Sudan’s War Disinformation

By: Yasser Zeydan

Disinformation is intentionally false information disseminated to mislead or sway public opinion. It is a planned hostile action that can be carried out to accomplish military, commercial, or strategic objectives using a variety of channels, including social media [1][3]. “False information deliberately and often covertly spread (as by the planting of rumors) to influence public opinion or obscure the truth” is how the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines disinformation. This is not the same as misinformation, defined as erroneous or false information disseminated without necessarily trying to mislead.
Although misinformation has a long history, it is becoming a more significant problem in today’s globally interconnected society. It can be followed from different historical and contextual angles, emphasizing how power is fundamental to it and how it affects society differently. When disinformation analysis is based on power and inequality issues and anchored in politics, history, society, and culture, it is more successful. During the Cold War, the word “disinformation” itself became more well-known, especially about Soviet propaganda campaigns. Disinformation nowadays is a crucial topic for research and concern since it is frequently disseminated via social media and can have serious adverse effects in the real world.

The war in Sudan is being significantly impacted by disinformation, especially since it is using social media to propagate misinformation and sway public opinion. Foreign organizations that seek to destabilize the nation have targeted it, and false and misleading content is widely available online. In addition to making it more difficult for citizens to obtain trustworthy information, this has intensified the media and narrative war, worsening the situation. It has been determined that the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces militia (RSF) is disseminating false information to influence the conflict. The dissemination of false information has put the most vulnerable in danger and made it more difficult for people to tell what is true from false, among other tragic and real-world effects. Additionally, the RSF began a campaign of defamation on Twitter against the Sudanese army, claiming that it was deliberately targeting civilians. To sway public opinion domestically and globally, these claims were made public in Arabic and English.

For instance, Sudan Tribune, a well-known Sudanese English outlet, reported false information about the death of Dr. Abdel Moneim by SAF in Omdurman. Today, his daughter, Shaza, said that a stray bullet killed her father in an RSF-controlled area in Omdurman. This disinformation is not the first time that this outlet has fabricated reports on Sudan’s conflict. Sudan Tribune has not corrected or retracted the report until the writing of this article.
There is a massive disinformation campaign that has been targeting Sudan since the beginning of the war. Social media activists have been spreading the narrative of “No to War” while siding with the RSF secretly. Rasha Awad, a well-known activist and an FFC leader, hailed the RSF’s war conduct and denied the militia’s war crimes. The FFC’s insidious disinformation campaign in support of the RSF became apparent when they signed a political declaration with the RSF in Addis Ababa earlier this month. Furthermore, the FFC (Taqadum) helped organize a pro-RSF rally in Wad Medani, as the Resistance Committee of Wed Medani has reported.
FFC/RSF has been very active in this disinformation campaign to:
Spread the “two-generals” narrative to the Western audience to delegitimize SAF as the only state institution defending Sudan from the RSF.
Legitimize the RSF/Janjaweed and present the militia as an equal force to SAF despite fundamental differences between the two forces.
Downplay RSF/Janjaweed’s crimes and equate them to SAF’s airstrikes, which are not even near the Janjaweed ethnic cleansing crimes.
As the world has lost interest in Sudan, western media outlets have no interest in double-checking these accounts or verifying reports on Sudan.
This campaign has been carried out by activists, journalists, and reporters without presence on the ground. They usually use unknown sources- just like the report above .
Then, FFC and RSF’s social media accounts magnify these fabricated reports as genuine information.
During times of war, disinformation campaigns immediately and severely affect people. Fake news disrupts humanitarian efforts in addition to putting the lives of vulnerable communities in jeopardy.