RSF Commits Mass Massacres In Al Jazeera State Following the Defection of One of Its Commanders
RSF Commits Mass Massacres In Al Jazeera State Following the Defection of One of Its Commanders
On October 20, 2024, Abu Agla Kikal, a commander of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), announced his defection from the RSF and his surrender to Sudanese army forces. Kikal, a criminal and smuggler known for his criminal operations in the Al Butana area, and for forming a militia (Sudan Shield Forces) loyal to the 25 October 2021 pre-war coup d ‘état, announced at the outbreak of the war in April 2023 his allegiance to the RSF and assumed the command of their forces that invaded the Al Jazeera State on 21 December 2023. Kikal, who was directly involved in several war crimes in the Al Jazeera state during the war, such as the Wad al-Noura massacre in June 2024, as well as dozens of looting, murder, rape and torture crimes, also supervised the formation of the RSF’s civil administration of the Al Jazeera state in March 2024, in implementation of the Hamdok- Hemediti Agreement, signed between the RSF and Tagadum alliance in January 2024 in Addis Ababa.
Since Kikal’s defection on October 20, the RSF militia has initiated a large-scale campaign of retaliatory violence against the residents of the eastern areas of Al Jazeera State, where its dissident leader hails. The Al Jazeera Congress Platform, a local gathering of the people of Al Jazeera State established after the war in July 2024, reported that the death toll in the city of Tamboul exceeded 300 people in a single day (October 22, 2024) as a result of the militia’s campaign of collective punishment. The RSF militia launched a similar attack on the city of Rufaa on October 21, resulting in the widespread killing of 100 victims, the looting of homes and property, the widespread rape of women, and numerous cases of abduction and disappearance of girls. There were reports of contacts with militia soldiers, who demanded large ransoms to free the abducted victims. On 23 October, RSF stormed the city of Hilaliyah and committed similar crimes. The total number of villages stormed by the militia in its violent retaliatory and collective punishment campaign reached up to 100 villages in eastern Al Jazeera alone. A number of eyewitnesses, as well as video recordings, documented incidents of violations against children and boys and their murder amid the shouts of RSF soldiers (KILL A YOUNG KIKAL BEFORE HE GREW UP).
The complete blackout of the communication and internet network, which has prevailed in Al Jazeera State since the Rapid Support Forces took control of it, increases the difficulty of monitoring and accurately documenting the explosive situation.
It is unacceptable for international and regional actors to remain silent about the crimes committed by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the Al Jazeera state and to continue ignoring those who continue to provide the RSF with arms and supplies, political support and cover, and institutional impunity, thereby enabling the RSF to continue committing such crimes. RSF and its supporters are entirely responsible for the genocide that has transpired in the Al Jazeera state over the past few days. We call on all actors in the international community to stop politicizing the issues of the grave violations and accountability, and to urgently exert pressure on actors capable of influencing the RSF and its leadership, specifically its owner, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who is known for his (Hemedit) and his brothers, Abdel Rahim Dagalo, El Gouni Dagalo and the members of RSF’s negotiating delegation, who are in constant and direct contact with the diplomatic community (Omar Hamdan, Mohammed Mukhtar Al-Noor and Izz Eldin Al-Safi) and the rest of the RSF’s advisers, who serve as a liaison and facilitators for the RSF’s relations with the diplomatic community, who all bear full responsibility for what is happening in the Al Jazeera state to stop the campaign of collective punishment and heinous crimes committed by their forces in the Al Jazeera state.
Since Kikal’s defection on October 20, the RSF militia has initiated a large-scale campaign of retaliatory violence against the residents of the eastern areas of Al Jazeera State, where its dissident leader hails. The Al Jazeera Congress Platform, a local gathering of the people of Al Jazeera State established after the war in July 2024, reported that the death toll in the city of Tamboul exceeded 300 people in a single day (October 22, 2024) as a result of the militia’s campaign of collective punishment. The RSF militia launched a similar attack on the city of Rufaa on October 21, resulting in the widespread killing of 100 victims, the looting of homes and property, the widespread rape of women, and numerous cases of abduction and disappearance of girls. There were reports of contacts with militia soldiers, who demanded large ransoms to free the abducted victims. On 23 October, RSF stormed the city of Hilaliyah and committed similar crimes. The total number of villages stormed by the militia in its violent retaliatory and collective punishment campaign reached up to 100 villages in eastern Al Jazeera alone. A number of eyewitnesses, as well as video recordings, documented incidents of violations against children and boys and their murder amid the shouts of RSF soldiers (KILL A YOUNG KIKAL BEFORE HE GREW UP).
The complete blackout of the communication and internet network, which has prevailed in Al Jazeera State since the Rapid Support Forces took control of it, increases the difficulty of monitoring and accurately documenting the explosive situation.
It is unacceptable for international and regional actors to remain silent about the crimes committed by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the Al Jazeera state and to continue ignoring those who continue to provide the RSF with arms and supplies, political support and cover, and institutional impunity, thereby enabling the RSF to continue committing such crimes. RSF and its supporters are entirely responsible for the genocide that has transpired in the Al Jazeera state over the past few days. We call on all actors in the international community to stop politicizing the issues of the grave violations and accountability, and to urgently exert pressure on actors capable of influencing the RSF and its leadership, specifically its owner, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who is known for his (Hemedit) and his brothers, Abdel Rahim Dagalo, El Gouni Dagalo and the members of RSF’s negotiating delegation, who are in constant and direct contact with the diplomatic community (Omar Hamdan, Mohammed Mukhtar Al-Noor and Izz Eldin Al-Safi) and the rest of the RSF’s advisers, who serve as a liaison and facilitators for the RSF’s relations with the diplomatic community, who all bear full responsibility for what is happening in the Al Jazeera state to stop the campaign of collective punishment and heinous crimes committed by their forces in the Al Jazeera state.
Fikra for Studies and Development