Hilaliya deaths: RSF poisoning or cholera?

Over 500 civilians have been reportedly killed during the UAE-backed Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia’s genocidal campaign in the town of Al-Hilaliya in Al-Jazira state.

But is this due to the RSF’s intentional poisoning of civilians, or - as claimed by the RSF and reported by Reuters – a cholera outbreak?

REUTERS REPORT

On 7 November, Reuters reported that at least 73 have died of mysterious causes in the Sudanese town of Al-Hilaliya – one of dozens of villages under an RSF siege to the east of central Sudan’s Al-Jazira state following the defection of RSF commander Abu Agla Keikel on 20 October 2024.

Attributing their inability to “determine the exact cause” to a network blackout enforced by the RSF, Reuters’ article made no mention of poisoning. Nonetheless, Reuters added that Al-Hilaliya is the home to Keikel’s family “which locals say may explain the siege”.

Then, on 15 November, Reuters reported that cholera is the suspected cause of “mystery deaths” in Al-Hilaliya. Their latest article

stated that “rumours swirled about the cause of the deaths and whether RSF soldiers had intentionally poisoned people”. So, where did these so-called “rumours” come from?

LOCAL SOURCES

Claims that the hundreds of deaths in Al-Hilaliya are caused by the RSF deliberately poisoning food and water supplies came from credible local sources that monitor the humanitarian situation in Al-Jazira.  

Resistance Committees

In a statement published on 11 November, the resistance committee of Al-Jazira’s state capital Wad Madani said that “the civilian death toll in Al-Hilaliya has risen to more than 350 martyrs… [with] hundreds killed because the RSF brought chemically treated flour into the city, leading to the poisoning of civilians and their deaths by the dozens every hour”.

Reuters have previously described the Wad Madani Resistance Committee as a “pro-democracy” group for a 26 October article that cited them as a source for the death toll of an RSF massacre in Al-Jazira’s Al-Sireiha village in revenge for Keikel’s defection.

Al-Jazira Conference

In several statements published on their Facebook page since the RSF’s siege of Al-Hilaliya began, Al-Jazira Conference, which is described by Sudan Tribune as “a civilian organization monitoring human rights violations in the state” also accused the RSF of poisoning citizens.

On 8 November, Al-Jazira Conference reported that “40 deaths from poisoning were monitored in [Al-Hilaliya] in the past 24 hours, including two families”. Al-Jazira Conference added that the number of martyrs rose to 166, with 151 attributed to poisoning.

In an 11 November update, Al-Jazira Conference said that the Al-Hilaliya martyrs rose by 23 to 382 “due to complications from poisoning and the absence of health care”.

But could the credibility of Al-Jazira Conference as a source be questioned due to possible biases towards Sudan’s army-led government? Their most recent statement, published on 15 November, strongly criticised the so-called “Port Sudan government” for “leaving” Al-Jazira residents as “spoils” for the RSF militia.  

Central Sudan Call

Another organisation monitoring violations in Al-Jazira to report that the RSF is poisoning citizens in Al-Hilaliya is Central Sudan Call. Unlike the previous two sources, Central Sudan Call provide lists of names of those killed by the RSF alongside how they died.

In their 8 November update, they stated that: “the death toll has reached 161 martyrs…147 due to the deterioration of their health and food poisoning after eating spoiled and poisoned food distributed to them by the [RSF]”.

In Central Sudan Call’s 9 November update, it was reported that: “the number of martyrs until today exceeded 216. Deaths due to poisoning are steadily increasing, and it has been confirmed that the only available source of water is not fit for use or drinking after [the RSF] deliberately sabotaged and looted the solar energy systems operating [al-Hilaliya’s] water supply”.

On 10 November, Central Sudan reported that the death toll exceeded 350 “[with] the causes of death ranging between food poisoning, hunger, thirst, deterioration of health, and lack of access to medicine and medical care”.

Moreover, on 11 November, Central Sudan published evidence of poisoned wells in Al-Hilaliya, with a video showing the poisoning of a drinking water source at Sheikh Al-Tayib Mosque, a site where the RSF are said to be imprisoning civilians.  

Their statement read: “local sources confirmed that the drinking water in the well was poisoned, so that all who drank from it became ill and died a few hours later”. 

Central Sudan call added: “the matter was not limited to drinking water only, but the [RSF] also put toxic substances such as urea, lead and mercury in the food supplies that they distributed to the detained residents, which led to hundreds of deaths”.

 WHAT DID THE UN SAY?

Reuters’ November 15 article noted that, earlier this week, the UN said “there was a suspected cholera outbreak among people who escaped eastern Al-Jazira…but did not specify Al-Hilaliya”.

However, the 11 November update from the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) stated that: “there have been reports of 54 civilians who have reportedly died and another 90 that got sick allegedly due to poisoned food in Hilaliya village”.

CHOLERA

While the Reuters article did not explicitly deny that the RSF intentionally poisoned civilians in Al-Hilaliya, the allegations were described as “rumours”. Nor did the Reuters neglect mentioning the RSF’s role in an article that suggested that a cholera outbreak was the primary cause of mass civilian deaths.

Citing medics and an eyewitness, Reuters reported that the RSF “took solar panels and electrical wires used to extract groundwater, forcing at least some of the residents to rely on a shallow traditional well that had gone unused for decades and may have mixed with sewage, according to the medics and an eyewitness”.

THE RSF’S CHOLERA CLAIMS

Nonetheless, the cholera explanation is more favourable to the RSF than more sinister accusations of the militia deliberately poisoning civilians.

Indeed, as reported by Radio Dabanga (12 November), Siddig Osman, the head of the Civil Authority in Al-Jazira established by the RSF described the deaths as an epidemic, with “sources close to the RSF corroborated this, describing the situation as a cholera epidemic”.

Sat beside Osman during a press conference, the supervisor of the RSF’s central region advisory council Montasir Habani said the following:

“The righteous people are tested. When people are tested, it means God loves them. We want to send a message that there are rumours that there is poisoning and a siege. Is this true? Is there a siege on Al-Hilaliya by the RSF? We deny the rumours [on regional Arab news stations]. This is a cholera epidemic and it is a trial from God. We say the epidemic came as a form of love for the tested people”

MEDICAL SOURCES

On 7 November, Reuters’ report that 73 “died of mysterious causes” in Al-Hilaliya cited the Sudanese Doctors Union (SDU). The following day, the SDU’s 8 November statement explicitly blamed both chemical poisoning and cholera.

“Some of those [imprisoned by the RSF] lost their lives due to being forced to eat wheat grains contaminated with chemical fertilisers used as seeds and are not fit for human consumption, while others were forced to drink unfit water from an old closed well that has not been used for a very long time,” the SDU said.

Yet, a week later, Reuters’ 15 November article cited medical sources for claims that a cholera outbreak primarily explain civilian deaths in Al-Hilaliya that exceed 300 to 400.

It is worth noting that there is a precedence for politically-motivated Sudanese medics using their expertise to exonerate the RSF of crimes in Al-Jazira, as indicated in our documentation of Taqadum spokesperson Alaa Nugud’s parroting of RSF narratives.