Sudan’s paramilitary group arrests fighters after atrocities
Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces announced the arrest of several of its own fighters suspected of involvement in atrocities committed in the city of El-Fasher, according to Middle East Monitor on October 31st.
The arrests come after RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (aka Hemedti) publicly apologised for his fighters’ criminal conduct in El-Fasher. He urged them to refrain from attacking civilians who they have “no business with.” He also announced the establishment of accountability committees to monitor and investigate abuses committed by combatants.
The RSF, who have been at war with the Sudanese military since April 2023, revealed the arrests in a statement published on Telegram.
It stated the following: “In compliance with the leadership’s directives, and in adherence to the law, military conduct, and discipline during wartime, our forces have arrested a number of suspects involved in violations that occurred during the liberation of El Fasher, including a man called Abu Lulu.”
BBC Verify analysed footage displaying the arrest of Abu Lulu, where it confirmed that he was transported, under heavy guard, to Shala Prison on the western edge of El-Fasher. He was subsequently placed in a solitary block in the prison’s southern courtyard.
Abu Lulu is an RSF fighter who has appeared in several videos posted on social media which show him participating in summary executions in and around the city.
In one video, he stands in front of 10 unarmed civilians sitting in front of him and desperately begging for their lives. Lulu warned: “I have no time for playing… we only have two options: victory or martyrdom. The option is to fight us to the end, so you die in the army base, or here.”
He then proceeds to open fire on the captives, who were all killed by Lulu and his fellow combatants, according to Middle East Eye and agencies on October 28th.
El-Fasher, the capital city of North Darfur which has been under an RSF-imposed siege since May 2024, was fully captured by the group on October 26th after a large-scale invasion flushed out the military’s 6th Infantry Division. Following this conquest, the RSF have total control of the entire western region of Darfur.
The statement also outlined that “the relevant legal committees have begun investigations with the detainees in preparations for bringing them to justice.”
The RSF, which has been accused of committing genocide by the US and UN, explained that “these measures are being taken to prevent any violations that offend human dignity, contradict moral values, or violate international conventions, especially the Geneva Conventions.”
The paramilitary group also expressed its supposed commitment to adhering to the rule of law and holding to account anyone found guilty of involvement in crimes against the residents of El-Fasher.
Since El-Fasher’s fall to the RSF, it has witnessed mass atrocities on a scale so large that blood and piles of bodies are visible from satellite imagery. It was reported on on October 30th, that RSF combatants executed 460 patients and their companions inside the city’s Saudi Maternity Hospital.
This brutal massacre was the fourth assault on the building within the space of a month and was labelled as “horrific” by the World Health Organisation.
Middle East Monitor, The Guardian, Maghrebi.org, Al Jazeera, BBC, Middle East Eye and agencies
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