section_path: Leadership and numbers
section_name: Leadership and numbers
paragraph_text: Leadership and numbers
  
  RSF is headed by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo ("Hemedti"), who has been its leader since it was created in 2013 or 2014. As of September 2019, Hemedti's brother Abdul Rahim Hamdan Dagalo is deputy head of RSF.
  
  RSF was estimated by Human Rights Watch as having about 5,000 – 6,000 soldiers in February 2014 in Darfur. In 2016–2017, RSF had 40,000 members participating in the Yemeni Civil War. In late October 2019, 10,000 had returned to Sudan. In July 2019, about 1,000 RSF soldiers were present in Libya, supporting the Libyan National Army commanded by Khalifa Haftar.
  
  According to Reuters, as of 2023, the force numbers 100,000 people.