Sudan's RSF says arrests fighters accused of abuses in El-Fasher

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PORT SUDAN - Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces said they had arrested several fighters accused of committing abuses during the capture of the city of El-Fasher, as the United Nations said "horror is continuing" in the Darfur region.

The RSF, at war with the army since April 2023, seized El-Fasher -- the army's last stronghold in Darfur -- on Sunday after an 18-month siege.

In a statement late Thursday, the RSF said it had detained several fighters accused of "violations that occurred during the liberation" of the city, including one known as Abu Lulu who appeared in multiple videos on his TikTok committing summary executions.

In one clip verified by AFP, he is seen shooting unarmed men at close range. Another shows him standing among armed men near dozens of bodies and burnt vehicles.

A third video shows Abu Lulu attempting to coerce captives into praising army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

When they refused, he executed them, saying, "When we came here, we had two choices: death or victory."

The RSF released a video appearing to show Abu Lulu behind bars in what they claimed to be a North Darfur prison. It said "legal committees" had begun investigations "in preparation for bringing them (the fighters) to justice".

The group also affirmed its adherence to "the law, rules of conduct and military discipline during wartime".

El-Fasher has been cut off from all communications since its fall, but survivors who reached the nearby town of Tawila told AFP of mass killings, children shot before their parents and civilians beaten and robbed as they fled.

Emtithal Mahmoud, a US-based Sudanese poet from El-Fasher, said she recognised her cousin, Nadifa, in a video shared by RSF accounts, lying dead on the ground.

Since Sunday, videos circulating online have shown men in RSF uniforms carrying out summary executions around the city.

More than 36,000 people have fled El-Fasher since Sunday, according to the UN's migration agency, while the fate of about 177,000 civilians still trapped in the city remains unknown.

'Horror is continuing'

UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher told the Security Council on Thursday there were "credible reports of widespread executions" after the RSF entered El-Fasher.

"We cannot hear the screams, but... the horror is continuing," he said, describing rapes, mutilations and killings with impunity.

Fletcher said the RSF claimed to be investigating, but questioned its commitment amidst "appalling news" from North Darfur.

RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Daglo had earlier vowed accountability for "anyone who has made a mistake", while an RSF-led coalition alleged many videos were "fabricated" by army-linked outlets.

Satellite imagery analysed by Yale's Humanitarian Research Lab showed clusters in the city "consistent with adult human bodies", and "discolouration" that may indicate "pools of blood", its director told AFP.

The RSF -- descended from the Janjaweed militias accused of atrocities in Darfur two decades ago -- and the army both face war crimes accusations.

The US has previously determined the RSF committed genocide in Darfur.

El-Fasher's fall gives the RSF full control over all five state capitals in Darfur, effectively splitting Sudan along an east-west axis.

The RSF is now entrenched in Darfur with a self-declared rival government and is pushing into the neighbouring Kordofan region, where the UN says similar atrocities have occurred.

The army holds Sudan's north, east and centre.

Peace efforts led by Washington and regional powers have so far failed.

Egypt -- Sudan's northern neighbour -- backs the army, alongside Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iran.

The UAE meanwhile is accused by the UN of arming the RSF -- allegations Abu Dhabi denies.