Following global outcry over apparent atrocities during the capture of el-Fasher in North Darfur, Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces said they had detained several RSF fighters.
Various extremely graphic videos have emerged since el-Fasher was seized over the weekend, appearing to show mass executions and other crimes being committed by RSF forces.
One of the detainees is believed to be a man known as “Abu Lulu,” who appears in multiple videos circulating online. He has been recorded carrying out executions of unarmed people, the French AFP news agency reported.
AFP said it had verified a clip in which Abu Lulu is seen firing at unarmed men at close range. Another shows him standing among dozens of corpses and burned vehicles.
The RSF released a video appearing to show Abu Lulu behind bars in what the group claimed to be a North Darfur prison.
Rights NGO says videos have been verified
The Centre for Information Resilience — an NGO that exposes human rights violations — announced that it has identified six different RSF fighters from the available video material, including Abu Lulu.
The CIR reported that it had analyzed footage emerging from el-Fasher and confirmed that “mass killings are taking place.”
“The casualties likely include both combatants and civilians, as CIR identified women and men in civilian clothing among those killed,” the NGO reported.
In a briefing to the United Nations Security Council, UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher on Thursday said there were “credible reports of widespread executions” after the RSF entered el-Fasher.
“We cannot hear the screams, but… the horror is continuing,” he said, adding there were reports of rapes, mutilations and killings with impunity.
Arjan Hehenkamp, crisis lead for Sudan at the International Rescue Committee, told DW the “stories about dead bodies littering the road, wounded crying out for help, and people being executed” from survivors.
He said the international committee has to put pressure on the RSF’s regional backers so that they “pressure RSF into creating safe conditions for civilians, safe corridors for them to flee.”
Siege and fall of el-Fasher
El-Fasher is the capital of North Darfur State and was the Sudanese army’s last stronghold in Darfur, amid a war with the RSF since April 2023, which has caused one of the biggest humanitarian crises worldwide.
Following an 18-month siege — marked by mass starvation and heavy bombardment — it fell to the RSF.
Shortly after, reports and videos of atrocities began circulating, with RSF fighters accused of massacring people they came upon.
El-Fasher has been cut off from all communications since its capture, but the AFP reported that survivors who managed to reach the nearby town of Tawila spoke of mass killings, children shot before their parents, and civilians beaten and robbed as they fled.
Edited by: Darko Janjevic
