'Our Mission Is Only Eliminating' - The Way Sudan's Brutal Militia Carried out a Massacre

Warning: This Account Presents Disturbing Details of Executions.

Combatants smirk as they travel on the back of a pick-up truck, racing alongside a series of multiple lifeless forms and driving facing the descending Sudanese sun.

"See this extensive effort. Look at this act of mass destruction," one exclaims.

The fighter smiles as he points the video equipment on himself and his associate combatants, their Rapid Support Forces insignia on display: "They will all die like this."

The men are celebrating a atrocity that relief organizations fear resulted in the deaths of more than thousands of people in the Sudanese metropolis of el-Fasher last month.

A City Severed from the Outside

Following their control of the community under blockade for almost 24 months, from late summer the militia advanced to strengthen its dominance and blockade the surviving civilian population.

Satellite images reveal that troops started to construct a enormous sand wall - a built-up dirt embankment - surrounding the edges of al-Fashir, closing access routes and halting relief supplies.

As the siege intensified, multiple people were killed in an RSF attack on a mosque on mid-September, while the UN reported dozens more were murdered in drone and artillery bombardments on a refugee settlement in October.

Explicit Recording Shows Weaponless Civilians Executed

By sunrise on 26 October the paramilitary force defeated the final army strongholds and captured the primary compound in the city, the command center of the Military Unit, as the army withdrew.

Among the most horrific recordings to appear and examined showed the results of a atrocity at a educational facility on the western side of the city, where numerous dead bodies were observed scattered throughout the floor.

An elderly person wearing a white tunic remained alone amongst the bodies. The man looked to glance as a fighter carrying with a rifle moved descending the stairs facing the individual. Raising his firearm, the shooter discharged a one shot at the man, who collapsed to the ground still.

"For what reason is this person still breathing," another fighter shouted. "Kill this person."

Space-based imagery taken on October 26th appeared to substantiate that executions were additionally carried out on the thoroughfares of el-Fasher, according to a report published by the academic research center.

A key observer who communicated reported he had observed "many of our family members getting executed - the victims were collected in a single location and all killed."

Paramilitary Commanders Try to Carry Out Public Relations

Following the events that followed the atrocity, RSF commander admitted that his troops had perpetrated "wrongdoings" and stated the occurrences would be looked into.

Part of the arrested was following a report detailing his killings. Carefully orchestrated and edited video published on the paramilitary's official Telegram channel reveal him being escorted into a prison room at a detention facility on the edges of the city.

Simultaneously, the RSF and affiliated digital channels commenced trying to alter the narrative.

Posts showing its fighters distributing supplies to inhabitants were disseminated by some individuals, while the paramilitary's communications team released numerous clips purporting to demonstrate the compassionate handling of army detainees.

Despite the digital campaign being deployed by the militia, their actions in al-Fashir have generated worldwide outrage.

Shannon Arellano
Shannon Arellano

Maya Chen is a tech journalist with over a decade of experience covering digital trends and innovations across Europe.