The civil war in Sudan has claimed over 20,000 lives and left over 10 million Sudanese displaced and at risk of famine and disease, according to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the UN World Health Organization.
Since April 2023, Sudan has been plunged into a deadly power struggle between the leaders of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The conflict, which broke out in the capital, Khartoum, centers on control of the nation’s resources and political future. In June 2023, a series of killings were carried out in the Darfur region against the local ethnic minority, some of the violence was captured on camera.
The Washington Post has obtained videos showing the aftermath of an RSF raid on an adobe house in Sudan’s Kassab displacement. According to locals, a woman was struck with the butt of a rifle, and her five sons were detained. The footage then cuts to a horrific scene of onlookers gazing at the lifeless bodies of the men.
Under the scorching June sun, the men lie barefoot, their hands tied behind their backs, their blood-soaked clothes a stark testament to the violence. In the background, gunshots ring out, signaling the brutality that continued that day.
These five men were part of a larger massacre of over 70 people, according to local witnesses and the UN refugee agency. As part of the struggle for power, the RSF has been accused of targeting the ethnic Black African communities in Darfur and neighboring regions.
While the majority of Sudan’s population identifies as Arab, minority groups such as the Nubians, Fur, and Zaghawa, who are primarily Black African, have been the targets of endless killings by the RSF in cities like Nyala and Geneina.
In 2003, a genocidal war broke out in the region. The International Criminal Court condemned the violent actions carried out under the regime of Omar al-Bashir, who had taken power in a 1989 coup.
In 2005, after an investigation, the ICC charged Bashir with the crime of genocide, making him the first person ever to face such a ruling. Despite facing two arrest warrants, authorities have not enforced either of them, and he remains outside the ICC’s custody.
Bashir’s dictatorship, which imposed a strict interpretation of Sharia law, relied on militias and morality police to enforce its rule. The RSF, which Bashir had funded, participated in the persecution of ethnic and religious minorities in Darfur.
In 2019, after growing protests calling for democracy, better access to basic services, and a new governance system, a coup successfully ousted Bashir from power.
Control of the country was then shared between the SAF, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the RSF, under the command of Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo.
However, disputes between the two factions over the direction of the government, combined with civil unrest, eventually escalated into full-scale conflict.
The violence erupted on April 15, 2023, as explosions and gunfire filled the streets of Khartoum. The combat hub and capital of North Darfur, El Fasher, was the focus of the conflict. In its fight against the SAF, the RSF seized control of large areas of western and southern Sudan in May. The final SAF stronghold in Darfur is El Fasher, which has a strategically significant location for trade lines from nearby Libya and Chad.
Conflict has spread to 14 of Sudan’s 18 provinces and has forced more than 2.3 million people to flee to neighboring countries. More than 25 million people are facing acute hunger, and famine has been confirmed in a displacement camp housing hundreds of thousands of people in North Darfur.
A recent outbreak of cholera from contaminated water supplies has killed more than 165 people.
“The scale of the emergency is shocking, as is the insufficient action taken to curtail the conflict,” Ghebreyesus said.