Sudan… International Media Reveals Visual Evidence for the First Time of Al-Daglo Militia’s Atrocities and Killing of Innocents
Sudan Events – Agencies
“The Arabs arrived and began killing people…”
This is how a joint investigation conducted by a group of international media outlets began, documenting the details of the “massacre” on June 3, 2023, one of the episodes of atrocities driven by ethnic motives in the Sudanese war between the army and the Rapid Support Forces.
The investigation was carried out by the British network “Sky News,” the organization “Lighthouse Reports,” the American newspaper “The Washington Post,” and the French paper “Le Monde.”
The investigation indicated that this is the first time that “visual evidence” has been presented showing that gunmen linked to the Rapid Support Forces were “directly involved in extrajudicial killings of unarmed civilians.”
The attack, which claimed the lives of over 70 people, began shortly after dawn. Residents of the town of Kutum, located 120 kilometers west of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, were either asleep or had just finished their dawn prayers when they clearly heard gunfire amid the early morning calm.
According to the investigation, the attack lasted for about 9 hours, during which “armed Arab men descended upon the town, killing unarmed civilians and celebrating their brutality.”
The investigation included testimonies from residents who said they “witnessed the gunmen going door to door, chasing civilian men in the town’s non-Arab neighborhoods, while also seizing the army barracks in the town.”
The investigation explained that the massacre was “led by elements of the Rapid Support Forces, who, over the past 16 months since the conflict with the army began, have often characterized their military advances in the Darfur region by mass ethnic violence.”
*”Killings in the streets”
The investigation published testimonies from residents but used pseudonyms to protect them.
Amina, a young mother, spoke about the terror she witnessed during the attack, saying: “The Arabs arrived and started killing people in the streets. When they entered the houses, they took everything and burned what was left.”
Survivors said that the attackers “used racist slurs against the residents during the looting and killings.”
Another eyewitness, named Ahmed, said: “They didn’t enter any Arab homes in the neighborhood. They only went to the homes of Black people, stormed them, and took everything.”
Amina continued: “They wore civilian clothes, not uniforms, to disguise themselves, but they were all from the Rapid Support Forces.”
She added that they “used motorcycles, camels, and cars to attack the town.”
The investigation team obtained leaked videos showing the celebration of the killing of civilians in the Kassab IDP camp, just north of Kutum, a camp hosting non-Arab communities that have been persecuted for two decades in the Darfur conflict.
*”Kassab Attack”
According to a previous report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 54 people were killed in the Kassab camp alone in early June 2023.
A long-time resident of the camp said that a leader of the Rapid Support Forces, Ali Rizgallah, “brought a convoy of 17 combat vehicles and launched an attack on the camp.” The investigation, citing testimonies, reported that he described the residents as “slaves” who “scurried into their holes like rats” as they fled to shelter from the attack.
