Hundreds feared dead in Sudan after paramilitary rampage, suicides reported in aftermath
The latest war crimes in Sudan have torn through an area south of Khartoum, where the Rapid Support Forces recently went on a multi-day killing and raping spree through nearly 60 defenseless towns and villages.
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18 months of war between the national army and a genocidal militia called the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has all but destroyed Sudan. The country has been ground zero for the largest humanitarian and displacement crises in the world for months, an urgent reality not reflected in the international press. Khartoum already lies in ruins, as do countless other towns and villages. Multiple regions have descended into famine and there is still no end in sight.
Annual rains in Sudan reduced fighting the past few months due to flooding and washed out roads. The rainy season came to an end a few weeks ago, but a new surge in heavy combat broke out well before then as the army and RSF launched new offensives early. As has been the case throughout this war, an uptick in armed conflict is giving way to a surge in targeted war crimes.
Map: Location of Gezira area. (Operation Broken Silence)
On October 20, the RSF began blocking access to roughly 30 communities in northern and eastern Gezira province, just south of Khartoum. Main roads were sealed off and communication channels, including privately-owned Starlink terminals, were seized to try to trap residents and prevent them from getting word out.
Over the next four days, RSF fighters marched through towns and villages in northern and eastern Gezira. They fired live ammunition at civilians indiscriminately while executing others. The paramilitaries looted property and plundered markets. Then they began sexually assaulting women and girls.
Throughout the brazen assault the RSF expanded into more towns and villages. Nearly 60 have now been attacked. Over 119,000 people have fled Gezira in the past several days.
Right now, the heaviest blow seems to have fallen on El Sariha village, where more than 120 people are reported to have been murdered by the RSF. Roughly 200 residents have been wounded. Over 150 more are missing and presumably being detained and tortured by the RSF. High civilian casualties are being reported in the villages of Rufaa and Tamboul as well.
Getting information out has proven to be difficult due to the near complete communications black out. Survivors escaping the RSF blockade bring with them terrifying stories of executions, rape, and having to flee in the dead of night to avoid being hunted down by RSF fighters. Other eyewitnesses report seeing RSF soldiers beating civilians.
These stories align with the minimal footage and photos that have appeared on social media, including some posted by RSF fighters, who look to be proud of their atrocities. One video we reviewed showed a paramilitary dragging an elderly man by his beard and humiliating him as other soldiers watch and cheer. Others show bodies covered for burial, people fleeing their villages, and the RSF rounding up civilians at gunpoint as small arms fire is heard in the background.
Sexual assault seems to be a central feature of this RSF rampage. Fathers and brothers were killed for trying to prevent RSF soldiers from raping their female family members. Survivors have said the RSF is abducting women and girls, and reports are emerging that an unknown number of women in Gezira have committed suicide instead of waiting to be raped by the RSF.
Understanding these war crimes
The RSF has a well-documented history of rampaging against ordinary Sudanese after battlefield losses. The paramilitary force is built in a way that units are undisciplined on their own, but easy for commanders to take strong control of during major operations. Top RSF commanders often use this dynamic to deny knowledge of their war crimes, even when there is evidence commanders planned and executed a genocide.
With these facts in mind, the trigger for RSF war crimes in Gezira appears to be two-fold.
First, in September, the army launched a major offensive in and around Khartoum, reclaiming large swaths of Bahri (Khartoum North) and gaining a new foothold in Khartoum proper. We covered this in our last monthly newsletter. Army forces also seized control of the strategic Jebel Moya area in Gezira and areas in nearby Sinnar province a few weeks ago, driving out RSF fighters as they advance.
Second, Abu Keikel —a major RSF commander and the de facto ruler of Gezira— recently defected to the army. RSF fighters began attacking villages and towns in Gezira seen as “loyal” to Keikel shortly after. That’s RSF code for targeting just about anyone who is the same ethnicity as Keikel is. Many RSF fighters adhere to an extremely racist, Arab-supremacist ideology that says African tribal groups must be cleansed from Sudan and that all other Sudanese Arabs are inferior.
Gezira has been largely quiet for months despite the RSF occupation and, with RSF forces facing intensifying pressure from the army and losing a top commander, the paramilitaries are now taking their rage out on civilians along ethnic lines as part of their predictable pattern. RSF social media influencers (yes, that’s a thing) are even claiming that the villagers were plotting with the army to rise up against the RSF as the real pretext for these atrocities. While the army’s intelligence branch has smuggled weapons to a handful of villages in Gezira, there is no evidence that armed clashes broke out between the RSF and villagers before the rampage began
These crimes are yet another grim reminder that the Sudanese people will never be safe and prosperous as long as the RSF exists. Even if top commanders wanted to reform their paramilitary outfit, they are incapable of doing so and always will be. Sudan’s national army are no angels; indeed, that force is likely beyond reform as well. But the RSF always has been and always will be a terrorist organization, one that has reach beyond Sudan’s borders and can only survive by plundering the Sudanese state, private property, and the country’s natural resources. It is unhelpful and dangerous to understand the RSF as anything else besides the cancer it is.
Our Sudanese partners need your help
Operation Broken Silence is building a global movement to empower the Sudanese people through innovative programs as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. For over a decade, we've allied people just like you with incredible Sudanese heroes who are bring emergency aid, education and healthcare to their people. And they need us now more than ever.
Miles For Sudan is a new global event for runners, walkers, and cyclists who want to help Sudanese heroes save lives. All you have to do is sign up and then ask friends and family to give through your fundraising page after each workout. And the best part? You can participate from wherever you call home.
Not ready to participate in Miles For Sudan? Make a quick one-time donation or set up a small monthly gift instead. Here are a few ways your generosity can help:
$1,000 - Fully funds one classroom at Endure Primary School in Yida Refugee Camp for half a semester.
$500 - Delivers food to Darfuri genocide survivors who have fled to South Sudan.
$250 - Provides a daily breakfast to 10 children for an entire month in Adré refugee camp, where many Darfuri genocide survivors now live.
$100 - Supports the monthly work of a sexual assault counselor in Zamzam displacement camp in North Darfur, Sudan.
$50 - Helps repair classrooms in Yida damaged by seasonal rains and provide for general maintenance.
Checks can be made payable to Operation Broken Silence and mailed to PO Box 770900 Memphis, TN 38177-0900. You can also donate stock or crypto.
Operation Broken Silence is a registered 501(c)(3) organization. Your donations are tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law.
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The latest war crimes in Sudan have torn through an area south of Khartoum, where the Rapid Support Forces recently went on a multi-day killing spree through nearly 60 defenseless towns and villages. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/hundreds-feared-dead-in-sudan-after-paramilitary-rampage-suicides-reported-in-aftermath
From October 20-25, RSF fighters marched through towns and villages in northern and eastern Gezira. They executed civilians, looted property and markets, and sexually assaulted women and girls. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/hundreds-feared-dead-in-sudan-after-paramilitary-rampage-suicides-reported-in-aftermath
The heaviest blow seems to have fallen on El Sariha village, where more than 120 people are reported to have been murdered by the RSF. Roughly 200 residents have been wounded. Over 150 more are missing and presumably being detained and tortured by the RSF. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/hundreds-feared-dead-in-sudan-after-paramilitary-rampage-suicides-reported-in-aftermath
Gezira has been largely quite for months despite the RSF occupation and, with RSF forces facing intensifying pressure from the army and losing a top commander, are now taking their rage out on civilians as part of their predictable pattern. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/hundreds-feared-dead-in-sudan-after-paramilitary-rampage-suicides-reported-in-aftermath
