When Military Orders Turn into Massacres:
RSF’ Crimes Against Civilians in Sudan
Since the outbreak of war in
Sudan on April 15, 2023, the country has endured one of the most horrific
humanitarian tragedies in modern Africa. Cities entered by the Rapid Support
Forces militias have turned into open theaters of killing, rape, dragging, and
looting, while millions fled their homes, leaving behind corpses and memories
of once-vibrant towns.
United Nations reports and
human rights organizations affirm that these violations are not isolated
incidents, but rather a recurring pattern that points to a deliberate policy of
intimidation and collective punishment against civilian populations.
Documented Scenes of Violations Against Civilians
In the capital Khartoum, as well as in the central states and
Darfur, the same grim picture has been repeated almost identically:
- Cities
and residential neighborhoods stormed with heavy force.
- Hundreds
of civilians shot dead or executed after arrest.
- Homes,
markets, and food stores set ablaze.
- Mass
rapes committed against women and girls.
- Mutilation
of corpses and public dragging in the streets.
- Looting
of public institutions and private property, including hospitals and
banks.
The United Nations states that more than 10 million Sudanese
have been forced to flee due to the war, while tens of thousands have been
killed, most of them civilians.
In West Darfur alone, United Nations reports described the
violence as “possibly amounting to ethnic cleansing,” after specific population
groups such as the Masalit tribe were targeted in waves of killing,
displacement, and deliberate burning of densely populated villages.
The Murder of Khamis Abakar: A Title of Brutality
In June 2023, the governor of West Darfur, Khamis Abdullah Abakar, was
abducted just hours after appearing in a televised interview in which he
accused the Rapid Support Forces of committing crimes against civilians in the
state capital, El Geneina.
Just hours later, video footage spread showing his body after
being killed, mutilated, and dragged by armed elements belonging to the Rapid
Support Forces.
The crime shook public opinion inside Sudan and beyond,
becoming a symbol of the terror policy practiced by the militia against anyone
who dares to document or expose the violations.
The Rapid Support Forces attempt to justify their crimes with
multiple pretexts: at times claiming they are fighting the “coup army”; at
other times alleging they are cleansing areas of enemies; and occasionally
wrapping their actions in the rhetoric of liberating Sudan.
In reality, these justifications prove to be nothing more than
a cover for systematic crimes built on humiliating, subjugating, and killing
the population.
Many of the attacks in Darfur targeted villages belonging to
non-Arab communities, particularly the Masalit, underscoring the ethnic nature
of the violence. In Khartoum and central cities, militias targeted activists,
doctors, and journalists simply for sympathizing with the army or rejecting the
RSF rebellion. All these motives whether racial or political are flimsy and
false, as they can never justify killing civilians, raping women, or
desecrating corpses. They are merely rhetorical tools to legitimize violence,
while the real objective is domination through terror.
Before the entry of the Rapid Support Forces and mercenaries
into El Fasher in October 2025, local and regional media circulated videos
attributed to Abdelrahim Dagalo, the deputy commander and brother of the RSF
leader, in which he explicitly instructed his forces, saying, “We want no
prisoners, no wounded. We want El Fasher clean, completely clean only corpses.
These words, which amount to an explicit call for mass
killing, coincided with violent assaults on the outskirts of the city, where
heavy artillery was used against civilian neighborhoods, resulting in hundreds
of civilian deaths and injuries. Statements of this kind leave no doubt that
the political and military leadership of the militias bears direct
responsibility for the war crimes committed thereafter. Incitement to kill from
the very top created an environment in which fighters felt above the law.
Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemetti),
the militia leader, repeatedly delivered speeches about cleansing the country
of traitors and punishing collaborators phrases employed as justification for
targeting any civilian opponent or supporter of the army. The absence of
genuine internal accountability for such practices reinforced the perception
that crimes were permitted and even required, leading to repeated violations in
every area under militia control.
Testimonies and international reports
The United Nations Human Rights Office
confirmed the existence of horrific violations, including extrajudicial
killings, mass rape, and organized looting in areas under the control of the
Rapid Support Forces.
Amnesty International and Human Rights
Watch, for their part, documented recurring patterns of systematic attacks on
civilians, considering that some may amount to crimes against humanity.
The United States, the United Kingdom,
and the European Union imposed sanctions on leaders of the Rapid Support
Forces, including Abdelrahim Dagalo, for their involvement in these violations.
Even in war, there are laws and
limits: international humanitarian law clearly distinguishes between combatants
and civilians and prohibits killing or harming those who have laid down their
arms or are not taking part in the fighting.
But in Sudan, this distinction no
longer exists; the war has turned into a machine of revenge and plunder, led by
a militia that has made terror its policy and blood its instrument of rule.
What is happening in Sudan is not
merely a struggle for power, but crimes against humanity committed in broad
daylight. The world is called upon to confront these atrocities with the same
seriousness it applies to any other conflict; silence in the face of such
crimes amounts to complicity with the perpetrators and grants them a green
light for further massacres.
Justice alone can put an end to
boundless violence and restore Sudan’s right to be a country for its people,
not a killing ground.
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Sudan: A War Without Borders... Heartbreaking Stories from the Heart of Hell
From Rebellion to Genocide: The Full Story of What Is Happening in Sudan
RSF War Crimes and Mass Rape of Women in El-Fasher and Barah
Sudanese Women Amidst War and Displacement
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