There have been many reports from Sudan that fighters with the militia group the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been taking over people’s homes, using them as bases as they continue their battles with the Sudanese armed forces. Videos have been circulating online documenting the RSF brutalising civilians in their own homes, beating them or taking them hostage. We spoke to someone who narrowly survived being taken hostage by a group of RSF fighters in his own home.
Videos circulating online show armed fighters with the Sudanese militia group, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), posing in homes that they have seized from civilians. The militia group has been using seized civilian homes as shelters as fighting continues to rage between them and the Sudanese military. Videos documenting these home invasions have been posted online, often by the RSF themselves. This militia has also been accused of theft, rape and assault on civilians.
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© {{ scope.credits }}Civilians have also filmed the RSF invading homes or taking cars from civilians.
A Facebook hashtag launched in early June, #RSF_loots_houses (and #الدعم_السريع_يستبيح_بيوتنا in Arabic) has been used 15,000 times in English and 27,000 times in Arabic. In these posts, Sudanese people recount home invasions, looting, violent attacks, humiliation and forced evictions carried out by the RSF.
'There were nine of them, all with automatic weapons, and three younger men carrying sticks and knives'
Our team got a message on June 5 from Gamal (not his real name), a 30-year-old doctor living in Khartoum. He had just survived being held hostage for several hours in his own home by armed RSF fighters.
Around 11am on June 5, I was studying at home when there was a knock on the outside gate. To be safe, I went upstairs so I could look out the window and see who was knocking. There were nine of them, all with automatic weapons, and three younger men carrying sticks and knives. I didn’t want them to get angry at me so, in the end, I opened the door.
Once they got through the gate, they pointed their weapons at me and told me to sit down.
'We were told that this home belongs to an army officer,' they said.
They wanted more information on the car parked outside. I told them that it was my neighbor’s car and that he had left me his keys but that there were no soldiers living in the neighborhood. They beat me with the butt of their rifles and forced me inside.
While the younger fighters ransacked the electronics, the others fired shots through the ceiling and hit me again when I wouldn’t give them the keys to the vehicle. Eventually, I gave them the keys to our small family car instead and then they left.
A few minutes later, another group of RSF fighters arrived at my door. When I tried to close it again, one of them shoved me back with his rifle butt, hitting my chest and my neck.
They confined me in the living room and forced me to respond to the calls I was getting from my parents and my little sister. They listened as I had to falsely reassure my family that I was ok even though I was actually being held hostage.
When a friend called me, they forced me to answer and then threatened to kill me if he didn’t bring over a certain amount of cash, claiming that they had found weapons on me. I do have a pistol for self-protection, which, despite my reservations, I always carry with me in a small bag. After this call, they hit me again and threatened me and accused me of collaborating with the army.
'By that point, faced with such extreme violence, I had lost all hope of survival'
I finally gave them the pistol after they continued to hit me and threaten me. But I didn’t remember where I had hid the ammunition and they didn’t believe me. So they ransacked the house and threw everything on the ground. A young man found my laptop and wanted to take it. I tried to dissuade him, explaining that I used it for my research and my classes.
That sent him into a rage. He screamed at me, saying 'You think I’m not capable of reading or using a computer?' and then he started pounding my head and shoulders again, beating me. I curled into a ball and closed my eyes as he continued to hit me, hoping that I wouldn’t faint from the pain.
They knew that I was a civilian but I realized that they thought it was entertaining to hit me and humiliate me. Another fighter asked me about my background while pointing his weapon at me. I answered in a vague way. By that point, faced with such extreme violence, I had lost all hope of survival.
Then, finally, they left me there and went out on the veranda.
In the end, they left my home four or five hours later. They had stolen the two cars, my laptop and four phones. I even offered them soda and water before they left.
Ten days later, I still feel a bitter sense of strangeness, of dissociation. I think, with hindsight, that in an instant of life or death, I was able to stay composed and think about my actions and I survived.
On Twitter, some Sudanese people have recommended showing sympathy to the RSF in order to avoid being looted or attacked.
Gamal says he stayed in Khartoum because of the relative calm that has returned to the capital since June 18, when a 72-hour ceasefire was enacted. However, the ceasefire was broken on the second day when fighting broke out in Darfur, in the west of the country.
