Documentaries — Sudan In The News

INTRODUCTION

In Sudan, a UAE-backed militia with Chadian mercenaries conducts genocide incited from France and the UK.

This is the story of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia’s genocidal campaign in central Sudan’s Al-Jazira state, as told through translated videos recorded by the militia RSF.

Genocides have their own historical background, and indeed, history is being repeated in Sudan. The RSF views itself as the reincarnation of the Mahdist army led by Abdulahi Al-Ta’aishi that ruled Sudan between 1886 and 1899.

While the militia’s atrocities resemble those perpetrated by Al-Ta’aishi’s men, the weapons used today are far heavier. Nonetheless, today we are able to document those atrocities through footage recorded by the militia itself.

Sudan In The News’ documentary on the matter can be watched on Youtube and X, including a historical background and translations of the clips that appeared on social media.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The first section of this report looks at the historical background for the RSF’s genocidal campaign. As occurred at the end of the 19th century, an armed entity recruiting from a base of western Sudanese nomadic Arabs embarked on a campaign of collective punishment targeting northern and central Sudanese communities triggered by the disobedience of an ally.

THE STORY OF A POEM

The song selected for this documentary was a musical adaptation by the ‘Agd Al-Jalad band of the poem ‘Amouna, what do you see?’

Written by the late great Sudanese poet Mohamed Taha Al-Gadal, ‘Amouna’ told the story of Sudan’s suffering during the era of the Mahdist state led by Abdulahi Al-Ta’aishi (1886-1899), when

Sudan’s population was halved due to massacres and famine.

The poem was a crucial source of historic learning for Sudanese people born after independence in 1956 who, at school, were likely to have been taught that Al-Ta’aishi was a hero who defeated the British empire.

To emphasise how Al-Ta’aishi’s era was brutal for all Sudanese, Al-Gadal’s poem adopted colloquial dialects from different parts of Sudan.

Al-Ta’aishi’s atrocities left Sudanese people of the time with no choice but to fight alongside the British in order to topple the Mahdist state.

HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF

Al-Ta’aishi’s legacy lives on through the RSF, for in identity and conduct, there are considerable similarities between the militia and Al-Ta’aishi’s army.

Both predominantly recruit from the same communities: western Sudanese nomadic Arabs.

Both are known for scorched earth tactics whereby areas they pass through are subjected to looting, mass killing and women being forced into sexual slavery.

Both are associated with starvation. Sudan’s population almost halved due to hunger during Al-Ta’aishi’s era.

Today, the RSF are deliberately sabotaging farming in Al-Jazira, a state known as Sudan’s breadbasket and a key provider of the country’s daily food needs.

In terms of ideology, both frame their collective punishment of entire communities as anti-colonial endeavours.

There is one key difference, however.

Al-Ta’aishi’s men framed their conquests as jihad. This meant that Muslim communities across Sudan were declared infidels before being massacred.

By contrast, the RSF frame their atrocities as a battle against Islamists affiliated with the previous regime - despite many of those Islamists from the RSF’s tribal base serving the militia.

RSF = THE NEW MAHDIYYA
RSF mouthpieces and advisors view their militia as the resurgence of Al-Ta’aishi’s army.

This era is a source of pride for the RSF, given that it represents a time when their community dominated Sudan.

In summer 2023, RSF advisor Abdulrahman Al-Khair Al-Fahim tells Al-Jazeera TV that the RSF was created 130 years ago (referring to the formation of Al-Ta’aishi’s army) and established the Sudanese state.

In addition, RSF mouthpiece Issa Musa Himeidan suggested that the RSF are regaining the power “his people” had during the Mahdist state under Al-Ta’aishi’s leadership.

RSF fighters and supporters alike openly vow to destroy the 56 state: the Sudanese republic established in 1956 following independence from Britain.

As a result, the “cause” that motivates the RSF is their attempt to take back control of a Sudanese state they believe that their core community lost to northerners due to colonialism.

