Our Purpose Involves Only Killing' - The Way Sudan's Vicious Paramilitary Group Carried out a Massacre

Warning: This Story Contains Graphic Descriptions of Killings.

Militiamen chuckle as they travel on the bed of a pick-up truck, speeding by a row of several lifeless forms and heading facing the sinking Sudan's evening sky.

"Observe all this effort. Observe this genocide," a fighter shouts.

The individual grins as he turns the camera on his own face and his companion fighters, their paramilitary badges on display: "The victims will all be killed like this."

The combatants are exulting in a atrocity that humanitarian officials suspect killed more than 2,000 people in the African metropolis of al-Fashir during October.

A Community Severed from the Outside

After maintaining the community under encirclement for almost two years, from late summer the militia advanced to consolidate its position and blockade the surviving inhabitants.

Orbital photography reveal that troops started to erect a massive berm - a built-up dirt embankment - around the boundaries of al-Fashir, sealing off roads and preventing relief supplies.

As the siege worsened, 78 civilians were slain in an RSF attack on a place of worship on 19 September, while the UN reported fifty-three more were killed in aerial and artillery strikes on a makeshift community in October.

Graphic Footage Shows Weaponless Individuals Gunned Down

In the early morning on 26 October the RSF overwhelmed the last army positions and captured the primary compound in the community, the command center of the Army Division, as the government forces withdrew.

Among the most graphic recordings to surface and studied showed the aftermath of a mass killing at a educational facility on the western side of the city, where numerous lifeless forms were visible strewn across the area.

An elderly individual dressed in a white tunic was seated by himself amid the corpses. The individual turned to glance as a fighter carrying with a rifle walked down the staircase in the direction of the individual. Raising his firearm, the fighter fired a one bullet at the individual, who dropped to the surface still.

"How come is this person yet alive," one fighter shouted. "Kill this one."

Space-based imagery captured on 26 October indicated to verify that executions were also carried out on the roads of al-Fashir, according to a report released by the academic research center.

A key eyewitness who spoke reported they had witnessed "numerous of our family members being killed - they were assembled in a single location and each one murdered."

Militia Commanders Attempt to Implement Reputation Management

During the period that followed the atrocity, militia commander conceded that his troops had perpetrated "atrocities" and said the events would be looked into.

Among those apprehended was subsequent to a analysis detailing his killings. Meticulously staged and produced video posted on the militia's authorized social media account depict the individual being led into a cell at a prison on the perimeter of el-Fasher.

Meanwhile, the RSF and affiliated online accounts started attempting to reframe the story.

Posts showing its fighters handing out supplies to residents were shared by various users, while the paramilitary's public relations unit published multiple recordings allegedly to show the proper management of army prisoners of war.

Despite the social media effort being deployed by the paramilitary, their conduct in the city have generated international condemnation.

Timothy Alexander
Timothy Alexander

A passionate gamer and tech enthusiast with over a decade of experience in game journalism and community building.