San Francisco Frontiers - Sudan's RSF says arrests fighters accused of abuses in El-Fasher

At war with the army since April 2023, the RSF seized El-Fasher on Sunday, dislodging the army's last stronghold in western Darfur after an 18-month siege marked by bombardment and starvation.

It has faced widespread accusations of grave abuses after taking the city, with survivors who reached the nearby town of Tawila telling AFP of mass killings, children shot in front of their parents, and civilians beaten and robbed as they fled.

In a statement late Thursday, the RSF said it had detained several fighters accused of "violations that occurred during the liberation" of El-Fasher, including one known as Abu Lulu who appeared in multiple videos on his TikTok committing summary executions.

In one clip verified by AFP, he is seen shooting unarmed men at close range. Another shows him standing among armed men celebrating near dozens of bodies and burnt vehicles.

The RSF released a video appearing to show Abu Lulu behind bars in what they claimed to be a North Darfur prison.

The RSF also affirmed its adherence to "the law, rules of conduct and military discipline during wartime", saying that it had begun investigations to bring the fighters to justice.

"Abu Lulu is arrested and will be brought to a fair trial according to the law," one RSF member says in the video.

Since Sunday, videos circulating online have purportedly shown men in RSF uniforms carrying out summary executions around the city, which has been cut off from all communications since its fall.

Emtithal Mahmoud, a US-based Sudanese poet from El-Fasher, told AFP she recognised her cousin, Nadifa, in a video shared by RSF accounts, lying dead on the ground.

- 'Horror is continuing' -

Sudanese analyst Kholood Khair said she was sceptical that the purported arrests would bring an end to the violence.

"We expect these atrocities to continue, particularly against non-Arab groups," she told AFP, citing communities such as the Zaghawa, Fur, Berti and Masalit in Darfur.

In 2023, the RSF -- descended from the Janjaweed Arab militias accused of mass atrocities in Darfur two decades ago -- was blamed for massacres against the Masalit tribe in West Darfur capital El-Geneina, killing up to 15,000 people.

"Overall, these patterns reflect a disturbing repetition of ethnic tensions from 20 years ago, now compounded by disputes over resource control and political power in the country," Khair said.

More than 36,000 people have fled El-Fasher since Sunday, according to the UN's migration agency, while the fate of about 177,000 civilians still trapped in the city remains unknown.

The UN said Thursday that around 1,750 people had also fled the North Darfur town of Tina -- to the west of El-Fasher -- across the border into neighbouring Chad.

UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher told the Security Council on Thursday there were "credible reports of widespread executions" after the RSF entered El-Fasher.

"We cannot hear the screams, but... the horror is continuing," he said, describing rapes, mutilations and killings with impunity.

Fletcher said the RSF claimed to be investigating, but questioned its commitment amid the "appalling news" from North Darfur.

RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Daglo had earlier vowed accountability for "anyone who has made a mistake".

Satellite imagery analysed by Yale's Humanitarian Research Lab showed clusters in the city "consistent with adult human bodies", and discolouration that may indicate "pools of blood", its director told AFP.

- Bloodshed in Kordofan -

Fletcher warned that bloodshed in Sudan was spreading beyond Darfur, with atrocities reported in the neighbouring Kordofan region.

According to UN figures, between Sunday and Wednesday more than 35,000 people fled five localities in North Kordofan state, including Bara, which lies north of state capital El-Obeid on a key route to Darfur and was overrun by paramilitaries on Saturday.

Martha Pobee, the assistant UN secretary-general for Africa, highlighted "reports of large-scale atrocities perpetrated" by the RSF in Bara, including, "reprisals against so-called 'collaborators', which are often ethnically motivated".

At least 50 civilians were killed there in recent days, both in fighting and executions, including five Red Crescent volunteers, according to the UN.

Kordofan is "clearly going to be the next area of military escalation", analyst Khair said.

On Thursday, the RSF accused the army of launching a drone attack on a school in eastern North Kordofan, claiming dozens of students and teachers were killed or injured -- an allegation the army denied.

AFP could not independently verify the attack.

Both the army and the RSF have faced war crimes accusations over the course of the conflict.

The US has previously determined the RSF committed genocide in Darfur.

El-Fasher's fall to the RSF gave it full control over all five state capitals in Darfur, effectively splitting Sudan along an east-west axis. The paramilitaries have also established a self-declared rival government in Darfur.

The army holds Sudan's north, east and centre.

J.Martinez--SFF