Rampage and ransom as heavyweight in Sudan’s RSF defects
Two Fridays ago, at about six in the morning, two loud bangs were heard in the village of Al-Sereiha in Sudan’s North Gezira State. The residents suspected that angry fighters of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had come for revenge.
The area had been tense since 20 October when AbuAgla Keikal, one of the most senior commanders of the RSF in Gezira, defected to the Sudanese army.
More bangs followed and soon militiamen entered the village, took control and detained the men.
“They began to hit us and humiliate us,” said a resident, who asked to be identified as AbdulNor. He was speaking from a shelter in New Halfa to which he escaped after his elderly mother paid the militiamen a ransom for his release.
“She agreed to leave and give up her house and farm.”
Before AbdulNor’s family were forced to flee, the militiamen executed several men in the village centre for all to witness.
“They dragged 10 men in front of us and killed them all at once,” said AbdulNor.
The Wad Madani resistance committee reported that 124 people were killed in Al-Sireiha, one of the worst massacres since war between RSF and the Sudan Armed Forces broke out. Wad Madani is the capital of Gezira State.
The committee also said the RSF attacked the town of AlHilaliya in Eastern Gezira, resulting in civilian deaths, looting and the detention of many others.
A telecommunications blackout, imposed on the area which the RSF still controls, has made it difficult to determine the exact death toll in affected areas. But local media reports show that RSF militiamen have attacked dozens of villages across eastern and northern Gezira since 20 October, taking hundreds for ransom, with ransom videos being posted to social media in the past two weeks.
In one, a militia, wearing a RSF uniform, threatens to execute the captive if a ransom is not paid.
Videos of the aftermath of the violence in Al-Sireiha are also circulating on social media.
One shows bodies shrouded in white garments on the ground as the recorder states, “These are the martyrs of Al-Sireiha — more than 100.”
Sudanese who live abroad have also begun receiving devastating accounts of what happened to family members in Gezira.
Ola Labib learnt that the militiamen killed her non-verbal autistic cousin because he could not respond to their questions.
“His mother screamed that he can’t talk. They didn’t care. They beat him to death,” she said.
Other videos show large groups of displaced individuals on the move, including many children separated from their families.
According to the United Nations, more than 120 000 people fled the area as the militia attacks spread. Local media reports of a campaign of mass sexual violence by militia.
According to the Sudan Tribune, a local collective in Rufaa, eastern Gezira, says that up to 37 cases of rape were reported in the town over just five days. Some survivors say women in the attacked villages committed suicide by drowning, rather than be raped.
These reports of sexual violence track with the findings of a wider UN investigation. In a report published on 23 October, the UN said the RSF and its allied militias have committed “widespread sexual and gender-based violence, rape, sexual slavery, abduction and recruitment and use of children in hostilities”.
This article first appeared in The Continent, the pan-African weekly newspaper produced in partnership with the Mail & Guardian. It’s designed to be read and shared on WhatsApp. Download your free copy here.