🔗 Share this article

Combatants chuckle as they move on the rear of a pick-up truck, hurrying by a line of several dead bodies and heading facing the descending African sun.

"Look at all this accomplishment. Observe this mass destruction," one exclaims.

The individual grins as he turns the recording device on his own face and his fellow combatants, their RSF identification visible: "They are all going to perish this way."

The men are celebrating a massacre that humanitarian officials believe claimed the lives of in excess of thousands of civilians in the Sudanese city of el-Fasher in recent weeks.

An Urban Center Cut Off from the Outside

Having held the community under siege for nearly two years, from August the paramilitary force moved to consolidate its dominance and restrict the surviving residents.

Satellite images show that fighters commenced to construct a immense sand wall - a elevated dirt embankment - encircling the edges of al-Fashir, blocking entry points and blocking humanitarian assistance.

During the encirclement escalated, 78 civilians were slain in an RSF assault on a place of worship on mid-September, while the international organization reported dozens additional were killed in aerial and heavy weapon strikes on a displacement camp in fall.

Explicit Video Reveals Weaponless Civilians Shot

In the early morning on 26 October the RSF overwhelmed the remaining government defenses and captured the primary headquarters in the city, the command center of the Military Unit, as the government forces withdrew.

Among the most graphic recordings to surface and analysed depicted the aftermath of a mass killing at a educational facility on the western side of the city, where numerous lifeless forms were observed spread throughout the ground.

An elderly man wearing a traditional garment was seated alone surrounded by the bodies. The man looked to glance as a militiaman carrying with a weapon moved along the staircase towards him. Raising his weapon, the fighter fired a solitary round at the individual, who fell to the floor motionless.

"For what reason is this person yet living," a militiaman cried. "Kill this person."

Space-based imagery recorded on late October seemed to substantiate that killings were also performed on the streets of the city, according to a study published by the university analysis team.

One eyewitness who communicated reported the individual had seen "multiple of our kin being massacred - these individuals were gathered in a single location and everyone murdered."

Paramilitary Officers Seek to Carry Out Reputation Management

In the days that followed the massacre, paramilitary chief admitted that his troops had perpetrated "wrongdoings" and said the events would be examined.

Part of the detained was following a analysis detailing his killings. Carefully choreographed and produced video shared on the paramilitary's formal messaging channel depict the individual being led into a cell at a jail on the perimeter of el-Fasher.

Meanwhile, the militia and affiliated online channels began trying to reshape the story.

Content depicting its militiamen providing supplies to civilians were circulated by various accounts, while the paramilitary's communications team published multiple clips claiming to demonstrate the compassionate management of army detainees.

In spite of the social media campaign being used by the militia, their activities in el-Fasher have generated international outrage.