In this manner, both the RSF and their Mahdist ancestors frame their respective collective punishment of entire communities outside of their group as resistance to colonialism.

REPEATING THE MATAMA MASSACRES OF 1897
The RSF’s atrocities in Al-Jazira state bring back memories of the rolling series of massacres by Al-Ta’ashi’s men in the northern Sudanese city of Al-Matama.

In 1897, Al-Ta’aishi sent his men from western Sudan to occupy Al-Matama, which is close to Shendi - the home of the Ja’alin tribe (one of the largest in northern Sudan).

Al-Ta’aishi’s aide in the region, Abdullah Wad Sa’ad was wary of the conduct of Al-Ta’aishi’s men. To protect his people, Wad Sa’ad offered to fight British colonial forces on Al-Ta’aishi’s behalf in exchange for the latter’s men staying away from Al-Matama.

Al-Ta’aishi refused. In retaliation, his men went on a rampage in Al-Matama that lasted a year. It was so brutal that it became known for women jumping into the River Nile to avoid being raped by Al-Ta’aishi’s men.

Today in Al-Jazira, women are reportedly committing suicide to avoid being raped by the RSF, with at least 37 reported rape cases (the actual number is likely to be far higher to the stigma of victimhood and logistical challenges collating accurate data).

Just like Al-Ta’aishi’s men, the justification for these atrocities was the betrayal of a commander outside of their tribal base.

REPEATING THE MAHDIST RAMPAGE IN CENTRAL SUDAN (1889)
A direct historical precedent for the RSF’s campaign in eastern Al-Jazira was back in 1889, when Al-Ta’aishi’s conducted massacres in the same place after an ally refused to follow orders.

Back then, Al-Ta’aishi ordered one of the largest tribes in eastern Al-Jazira, the Bataheen, to invade Egypt. Upon their refusal, men were rounded up and executed, with women and children forced into slavery.

KEIKEL’S DEFECTION
The RSF’s genocidal campaign in Al-Jazira was triggered by the defection of one of its commanders for the state: Abu ‘Agla Keikel.

As a member of the local Shukriya tribe, Keikel was a major asset to a militia predominantly recruits from western Sudan’s nomadic Arab tribes. Keikel’s familiarity with the area meant that he played a leading role in the RSF’s advances in Al-Jazira at the end of December 2023.

Keikel was placed in charge of the Butana region of eastern Al-Jazira, where he is from. To some extent, this sector was spared of the RSF’s worst violence in Al-Jazira, including a massacre that killed hundreds in the village of Wad Al-Noura to the west of the state.

Keikel defected to the army on 20 October 2024. The army accepted his surrender, so as to encourage further defection from the RSF which would weaken the militia without expenditure on resources.

This is starting to pay off, with six RSF advisors announcing their defection six days after Keikel.

However, all hell would break loose in eastern Al-Jazira as the RSF embarked on a campaign of retaliation targeted the communities Keikel hailed from.

STRICT ORDERS AGAINST RECORDING
Under two weeks before the RSF’s campaign in Al-Jazira began, the militia’s commander Himedti ordered his men to not record on the field.

In our analysis of his speech, we argued that Himedti took a big risk. Given that the RSF denies that its commander has lost control of the militia, should videos continue to appear on social media of the RSF’s self-documented crimes, it would indicate that the commander’s orders are being ignored.

As it happened, RSF fighters brazenly recorded videos proving their genocidal intent in Al-Jazira.

THE RSF CAMPAIGN BEGINS

The RSF conducted a series of massacres targeting civilians in the locations that were under Keikel’s control.

TORTURE TECHNIQUES

Following Keikel’s defection, a video appeared of a man in RSF uniform issuing orders for the killing of 10,000 in Al-Jazira. The man outlined a torture technique involving tying chilli around a prisoner’s neck and burning them alive.

