Reports of extreme violence coming out Sudan’s east-central state of Gezira indicates mass murder, torture and sexual violence against civilians in recent attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Local sources have documented at least 124 people were killed and 150 others abducted in the village of Alseriha, in the agricultural province of Gezira located between the White Nile and Blue Nile rivers, in an attack launched by RSF fighters between 20 and 25 October. Women and girls were sexually assaulted, scores were injured, private and public property was looted, and more than 46,500 people were displaced.
In one Report of the UN’s independent international fact-finding mission released two weeks ago, accused the paramilitary group fighting Sudan’s national army of widespread “horrific crimes” committed in areas under their control.
The investigation’s findings revealed that the majority of rapes and sexual and gender-based violence were committed by the RSF, primarily documented in Greater Khartoum, Darfur and Gezira, part of a pattern aimed at terrorizing and punishing civilians for “perceived links to opponents and suppressing any opposition to their progress”.
A former United Nations Report in September concluded that both the RSF and the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and their allied militias are responsible for large-scale human rights violations, including acts that may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“RSF is looking at its opportunity for prey and the ease of sexual abuse,” Eric Reeves, an American academic who has researched Sudan for more than 20 years, told The New Arabexpressing shock. “They will seek out and move into any territory where they find least resistance.”
He observed that while the SAF is slow progress it has exerted no real pressure on the Gezira state, which in his view explains the violent spiral of violence there.
RSF’s horrific violations took place just days after defection of one of its top commanders in the region, Abu Aqla Kikal, to the SAF, which observers say triggered retaliatory attacks on villages and towns seen as loyal to Kikal.
The group has carried out a series of offensives in east-central Sudan after recently losing ground to the military in the area. Since September, the Sudanese army has been conducting a major operation to retake territories in and around the capital, Khartoum, held by the RSF.
According to Sudan expert Cameron Hudson, the events in Gezira carry a deeper motivation that goes beyond mere retaliation for Kikal’s defection.
“It is not chaos and destruction due to a lack of command or control but rather a deliberate effort to terrorize and ethnically cleanse a region,” stressed Hudson, a senior fellow in the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), noting that the large scale of violence in the province is a “pattern” we have seen over the past 20 years in various regions where the rapid support forces have repeatedly committed such crimes.
The analyst noted that RSF fighters usually engage in brutal actions against civilians in areas where there is little or no presence of the Sudanese military. “That’s when they can go on these rampages,” he said. “When they exercise control over the civilian population, the result is a real increase in sexual violence.”
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Hudson explained that the extreme fighting situation of the RSF should be seen in the light of important losses the militia has suffered in Khartoum and Omdurman and the recent US sanctions against one of its leaders. He also envisioned the group to face more defections at senior level in the coming period.
The RSF gained control of almost all of Gezira province last December after it forcibly took several towns including the state capital, Wad Madani, south of Khartoum, as the SAF retreated from the country’s second largest city.
During the paramilitary advance, there were reports of residents being killed, sexually assaulted and arrested, while civilian areas were looted and valuables stolen, forcing thousands to flee, many of whom had lived in the state for decades as farmers. Agricultural production has since ground to a halt in RSF-controlled areas due to insecurity and the looting of agricultural equipment, seeds and fertilizers.
Known as the breadbasket of Sudan, Gezira produced half of all the wheat grown in the country before the war. It has now turned into one of Sudan’s most food secure states.
Sudanese freelance journalist Eyad Husham highlighted the disastrous effects of the raging war on the national food supply given Sudan’s “heavy dependence” on the East Central Province for grain production, which has consequently worsened nationwide famine.
“The RSF intends to take control of the agricultural core area, ensure there is no resistance from the local communities and use Gezira to capture other SAF-held territories next,” Husham told TNAand predicts that militias are likely to push into the east, as fighting is expected to intensify this month as the rainy season draws to a close.
While strongly deploring the RSF’s indiscriminate attacks on civilians in Gezira, the Sudanese reporter pointed out that some locals have chosen to arm themselves for “sole self-defense” in the face of the paramilitaries’ brutal actions in the villages and towns they invaded.
With staggering levels of vicious abuses committed against the Sudanese people during more than 18 months of fighting, the RSF has arguably failed to achieve any legitimacy within Sudan despite its significant territorial gains.
The RSF’s strategy can no longer rely entirely on military dominance, as remaining a militia grounded in violence and coercion will only hinder its pursuit of power.
“The RSF has no local popular support, no ideology. It is simply lust for power and money,” Reeves said.
The group developed from notorious Janjaweed militia who fought in an early 2000s conflict in the Darfur region, where they were mobilized by former longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir to help the army put down an insurgency. The Janjaweed gained a ruthless global reputation for committing genocide and ethnic cleansing during The Darfur conflict. In 2013, the militia was restructured into the Rapid Support Forces, which are now estimated to have around 100,000 combat aircraft.
The massacre in Gezira comes amid the ongoing brutality of the war in Sudan which broke out in April 2023 as the rising tensions between the army, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the de facto head of state and national army chief, and the paramilitary force commanded by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (known as Hemedti), flared up in open conflict.
The ruthless SAF-RSF power struggle has killed an estimated 62,000 people – although the true toll may be much higher – and displaced over 11 million since the conflict began. At least 25 million people, more than half of Sudan’s population, face acute hunger.
Several external actors supporting the warring parties, who are involved in extensive war crimes and atrocities, have been involved to provide arms and other support to the SAF and RSF, including Egypt, Iran, Russia and UAE.
Research published by Amnesty International in July documented how recently manufactured foreign weapons had been transferred to and around Sudan.
In particular, a United Nations report in January cited “credible” evidence that the UAE provided arms and ammunition to the RSF. Abu Dhabi’s ongoing arms supply is likely to have enabled paramilitary soldiers to commit the latest atrocities in Gezira among other serious abuses across the country.
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Reeves argued that while both the RSF and the SAF should be condemned for their actions, some differentiation is needed to “choose between the lesser of two evils”, and the US needs to seriously reconsider what it means to have UAE as an ally.
“RSF is much more evil, it is tearing the country apart. It simply has to be stopped,” said the Sudan scholar.
As the war continues unabated, both parties to the conflict are clearly unwilling to negotiate, each believing in a military victory on the ground.
The inaction of the international community means that no diplomatic pressure is exerted on regional countries that support the warring parties with funding and weapons.
“The decision to end the war is not in the hands of Burhan or Hemedti,” Husham said. He believes that global powers have not pushed for an end to hostilities because they have yet to find a common ground that satisfies their regional allies in securing their interests in Sudan. “They still haven’t divided the pie yet, so the global community doesn’t know how to deal with the situation,” the Sudanese journalist added.
For Hudson, the global community, particularly the United States, is “running” from the problem, choosing instead not to use tools such as labeling the RSF a terrorist group, sanctioning its leadership, or pressuring the UAE to stop fueling the war.
The Sudan specialist expects the fighting to continue and deepen, especially as violations committed by both sides, whether targeting civilians or obstructing the delivery of humanitarian aid, have gone unpunished.
Alessandra Bajec is a freelance journalist currently based in Tunis.
Follow her on Twitter: @AlessandraBajec
