New videos show executions after RSF militia takes key city

Warning: This story contains graphic descriptions of executions.

Fighters from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) executed scores of unarmed people after capturing the Sudanese city of Al-Fasher, according to new videos analyzed by BBC Verify.

The RSF, which has been waging a brutal war with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) for more than two years, captured an important military base in the city over the weekend after a long siege.

Several videos have since emerged showing men wearing military fatigues, some wearing what appear to be RSF patches, committing extreme acts of violence around al-Fasher. The UN coordinator for Sudan said in an interview with the BBC on Wednesday that he had received “credible reports of summary executions” in the city.

BBC Verify has approached RSF for comment. Imran Abdullah, an RSF adviser, denied in an interview with the BBC on Monday that the group’s fighters were targeting civilians.

Sudan has been wracked by war since the conflict broke out in 2023, sparked by the collapse of the fragile ruling coalition of the SAF and RSF. Since then, more than 150,000 people have died across the country and nearly 12 million have fled their homes.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, UN Sudan coordinator Denise Brown said she had received reports of executions of “particularly unarmed men” since RSF entered the city. The killing of unarmed civilians or the surrender of combatants is a war crime under the Geneva Convention.

Many of the clips reviewed by BBC Verify are in dusty and sandy rural locations, making it difficult to tell exactly where they were filmed. However, we have geolocated a video showing a summary of the shooting of an unarmed man in a university building in Al-Fasher.

In the clip, an unarmed man is seen sitting in a hallway amid dozens of bodies. As the video progressed, he was seen turning towards the camera, following an armed man down the stairs. The fighter then raised his rifle and fired a single shot, knocking the unarmed man to the ground, where he lay motionless.

A series of similarly disturbing clips have been circulating online, but they are difficult to geolocate as they were recorded outside the city, where there are few visible landmarks. However, BBC Verify managed to place one of the fighters featured in several execution videos in recent days in the area around Al-Fasher.

The fighter, who goes by the name Abu Lulu, has long had his activities with the RSF documented in a social media profile seen by BBC Verify.

A video that first appeared online over the weekend showed him amidst bodies in an area in the northwest of the city. Working with the Center for Information Resilience (CIR), BBC Verify was able to verify the location of this footage, but due to the quality of the video it is difficult to tell whether the dead in the clip are civilians or SAF soldiers killed in action.

But Abu Lulu also appeared in at least two videos showing him kneeling and participating in the execution of unarmed men under armed guard. Reverse image searches show that all the videos have been posted online since the weekend.

In one video, he was seen addressing an injured man lying on the ground, scolding him for not sharing information before threatening to rape him. The RSF fighter then shot the prisoner several times with an automatic rifle.

In a separate video, Abu Lulu is seen standing next to several RSF soldiers carrying AK-style assault rifles and guarding a group of at least nine unarmed captives. After addressing the men, Abu Lulu pointed his rifle at the group and opened fire. Afterwards, the other armed men raised their arms and cheered.

In another clip, the warrior was seen standing next to several armed men with dozens of bodies visible in the background. Some of the fighters wore RSF-style uniforms, which featured a circular patch with a black line around it, consistent with the paramilitary forces’ insignia.

In August, RSF announced that it would investigate Abu Lulu, who was accused of executing a prisoner. “If it is proven that the perpetrator is really from our ranks, he will be held responsible for the delay,” the statement said.

The videos came after US-based investigators said satellite images taken since the fall of al-Fasher showed the aftermath of mass killings on the city’s streets.

Analysts at Yale University’s Human Rights Lab highlighted large “clusters” visible in the images, saying they were “consistent with the size range of the adult human body and were not present in previous images.”

In the report released Monday, Yale said its analysts’ observations were “consistent with reports of executions” shared online in recent days by the UN and human rights groups, and also highlighted a “discoloration” that analysts said could be human blood.

BBC Verify cannot independently verify Yale’s findings without footage from that location.

Other satellite images viewed by BBC Verify show vehicles parked at both ends of many streets. Yale analysts noted that their positioning suggests paramilitary forces are conducting house-to-house clearance operations. Clusters of what Yale identified as human bodies were seen near vehicles in some areas.

Michael Jones, an analyst at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), said the RSF had a track record of carrying out ethnically based mass killings and this could be partly due to the paramilitary organisation’s “decentralized structure”.

“The bulk of the group’s manpower comes from a dispersed confederation of hired militias, local allies and economic opportunists, often motivated by interests or grievances that predate the April 2023 conflict,” he told BBC Verify.

“Although likely occurring under the umbrella of RSF policy, violence can sometimes occur in a decentralized manner, with perpetrators committing personal or communal vendettas, seizing assets or land, and engaging in ethnic cleansing to consolidate their own political power.”

In recent months the SAF has made several major gains against the RSF, including the recapture of the capital Khartoum; thus the army now controls most of the north and east of the country.

In contrast, the RSF controls almost all of western Darfur and most of the neighboring Kordofan region, the traditional base of its predecessor Janjaweed paramilitary group, which carried out ethnic killings in Darfur between 2003 and 2005. Many of those fighting Janjaweed are believed to have joined the RSF.

Until now, al-Fasher was the last major urban center in Darfur still held by government forces and their allies. RSF has previously said it hopes to form a rival government in the city after taking control of it.

Both sides have been accused of war crimes since the conflict began, and in the closing days of President Joe Biden’s administration, the United States said the RSF had committed acts of genocide. BBC Verify has previously documented mass killings carried out by the RSF following the departure of a senior commander.

Additional reporting by Benedict Garman, Richard Irvine-Brown, Daniele Palumbo, Paul Myers and Thomas Copeland.