Sudan: The Most Documented War in the Modern World
Sudan Events – Agencies
Darfur Regional Governor Minni Arko Minnawi said that the martyrs of the “Battle of Dignity” left behind a will urging steadfastness until justice is restored, Darfur is reclaimed, and Sudan becomes free again. He added, in a post on Facebook, that military operations will not stop until the militia lays down its arms, withdraws from citizens’ homes whose sanctity it has violated, and until displaced people return to their lands.
Meanwhile, the magazine — published an article by journalist Janine di Giovanni, who wrote that the war in Sudan does not require individuals to travel there to verify and document atrocities, as technology has advanced to the point where verification tools, attribution mechanisms, and methods for identifying perpetrators are readily available—even at a time when independent journalists cannot access areas such as El-Fasher, and investigators struggle to reach the ground to verify information.
She added: “Today, there are open-source tools such as commercial satellite imagery, local video footage, and geolocation and chronolocation analysis. These have become essential sources for understanding what is happening. This is one of the positive outcomes of technological and cyber advancements in documenting crimes linked to genocide, ethnic cleansing, and war crimes, including sexual violence.”
She continued: “Satellite images and digital reports have revealed an organized pattern of ethnic cleansing targeting specific groups—a scene that recalls what happened in 2003, but this time before the eyes and ears of the world, and with extraordinary precision.”
She wrote further: “In recent months, there has been an unprecedented accumulation of visual and geographic evidence, all of it showing mass killings, summary executions, and attempts to erase or conceal these crimes.”
“What happened in Darfur is the worst wave of mass killing since the Bosnian war,” she said, adding that the sheer volume of evidence leaves no room for denial or claims that the incidents were isolated. “In the past, such crimes were committed far from the camera lens. Today, burned villages, displaced populations, and hidden mass graves are being documented in high resolution.”
She explained that in the absence of human rights organizations, judicial bodies, and the United Nations on the ground, open-source investigation groups have emerged as key actors in documenting atrocities—similar to the work of the Yale University research center. Most of these groups consist of professional volunteers specializing in geography, artificial intelligence, and online forensic analysis. Their speed exceeds traditional investigative methods by many multiples, and they work with data of unquestionable credibility. These teams now provide the U.S. Congress and human rights organizations with detailed, reliable materials, making the atrocities committed in Sudan among the most thoroughly documented cases of mass violence and human rights violations in the modern era.
What Janine di Giovanni highlighted clearly indicates that governments and organizations are not lacking information. As she notes, the information is abundant, supported by high-resolution images—and she goes further by describing Sudan’s war as the most documented in terms of evidence, visuals, and videos.
Dr. Al-Hassan Mohamed Amin—one of the first people to whom the article was sent, along with Sudan’s former ambassador to Washington, Khidr Haroun—affirmed the accuracy of Di Giovanni’s conclusions. Dr. Al-Hassan, a computer expert who previously worked on artificial-intelligence systems, said: “What Janine mentioned is true. Forget the satellite imagery for a moment—aren’t the videos that militia fighters themselves filmed while killing civilians enough to classify this militia as a terrorist entity?”
He added: “If the army were the one committing these atrocities, they wouldn’t hesitate to classify it as such, and might even have deployed forces under Chapter VII. But despite the evidence, they have taken no action against a militia they know to be murderous, lawless, and brutal—not only because the UAE is funding them, but also because their interests require them not to intervene, at least not yet, as they are achieving some of what they want.”
He continued: “They have the images and evidence—satellite-based and otherwise—and they are fully informed about what happened and what is happening in Darfur, for instance. They have the mandate, but some major powers benefit from the current situation, while others possess the evidence but lack the will.”
He concluded: “The existence of this imagery is extremely important—not only to pressure the international community to take a clear stance against the militia and its backers, but also to ensure that these perpetrators do not escape justice and will one day stand before a court to answer for these crimes.”
