'Our Mission Is Solely Killing' - The Way The Sudanese Ruthless Paramilitary Group Conducted a Massacre
Warning: This Story Contains Disturbing Descriptions of Executions.
Militiamen smirk as they travel on the bed of a transport truck, hurrying by a series of nine lifeless forms and moving facing the sinking Sudan's evening sky.
"Look at this extensive work. Observe this act of mass destruction," a combatant exclaims.
He smiles as he turns the video equipment on his own face and his companion combatants, their RSF badges on display: "They are all going to die like this."
The men are celebrating a massacre that humanitarian officials believe claimed the lives of over 2,000 individuals in the Sudan's city of el-Fasher during October.
A Community Severed from the Outside
Having held the urban area under blockade for nearly two years, from late summer the RSF advanced to reinforce its position and restrict the remaining civilian population.
Space-based imagery demonstrate that forces began to erect a massive berm - a raised dirt embankment - around the boundaries of the city, sealing off entry points and preventing aid.
As the siege intensified, seventy-eight civilians were murdered in an paramilitary attack on a place of worship on 19 September, while the international organization said fifty-three further were killed in aerial and artillery attacks on a makeshift community in fall.
Graphic Video Depicts Unarmed Individuals Gunned Down
At dawn on October 26th the paramilitary force defeated the final military defenses and seized the central headquarters in the city, the command center of the Military Unit, as the military pulled back.
One of the most graphic footage to emerge and examined showed the results of a massacre at a university building on the west of the city, where numerous corpses were observed scattered throughout the floor.
An elderly person clad in a traditional garment sat isolated amongst the victims. The individual looked to look as a militiaman carrying with a firearm moved down the stairs towards the victim. Raising his rifle, the shooter fired a solitary shot at the victim, who dropped to the surface still.
"For what reason is this individual yet alive," another fighter exclaimed. "Kill him."
Satellite images captured on 26 October seemed to verify that executions were also performed on the roads of el-Fasher, as reported by a report released by the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab.
A key eyewitness who spoke stated he had observed "numerous of our kin being massacred - these individuals were collected in one place and each one murdered."
Paramilitary Officers Seek to Conduct Reputation Management
During the period that followed the killings, RSF commander conceded that his forces had carried out "atrocities" and stated the incidents would be investigated.
Part of the apprehended was subsequent to a investigation recording his executions. Deliberately staged and produced footage shared on the paramilitary's authorized Telegram account depict the commander being led into a detention area at a jail on the edges of al-Fashir.
Simultaneously, the RSF and affiliated digital profiles began seeking to reshape the story.
Posts showing its militiamen handing out assistance to residents were disseminated by some individuals, while the force's media office shared several clips purporting to show the humane treatment of military detainees.
Regardless of the social media effort being used by the paramilitary, their actions in al-Fashir have provoked international anger.