LONDON: Rebel fighters from the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces have posted videos on social media that document their involvement in war crimes, according to a recent report by UK-based newspaper The Guardian.
The footage, which has been verified by the independent non-profit organization Centre for Information Resilience shows fighters destroying properties, burning homes and torturing prisoners.
The films could serve as key evidence in potential war crime prosecutions by international courts.
Alexa Koenig, co-developer of the Berkeley Protocol, which sets stands for social media use in war crime investigations, told The Guardian: “It’s someone condemning themselves. It’s not the same as a guilty plea but in some ways, it is a big piece of the puzzle that war crimes investigators have to put together.”
The RSF has been locked in conflict with the Sudanese military since April 2023, bringing the country to the brink of collapse.
Some estimates suggest there have been up to 150,000 civilian casualties, with 12 million people displaced. This would make Sudan the country with the highest internal displacement rate in the world, according to the UN.
In Darfur’s El Geneina, more than 10,000 people — mostly Masalit — were killed in 2023 during intense fighting. Mass graves, allegedly dug by RSF fighters, were discovered by a UN investigation.
One video posted on X by a pro-RSF account showed a fighter in front of the Masalit sultan’s house declaring: “There are no more Masalit … Arabs only.”
Other footage features fighters walking through streets lined with bodies, which they call “roadblocks,” and scenes of captives being abused and mocked. Some even took selfies with their victims.
The videos offer rare glimpses into the atrocities happening in Sudan, a region largely inaccessible to journalists and NGOs.
In August, Human Rights Watch accused both sides in Sudan’s ongoing conflict of committing war crimes, including summary executions and torture, after analyzing similar social media content.
