Men shot in hundreds as Sudanese city falls to militia
A man who said he was among them said fighters riding camels gathered several hundred people near the Sudanese town of Al-Fashir and took them to a reservoir, shouting racial slurs before starting to shoot.
The man, Alkheir Ismail, said one of his kidnappers knew him from his school days and allowed him to escape, a local journalist known to Reuters said in a video interview in the nearby town of Tawila in the country’s western Darfur region.
“He told them, ‘Don’t kill him,'” Ismail said about the events that took place over the weekend.
“Even after I killed everyone, my friends and everyone else.”
He said he was taking food to relatives still in the city and was unarmed, like other detainees, when he was captured by Rapid Support Forces on Sunday. Reuters could not immediately verify his account due to conflict but confirmed material previously obtained from the journalist.
Ismail was one of four witnesses and six aid workers interviewed by Reuters; He also said that those who escaped from Al Fashir gathered in nearby villages and the men were separated from the women. In an earlier account, one of the eyewitnesses said gunshots were then heard.
Activists and analysts have long warned of ethnic revenge killings by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) if they capture the Sudanese army’s last stronghold in Darfur, al-Fashir.
The UN human rights office shared other accounts on Friday, estimating that hundreds of civilians and unarmed combatants may have been executed. Such murders are considered war crimes.
RSF, whose victory in Al-Fashir was a turning point in Sudan’s two-and-a-half-year civil war, has denied such abuses and filed counter-charges against them, saying the accounts were fabricated by its enemies.
Reuters has verified at least three videos posted on social media showing men in RSF uniforms shooting unarmed captives and a dozen more videos showing piles of bodies following apparent shootings.
A senior RSF commander described the statements made by the army and allied fighters “to cover up their defeat and loss of al-Fashir” as “media exaggeration”.
The RSF leadership ordered an investigation into any violations by RSF individuals and many people were arrested, he said, adding that the RSF was helping people leave the city and calling on aid organizations to assist those who remained.
He said soldiers and fighters posing as civilians were taken for questioning.
“There was no killing as claimed,” the commander told Reuters in response to a request for comment.
RSF’s capture of Al Fashir solidifies the country’s geographical division, which was already reduced when South Sudan gained independence in 2011 after decades of civil war.
In a speech Wednesday night, RSF chief Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo called on his fighters to protect civilians and said violations would be prosecuted. He appeared to accept the news of the detentions by ordering the release of the detainees.
