Our Task Consists of Exclusively Eliminating' - The Way Sudan's Brutal Paramilitary Group Perpetrated a Massacre
Caution: This Account Includes Explicit Details of Executions.
Combatants smirk as they travel on the bed of a utility vehicle, hurrying past a line of several dead bodies and moving in the direction of the setting African sunset.
"See all this accomplishment. See this instance of genocide," one cheers.
He smiles as he points the camera on himself and his fellow militiamen, their paramilitary identification clearly shown: "The victims are all going to die in this manner."
The combatants are rejoicing over a massacre that relief organizations suspect killed over thousands of individuals in the Sudanese metropolis of al-Fashir in recent weeks.
An Urban Center Isolated from the Outside
Following their control of the community under blockade for approximately 24 months, from late summer the RSF proceeded to consolidate its dominance and prevent access for the leftover civilian population.
Satellite images show that forces started to construct a immense berm - a elevated dirt embankment - encircling the edges of el-Fasher, closing entry points and halting humanitarian assistance.
As the siege escalated, multiple people were slain in an militia attack on a religious building on mid-September, while the UN said 53 further were murdered in unmanned aircraft and artillery bombardments on a displacement camp in October.
Disturbing Recording Shows Defenseless Civilians Shot
In the early morning on 26 October the RSF defeated the final military defenses and took control of the main base in the city, the headquarters of the Army Division, as the government forces retreated.
Among the most graphic videos to emerge and examined showed the results of a atrocity at a university building on the western of the city, where numerous dead bodies were seen spread throughout the ground.
An elderly person clad in a robe remained alone surrounded by the bodies. The individual rotated to gaze as a fighter armed with a rifle walked descending the stairs towards the individual. Raising his weapon, the shooter discharged a solitary shot at the individual, who collapsed to the ground still.
"For what reason is this individual yet alive," another militiaman exclaimed. "Shoot this person."
Space-based imagery recorded on 26 October seemed to confirm that killings were also carried out on the roads of el-Fasher, as reported by a analysis published by the university analysis team.
One eyewitness who communicated stated they had witnessed "multiple of our kin being executed - the victims were collected in a single location and each one murdered."
Paramilitary Commanders Seek to Carry Out Reputation Management
During the period that followed the killings, RSF commander admitted that his fighters had committed "atrocities" and said the events would be examined.
Included among detained was following a analysis documenting his killings. Carefully staged and modified video posted on the RSF's official social media channel reveal the individual being led into a detention area at a detention facility on the outskirts of al-Fashir.
Simultaneously, the militia and affiliated online accounts began seeking to reshape the account.
Updates depicting its militiamen providing supplies to residents were disseminated by various individuals, while the force's public relations unit shared numerous videos purporting to display the proper handling of army detainees.
In spite of the online effort being used by the militia, their actions in al-Fashir have sparked worldwide condemnation.