Men Without Mercy
Mohamed Ghulamabi
On the Rapid Support Forces’ Human Rights Violations in Al-Jazira State:
Al-Jazira State, located in central Sudan, is renowned for its abundant resources and its historical connection to the Gezira Scheme, one of the largest irrigated agricultural projects in tropical Africa. For over a century, the project has been a cornerstone of Sudans economy. The scheme attracted Sudanese groups from across the country and beyond, fostering a unique diversity and a peaceful co-existence. The economic boost also gave rise to industries like sugar, textiles, oil, and soap production.
With the outbreak of war on April 15, 2023, between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Al-Jazira State became a refuge for over half a million displaced people fleeing violence in Khartoum.
However, on December 19, 2023, the RSF stormed Wad Madani, the capital of Al-Jazira, leading to widespread human rights violations. Civilians were subjected to extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detentions, looting of vehicles, homes, relief warehouses, commercial properties, and grain stores belonging to farmers.
By spreading chaos and lawlessness in towns and villages they invaded, the RSF opened doors for further crimes, including looting, intimidation, and terror by existing and newly formed criminal groups.
Between March 7 and April 16, 2024, the RSF launched 145 attacks on towns and villages in Al-Jazira, resulting in the deaths of 248 civilians and injuries to 347 others.
In April 2024, the Sudanese Doctors Union reported the killing of 28 civilians and injury of 240 others in Um Adham, a village in Al-Hasahisa locality, during an RSF attack. On December 30, 2023, the RSF raided Madina Arab in southern Al-Jazira using combat vehicles, killing three civilians in the market, looting shops, and spreading terror that forced residents to flee.
On June 13, 2024, the RSF attacked Sheikh Al-Samani village in southern Al-Jazira with heavy weapons, killing 20 people, including women and children, and leaving countless others injured. Earlier, in February 2024, they besieged Wad Al-Baleela in western Al-Jazira for two days, killing six civilians, injuring dozens, and looting residents property, including grain stores.
On the morning of Wednesday, June 5, 2024, the RSF launched a brutal attack on Wad Al-Noura using combat vehicles and heavy artillery, indiscriminately firing on residents and killing 200 people while injuring 2,000 others, with many reported missing. The attackers raided homes and carried out gruesome killings of men, women, and children. UNICEF confirmed the deaths of 35 children and injuries to 29 others during this massacre.
The attack on Wad Al-Noura is the worst and most heinous atrocity committed since the war’s outbreak on April 15, 2023, second only to the RSF’s attack on El Geneina in western Sudan a week after the war began. On June 7, 2024, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, issued a statement expressing his shock over the Wad Al-Noura massacre, stating:
"I am deeply shocked by reports of the brutal killing of civilians in Wad Al-Noura village in Al-Jazira State, central Sudan, which came under attack by the Rapid Support Forces. Information gathered by my office indicates that the RSF used weapons with wide-ranging effects, including artillery shells."
Destruction of Institutions:
In a statement on July 22, 2024, the Sudanese Doctors’ Network reported that the RSF looted medical equipment and vandalized the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Laboratories at the University of Al-Jazira. The network further confirmed that six major hospitals and 10 private hospitals were destroyed and rendered nonfunctional, alongside 150 healthcare centers. This destruction followed RSF incursions into towns and villages, leading to the displacement and killing of rural populations.
On December 21, 2023, the governor of the Gezira Scheme, Omar Marzouk, reported the theft of the scheme’s agricultural inputs by the RSF. Additionally, the World Food Programme accused the RSF of looting its warehouses containing 2,500 tons of food—enough to feed 1.5 million people, including 20,000 malnourished children.
In May 2024, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF Spain) announced the suspension of its operations at Wad Madani Teaching Hospital due to harassment and obstacles faced by its staff. Their statement highlighted repeated security incidents, including looting, which severely hampered their ability to provide medical care.
Sexual Violence:
On March 15, 2024, Sudanese newspaper Al-Jarida published a report citing the Sudanese Doctors Union, which condemned the RSF’s use of sexual violence. The report detailed the rape of two women accompanying children at Al-Hasahisa Children’s Hospital and one nurse who tried to intervene.
The Together Against Rape and Sexual Violence campaign documented 326 cases of rape between February 29 and April 15, 2024, including 137 cases involving children, with 29 child rape cases recorded in Al-Jazira. Hala Al-Karib, the regional director of the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA), confirmed 250 cases of sexual violence across Sudan, 75 of which occurred in Al-Jazira between December 2023 and April 2024—all attributed to the RSF. However, these figures remain imprecise due to the lack of communication networks in conflict zones and cultural taboos surrounding sexual violence in Al-Jazira.
Conclusion:
Under international humanitarian law, the ongoing armed conflict in Sudan between the SAF and RSF is classified as a non-international armed conflict, requiring all parties to adhere to international humanitarian law, particularly Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and Protocol II of 1977. The question remains: Have the warring parties upheld these laws?
In 2015, Human Rights Watch published a report titled “Men Without Mercy” documenting similar RSF atrocities in Darfur. Today, we borrow the same title, as the men who wreaked havoc in Darfur are repeating those heinous crimes in Al-Jazira, proving once again that they are truly “Men Without Mercy.”
