Former Winnipeg cab driver is a political adviser to a general in Sudan's deadly conflict

A Sudanese Winnipegger says he's serving as a political adviser to the general leading a paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the deadly struggle for power in Sudan, a job which has left some people in the city's small and tight-knit Sudanese community questioning his involvement with one of the warring factions in the month-long conflict.

Yousif Ibrahim Ismaeil, 49, said in a phone interview with CBC on May 5 he's a lawyer originally from Darfur in western Sudan who came to Canada as a refugee in 2003. He said he's a Canadian citizen who moved to Manitoba in 2007 and worked as a taxi driver to pay for a post-secondary education in conflict resolution studies and international development at the University of Winnipeg.

Speaking through WhatsApp from what he called a "safe place used for communication with Wi-Fi" in Khartoum, Ismaeil told CBC he went to Sudan following a coup in October 2021, when Sudan's army and the RSF toppled a civilian government. 

He has spoken to international media outlets about the conflict. 

Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commonly known as Hemedti, is the leader of the RSF and has been the deputy of Sudan's ruling council since 2019. He is in a power struggle with Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of Sudan's army and the leader of Sudan's ruling council.

Fighting between the two sides, which broke out on April 15, has displaced hundreds of thousands of people, left hundreds dead — including civilians — and thousands more wounded. Both sides blame each other for provoking the violence.

The conflict erupted in Khartoum and has since spread beyond the capital city. 

Ismaeil said he became a political adviser to the RSF because he's been following Hemedti since the revolution in Sudan in 2019 which resulted in the ousting of the autocratic former president, Omar al-Bashir. Plans to complete a transition to a civilian-led government were upended amid disagreements between al-Burhan and Hemedti.

As the plan for a new transition developed, Hemedti aligned himself more closely with civilian parties from a coalition, the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC), that shared power with the military between Bashir's overthrow and the 2021 coup.

"I've been advising him [Hemedti]. He's my colleague, he's my classmate in the first year in primary school," Ismaeil said. He said he's known Hemedti for a long time and is supportive of his beliefs.

Ismaeil spoke to CBC Radio in 2014. He said he was invited to Doha, Qatar in 2010 where he alleged he was drugged and held against his will after refusing to accept Qatar's position on the peace process related the conflict in Darfur in western Sudan.

Ismaeil is a father of two children. He and his wife are now separated. 

Ismaeil told CBC he believes in what he's doing. But some members of the Sudanese community in Winnipeg are questioning his association with Hemedti and the RSF.

Mekki Mohamed, general secretary of the executive committee of the Community of the Sudanese Canadian in Manitoba, said he's known Ismaeil since 2009. They were both going to school at University of Winnipeg at the time.