Shooting, decapitations: ‘horrific reprisals’ caught on film in Sudan

Sudanese government forces are killing civilians and captives, with videos emerging that show men being dragged through the streets, beaten and shot.

A Sudanese army soldier gestures from the back of a vehicle as it drives past ruined cars and buildings in Khartoum. Picture: AFP.

Human rights groups have accused Sudanese government forces of reprisal killings in Khartoum after videos emerged showing men being dragged through the streets, beaten and shot.

Numerous videos showing summary executions have been posted online since March 26, when the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) commander-in-chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan declared Khartoum liberated after his troops routed Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitaries from the capital.

In one video, an emaciated and wounded man was pulled along by jeering soldiers, thrown in a ditch and shot. One of the soldiers knelt down and decapitated him with a knife, holding his head aloft for the others to see.

The videos, along with witness testimonies, chart killings taking place in southern and eastern Khartoum by armed men in uniform and civilian clothes, apparently searching for RSF collaborators.

Volker Turk, UN high commissioner for human rights, said he was “utterly appalled”. A UN review of the evidence last week included “horrific” videos, some including killers saying they were punishing RSF collaborators. Turk said: “Individual perpetrators, as well as those with command responsibility, must be held accountable.”

Dozens of unarmed men are led along the streets of the Mayo neighbourhood in southern Khartoum with their hands tied behind their backs, being repeatedly whipped.

The civil war erupted in Khartoum in April 2023 when two allies – the SAF under Burhan and the RSF commanded by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo – fell out over power-sharing. The violence spread across the country, precipitating the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. More than 12 million people have been driven from their homes and a further two million have fled abroad. About 26 million are in urgent need of food and more than 150,000 have died.

The US, leading the humanitarian response, has given more than US$2 billion in aid to Sudan since the start of the conflict. In November David Lammy, the foreign secretary, said that a reinvigorated commitment would double Britain’s humanitarian assistance to Sudan to £113 million (AUD$200m).

The RSF, whose allies include the United Arab Emirates, have previously been accused of prime culpability for war crimes, including rape, mass killings and genocide. However, the SAF also faced allegations of war crimes, including the killings of hundreds of civilians in air strikes on markets in the Darfur region.

The most recent killings by SAF units and affiliated groups in Khartoum appear to follow a pattern of reprisals in recently recaptured territory against civilians accused of collaborating with the RSF. “We have witnessed people beheaded or shot after a brief field trial and others beaten on that day,” one member of Khartoum’s community-run emergency response rooms (ERR), which supply humanitarian aid in the city, told Avaaz, the online activist organisation specialising in rights abuses.

The ERR member, whose name has been withheld to protect them, said people accused of collaborating with the RSF, including women, had been paraded around in trucks. The witness said that other civilians, including ERR members, had been named on social media with calls for them to be targeted.

A destroyed tank in a southern neighbourhood of Khartoum after the military recaptured the capital. Picture: AFP.

In one video, collated by Avaaz, a large, ululating crowd was seen gathering outside a cafe before a soldier in SAF uniform shot and killed a man in civilian clothing.

Another video showed two men being forced to crawl across a road while being struck with a baton or a machete. A final clip showed dozens of unarmed men, their hands bound behind their backs, being repeatedly whipped as they were led along a road by armed soldiers.

Some reports referred to mass killings. Among those being assessed by the UN Human Rights Office, one instance involved at least 20 civilians, including one woman, who were said to have been killed by SAF and affiliated militias in the Janoub al-Hezam area of southern Khartoum.

In February, Amnesty International said it had received reports of lists being circulated of supposed “partners of the RSF” that included the names of politicians, medical workers, public prosecutors and members of protest groups.

A meeting co-hosted by the UK, EU, France and Germany is due to take place in London on April 15 to discuss ways of alleviating the humanitarian crisis and ending the conflict. The conference has been criticised by Sudanese officials aligned to the SAF, who have not been invited, for including the UAE, the main financier of the RSF.

The Times