'Our Mission Consists of Exclusively Killing' - The Way Sudan's Brutal Fighting Force Carried out a Mass Killing
Caution: This Account Includes Disturbing Details of Killings.
Fighters chuckle as they move on the bed of a pick-up truck, racing past a line of multiple lifeless forms and driving towards the setting Sudanese evening sky.
"Look at all this accomplishment. Observe this ethnic cleansing," one shouts.
He grins as he directs the recording device on his own face and his companion combatants, their paramilitary insignia clearly shown: "These people shall all be killed in this manner."
The combatants are celebrating a massacre that humanitarian officials suspect claimed the lives of more than two thousand individuals in the African metropolis of el-Fasher during October.
A Community Cut Off from the Outside
After maintaining the urban area under encirclement for almost 24 months, from the summer the paramilitary force moved to reinforce its control and restrict the remaining inhabitants.
Space-based imagery demonstrate that troops began to construct a immense earth barrier - a built-up dirt embankment - encircling the perimeter of al-Fashir, sealing off access routes and preventing relief supplies.
As the siege worsened, seventy-eight people were slain in an militia assault on a religious building on mid-September, while the international organization stated dozens more were killed in unmanned aircraft and cannon bombardments on a displacement camp in fall.
Graphic Video Depicts Weaponless Individuals Gunned Down
In the early morning on late October the paramilitary force defeated the last army positions and took control of the main compound in the urban area, the command center of the Military Unit, as the military withdrew.
One of the most graphic videos to appear and examined depicted the aftermath of a atrocity at a campus structure on the west of the city, where dozens dead bodies were observed spread over the floor.
An elderly man dressed in a white tunic remained isolated amongst the corpses. The man turned to gaze as a fighter armed with a firearm proceeded down the steps in the direction of him. Raising his rifle, the gunman discharged a solitary shot at the victim, who fell to the floor lifeless.
"For what reason is this person yet living," a militiaman cried. "Kill this one."
Space-based imagery captured on October 26th seemed to verify that executions were also conducted on the streets of the city, as reported by a study published by the university analysis team.
One observer who provided testimony reported they had witnessed "multiple of our kin getting massacred - the victims were gathered in one place and everyone killed."
Paramilitary Commanders Try to Conduct Reputation Management
Following the events that ensued from the atrocity, paramilitary commander admitted that his forces had committed "atrocities" and said the occurrences would be investigated.
Among those arrested was after a investigation documenting his murders. Meticulously staged and produced video published on the militia's formal Telegram platform depict the commander being escorted into a detention area at a prison on the perimeter of el-Fasher.
Simultaneously, the RSF and associated digital channels started attempting to reshape the account.
Content depicting its combatants handing out supplies to inhabitants were shared by various users, while the force's communications team released several recordings allegedly to display the compassionate management of government prisoners of war.
In spite of the online effort being employed by the RSF, their conduct in the city have generated global outrage.