF.

Among these accounts are individuals who openly express their support for the Rapid Support Forces, such as the accounts of Wad Al Bahir, Kabouri Kabouri, and Ali Ahmed. All of these accounts participated in spreading the hashtags we examined, such as  #كدمول_حميدتي (Hemedti’s Kadamol) and #ميثاق_تأسيس_السودان (Sudan Foundation Charter).

The second group of Sudanese accounts participating in the spread of the hashtags consisted of non-personal accounts, such as the account of (Roya Media Center), which describes itself in its bio as: "An electronic news agency... we are committed to credibility, professionalism, and objectivity." However, all the news posted by the account focuses on promoting the RSF, the foundational charter, and discrediting the Sudanese army.

In contrast, the account “Sudanese Revolution”, which operates from Qatar, focused on resharing content from Sudanese accounts in the previous group, such as the account Hiba Elwassilla. Additionally, a newly created account named (Sudan Founding Charter) gained attention, receiving interactions from Sudanese accounts, the most prominent of which was the “Sudani” account, which was linked to the promotion of the hashtag (Hemedti's Kadamol).

Central Accounts in the Support Network

The data analysis we conducted revealed that the most interactive accounts with the group of hashtags we studied, which posted the highest number of posts, are divided into two main groups.

The first group consists entirely of Saudi commercial accounts, such as the "YouTube Premium Subscriptions" account, which posted 836 posts that included one of the hashtags we studied, followed by the "YouTube Premium Subscription" account with 283 posts, and then the "Adabiyat" account, which published 102 posts containing one of the hashtags we identified.

The second group of accounts consisted of Sudanese accounts, all of which showed support for the Rapid Support Forces. They posted intensive content against the Sudanese army, describing it as a "terrorist organization."

The account "Kouz Munshaq" (Mutiny Kouz) posted 198 posts, "Sawt Al Hamesh" (Sout of the Margin) published 197 posts, "Bint Al Fursan" (Daughter of Knights) shared 190 posts, and "Yassin and Ibrahim Malaika" uploaded 158 posts. All of these accounts focused on discrediting the Sudanese army and promoting the RSF.

In contrast, the "Malik Al Taghfeel" (King of Fooling) account, which we mentioned earlier, published 135 posts. The "Qanqar News" account, which specializes in posting news about the RSF and promoting the group, published 120 posts. The "Yousif Mohamed Awad" account published 117 posts, the "Wad Al Bahir" account published 105 posts, and the "Sudanese Revolution" account, which we mentioned earlier, published 94 posts. All of these accounts interacted with the hashtags that focused on promoting the RSF and attacking the Sudanese army.