Our Task Consists of Solely Executing' - The Way Sudan's Brutal Fighting Force Carried out a Atrocity

Alert: This Report Presents Explicit Details of Shootings.

Fighters laugh as they ride on the bed of a pick-up truck, racing past a row of several dead bodies and moving towards the descending Sudanese sunset.

"See this extensive work. Look at this act of genocide," one shouts.

He smiles as he directs the recording device on his own face and his fellow militiamen, their Rapid Support Forces insignia clearly shown: "These people are all going to die like this."

The men are exulting in a mass killing that relief organizations suspect killed in excess of 2,000 individuals in the African city of el-Fasher last month.

An Urban Center Isolated from the World

Having held the city under blockade for nearly two years, from the summer the RSF advanced to strengthen its dominance and restrict the remaining residents.

Space-based imagery show that fighters started to erect a massive earth barrier - a built-up earthen wall - encircling the perimeter of the city, closing roads and blocking humanitarian assistance.

During the encirclement intensified, multiple people were murdered in an militia strike on a religious building on 19 September, while the United Nations stated dozens more were killed in unmanned aircraft and cannon bombardments on a displacement camp in the autumn.

Graphic Recording Shows Unarmed Civilians Gunned Down

At dawn on late October the RSF overwhelmed the final military positions and took control of the main headquarters in the community, the headquarters of the 6th Infantry Division, as the army retreated.

Perhaps the most horrific recordings to emerge and analysed revealed the results of a massacre at a campus structure on the west of the urban area, where numerous dead bodies were observed strewn across the area.

An elderly individual dressed in a traditional garment was seated alone amongst the bodies. The man turned to look as a militiaman equipped with a rifle proceeded descending the stairs towards him. Raising his rifle, the fighter discharged a single bullet at the individual, who fell to the ground still.

"For what reason is this person yet alive," a fighter exclaimed. "Execute him."

Space-based imagery captured on late October seemed to confirm that killings were additionally carried out on the streets of the city, based on a analysis issued by the university analysis team.

A key witness who communicated stated the individual had witnessed "many of our relatives being killed - they were collected in a single location and each one murdered."

RSF Leaders Attempt to Carry Out Reputation Management

Following the events that came after the atrocity, militia chief admitted that his forces had committed "violations" and announced the occurrences would be looked into.

Included among apprehended was after a analysis documenting his executions. Deliberately orchestrated and edited video published on the RSF's formal social media account reveal the individual being led into a prison room at a detention facility on the outskirts of el-Fasher.

Simultaneously, the paramilitary force and affiliated social media accounts began trying to reframe the account.

Posts showing its militiamen distributing supplies to civilians were shared by some individuals, while the militia's communications team published numerous clips purporting to display the humane handling of government captives.

Regardless of the social media initiative being deployed by the paramilitary, their conduct in al-Fashir have sparked worldwide outrage.

Chloe Thompson
Chloe Thompson

A tech journalist and digital strategist with over a decade of experience covering emerging technologies and consumer electronics.