'Our Mission Consists of Solely Executing' - How Sudan's Vicious Fighting Force Perpetrated a Massacre

Caution: This Report Includes Graphic Descriptions of Executions.

Combatants laugh as they travel on the back of a pick-up truck, hurrying past a line of multiple lifeless forms and moving towards the sinking African sunset.

"Observe such work. Observe this act of mass destruction," one shouts.

He beams as he points the video equipment on his person and his fellow militiamen, their paramilitary badges on display: "They shall all be killed this way."

These individuals are rejoicing over a massacre that relief organizations believe claimed the lives of over thousands of civilians in the Sudanese urban center of the Darfur city in recent weeks.

An Urban Center Cut Off from the Outside

Having held the community under siege for almost two years, from August the militia advanced to strengthen its position and blockade the surviving inhabitants.

Satellite images reveal that troops commenced to erect a immense earth barrier - a raised dirt embankment - around the edges of the city, sealing off roads and halting aid.

While the blockade worsened, seventy-eight people were slain in an RSF assault on a religious building on September 19th, while the UN reported fifty-three further were killed in drone and artillery bombardments on a displacement camp in fall.

Explicit Footage Reveals Defenseless Civilians Shot

In the early morning on 26 October the RSF overwhelmed the remaining army strongholds and captured the primary base in the urban area, the headquarters of the 6th Infantry Division, as the army retreated.

Perhaps the most graphic videos to emerge and analysed showed the consequences of a massacre at a university building on the western of the community, where dozens corpses were visible spread throughout the ground.

An older person dressed in a robe sat alone amongst the bodies. The individual turned to gaze as a combatant armed with a rifle walked descending the steps facing the individual. lifting his firearm, the gunman released a solitary round at the man, who collapsed to the surface lifeless.

"Why is this one even living," a militiaman shouted. "Execute this one."

Orbital photography captured on 26 October indicated to confirm that killings were additionally performed on the roads of the city, as reported by a analysis issued by the academic research center.

A key observer who provided testimony reported the individual had seen "numerous of our kin getting killed - they were gathered in a specific area and all killed."

Militia Commanders Seek to Carry Out Damage Control

During the period that ensued from the massacre, paramilitary leader acknowledged that his forces had committed "violations" and stated the incidents would be investigated.

Included among apprehended was subsequent to a report documenting his murders. Meticulously orchestrated and produced footage published on the RSF's formal Telegram platform show him being escorted into a cell at a jail on the outskirts of al-Fashir.

Simultaneously, the militia and associated online accounts began trying to reframe the narrative.

Content depicting its fighters handing out supplies to inhabitants were disseminated by several accounts, while the force's public relations unit released multiple recordings allegedly to display the proper treatment of government prisoners of war.

In spite of the online campaign being used by the paramilitary, their conduct in el-Fasher have generated worldwide anger.

Tina Peters
Tina Peters

A seasoned business strategist with over 15 years of experience in corporate innovation and digital transformation.