ATTACKS ON VILLAGES

The RSF are now conducting a rolling series of massacres that are killing hundreds in villages and towns across East Jazira that were under Kaikel’s control.

This video shows the aftermath of an RSF massacre in the village of Maknun, east Al-Jazira which killed at least 49. An RSF massacre in Azrag village killed dozens, including a children Dalia Ja’afar and Mohamed Moawia. Due to the RSF’s rampage, unaccompanied children reportedly arrived in east Sudan in large numbers.

Sudan currently faces the worst displacement crisis in the world, as civilians flee en masse whenever the RSF arrive in their area. But the RSF even came after those who fled, hurling racist insults as they threaten to shoot.

Videos also emerged of men being held at gunpoint and forced to ask their families to pay the RSF a ransom fee.

TAMBOUL

Videos appeared of men from Tamboul lined up and forced to insult Kaikel on camera ahead of a mass execution, which militia killing hundreds in the town.

The RSF employed scorched earth tactics during their rampage in Al-Jazira, which included the burning of crops in Tamboul so as to starve those who remained.

Al-Jazira is known as Sudan’s breadbasket given that it is in Sudan’s agricultural heartland. However, since the RSF’s occupation of the state, a state that once produced much of Sudan’s daily food needs now faces famine.

INCITEMENT

The RSF’s killing spree of Al-Jazira civilians was incited by official RSF media channels and the militia’s mouthpieces based in European states.

OFFICIAL INCITEMENT
The RSF tend to deny documented crimes through claims that they were perpetrated by rogue elements in their uniform. However, in this video, RSF media coordinator Waleed Wahal directly says that the people of Al-Jazira are paying for Keikel’s actions.

INCITEMENTS FROM EUROPE
The RSF’s genocidal campaign was also incited by its mouthpieces residing in Europe.

France-resident Ibrahim Al-Dukhri said that Keikel’s Shukriya tribe brought the genocide upon themselves.

Another France-based RSF influencer, Issa Musa Himedan, justified the RSF’s massacres in Al-Jazira through claims that there are no civilians there.

In a message addressed to the Shukriya tribe, UK-based RSF mouthpiece Alrabea Abdelmoneim said Keikel’s defection caused for their mass killing.

While the aforementioned RSF mouthpieces based in western states continue to express their freedom of expression by inciting genocide, Saudi Arabia reportedly detained an RSF mouthpiece named ‘Uncle Ja’afar’ on terrorism charges.

AL-SIREIHA GENONCIDE

The RSF’s genocidal campaign in the village of Al-Sireiha was recorded by the militia itself, with videos proving genocidal intent.

“Keikel is gone. We’re coming to destroy you”.

RSF militants released a video proving their genocidal intent as they entered the village of Al-Sireiha in northern Al-Jazira, which has no ethnic link to Keikel. Nonetheless, they made it clear that they will come after civilians. As documented by the RSF, the massacre was led by Ahmed Gujja, the RSF’s commander for northern Al-Jazira.

The RSF contingent that participated in ethnic cleansing in Al-Sireiha included mercenaries from Chad, as indicated by their usage of the Gorani language from eastern Chad.

Omar Sharoun, an RSF leader, ignored orders to not record crimes when he humiliated an old man by dragging him by the beard.

The RSF’s also rounded men up in mosques, calling them animals and telling them “I f**k your religion”.

Two videos also appeared of RSF militants telling men rounded up in Al-Sireiha that Keikel is the reason, alongside humiliating them by making them mimick the sounds of farm animals.

In what was described as a genocidal massacre, the RSF killed so many in Al-Sireha that dead bodies had to be covered up with blankets to make up for the lack of sheath.

As lists of martyrs appears, it became apparent that the RSF has effectively wiped out an entire village.

In some of the most widely shared tweets on the RSF’s campaign in Al-Jazira, Sudanese people call for it to be defined as genocide, and hold the UAE responsible.