Our Purpose Is Solely Killing' - How The Sudanese Vicious Militia Perpetrated a Mass Killing

Caution: This Story Presents Disturbing Accounts of Killings.

Fighters smirk as they move on the rear of a pick-up truck, racing by a series of nine dead bodies and driving towards the setting Sudanese sunset.

"Observe this extensive accomplishment. Look at this genocide," one exclaims.

The individual grins as he turns the camera on himself and his fellow militiamen, their paramilitary insignia clearly shown: "They will all be killed like this."

The combatants are celebrating a massacre that aid workers suspect claimed the lives of more than two thousand civilians in the Sudan's urban center of the Darfur city during October.

An Urban Center Severed from the World

After maintaining the city under siege for nearly two years, from August the RSF proceeded to consolidate its dominance and blockade the surviving civilian population.

Satellite images demonstrate that troops began to erect a enormous earth barrier - a built-up dirt embankment - around the perimeter of el-Fasher, sealing off roads and preventing humanitarian assistance.

While the blockade worsened, multiple people were killed in an militia assault on a religious building on 19 September, while the international organization said dozens further were killed in unmanned aircraft and cannon strikes on a makeshift community in October.

Graphic Footage Depicts Defenseless Civilians Executed

By sunrise on late October the paramilitary force overwhelmed the remaining army defenses and seized the central compound in the urban area, the command center of the Army Division, as the government forces pulled back.

Among the most disturbing footage to surface and studied revealed the results of a mass killing at a university building on the western side of the community, where scores corpses were visible spread throughout the floor.

An older person clad in a robe was seated by himself surrounded by the corpses. The man rotated to glance as a combatant armed with a rifle moved descending the staircase in the direction of the individual. Raising his rifle, the shooter discharged a single round at the victim, who collapsed to the floor lifeless.

"For what reason is this one yet alive," one militiaman shouted. "Shoot him."

Space-based imagery taken on late October seemed to verify that killings were also carried out on the streets of el-Fasher, as reported by a analysis published by the academic research center.

An eyewitness who provided testimony said they had witnessed "multiple of our relatives getting executed - they were assembled in a specific area and all eliminated."

Paramilitary Leaders Seek to Implement Damage Control

During the period that ensued from the atrocity, RSF leader conceded that his troops had carried out "atrocities" and announced the events would be investigated.

Part of the apprehended was subsequent to a analysis detailing his executions. Meticulously orchestrated and edited video shared on the RSF's authorized Telegram account reveal the commander being taken into a detention area at a detention facility on the outskirts of el-Fasher.

Meanwhile, the militia and affiliated social media profiles began trying to reframe the story.

Content showing its combatants providing assistance to inhabitants were circulated by some accounts, while the militia's media office published numerous videos claiming to display the proper treatment of military prisoners of war.

Despite the digital campaign being employed by the paramilitary, their activities in the city have sparked global anger.

Anne Smith
Anne Smith

Elara Vance is a tech journalist and digital strategist with over a decade of experience covering emerging technologies and their impact on society.