{"id":284,"date":"2026-06-03T19:10:51","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T19:10:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=284"},"modified":"2026-06-03T19:10:51","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T19:10:51","slug":"in-sudan-perpetrators-of-war-crimes-are-rewarded-while-civilians-languish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=284","title":{"rendered":"In Sudan, Perpetrators of War Crimes Are Rewarded While Civilians Languish"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Truthout is a vital news source and a living history of political struggle. If you think our work is valuable, <\/span><\/i>support us with a donation<\/span><\/i> of any size.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Read more Democratic Colorado Governor Vetoes Historic Surveillance Pricing Bill<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

On a warm night in July 2024, soldiers from the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) stormed into Yasser\u2019s home in the eastern city of Kassala. They climbed over the gated walls and barged through the front door carrying batons and Kalashnikov rifles. They told Yasser, who requested pseudonyms for himself and his family out of fear of reprisal, that his 21-year-old daughter Hind was accused of collaborating with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary at war with the SAF, Sudan\u2019s army, since April 2023.<\/p>\n

After Hind was whisked away, Yasser visited the detention facility where she was being held. An officer there said a photo of a dead RSF fighter was found on Hind\u2019s phone, along with a caption that read: \u201cRest in Peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI asked Hind if she had such a photo on her device and she said no,\u201d Yasser told Truthout<\/em> over the phone. \u201cBut three months later in November, she was sentenced to death. Our entire family was stunned.\u201d<\/p>\n

After an appeal, Hind\u2019s sentence was reduced to five years in prison. She remains one of thousands of people jailed for their alleged ties to the RSF. According to victims\u2019 families and human rights groups, most are snatched from their homes or off the streets based on flimsy evidence. They are then subjected to severe mistreatment, torture and denied due process \u2014 many are interrogated without a lawyer and prohibited from seeing family.<\/p>\n

Those targeted are typically from humble backgrounds and originally from the sprawling western region of Darfur, the RSF\u2019s stronghold. However, many belong to specific communities that the RSF and SAF have traditionally persecuted.<\/p>\n

The sweeping detentions contrast sharply with SAF\u2019s recent embrace of RSF defectors. Since April, three high-profile RSF commanders \u2014 implicated in mass atrocities \u2014 were given vehicles, weapons and amnesty for switching sides. The double standard reinforces perceptions that the RSF and SAF have a vested interest in upholding a climate of impunity as they wage a war on civilians.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no rule of law in Sudan \u2014 neither in RSF nor SAF areas,\u201d Mohamed Osman, the Sudan researcher for Human Rights Watch (HRW), told Truthout<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cLegacy of Impunity\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Throughout Sudan\u2019s history, war criminals and tyrants have rarely faced real consequences from national or international courts, helping maintain a cycle of abuses.<\/p>\n

The RSF epitomizes this cycle, having emerged from the Arab militias that spearheaded mass atrocities in the vast region of Darfur in 2003. At the time, SAF mobilized these militias to crush an insurgency by non-Arab fighters, who were rebelling against the political and economic marginalization of their communities. Arab and non-Arab are slippery categories in peripheral Sudan as they denote a communal lifestyle more than a rigid ethnicity: The former tend to be nomadic traders or pastoralists while the latter are sedentary farmers. Both are Black and Muslim and have historically intermarried and shared land for centuries.<\/p>\n

However, the counterinsurgency exacerbated tensions over resources and land, culminating in campaigns of ethnic cleansing and allegations of genocide. The International Criminal Court (ICC) eventually indicted four senior Sudanese officials on accounts of war crimes or genocide, including then-President Omar al-Bashir. None of them have been surrendered to the court.<\/p>\n

By 2013, al-Bashir integrated many of the nomadic Arab militias into the RSF, giving them official titles, weapons and legal cover. A popular uprising sparked by acute austerity and rising bread prices finally culminated in his unseating six years later, leading to the formation of a military-civilian transitional government. Determined to cling to power, SAF and the RSF upended the transition by overthrowing the civilian administration in a coup in October 2021. Less than two years later, they turned on each other, igniting the civil war in April 2023.<\/p>\n

Both sides have since committed summary executions, enforced disappearances and blocked or impeded food aid to cities and towns. The RSF has committed additional atrocities, including genocide and systemic sexual violence against women and girls. Still, SAF has absorbed RSF defectors to incentivize others to follow suit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is the message that SAF is trying to send here?\u201d said Osman. \u201cThat you can kill whoever you want, but as long as you carry weapons and switch sides, there will be no consequences?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we are seeing today is the legacy of impunity,\u201d said Osman.<\/p>\n

Allegations of impunity have been directed not only at the forces wielding the arms but the ones providing them as well. The United Arab Emirates has bought billions of dollars in weapons from the United States and funneled them to the RSF. Attempts by U.S. congressmembers to introduce legislation prohibiting weapons exports to the UAE have not led to a vote.<\/p>\n

Double Standard<\/strong><\/h3>\n

One of the defectors is Al-Nour Ahmed Adam \u2014 better known as Al-Gubba \u2014 who spearheaded atrocities in North Darfur\u2019s capital, el-Fasher, during the RSF\u2019s capture of the city in October 2025.<\/p>\n

Read more Jeffries Says Dems Aren\u2019t Thinking About Trump Impeachment \u201cAt This Moment\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

The Yale School of Public Health\u2019s Humanitarian Research Lab, which provides satellite imagery analysis, said blood was visible from space due to the scale of mass killing in el-Fasher and that the RSF burned corpses to conceal their crimes.<\/p>\n

In February 2026, a UN fact-finding mission concluded that the RSF committed genocide against non-Arab communities in el-Fasher. Bedour Zakaria, a survivor and human rights monitor from Darfur, said Al-Gubba played a major role in the killing. <\/p>\n

\u201cAl-Gubba was responsible for five different brigades during the RSF\u2019s takeover of el-Fasher,\u201d she told Truthout<\/em>. \u201cThis means he is directly responsible for many of the crimes committed there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Al-Gubba defected in April, partially out of spite that the RSF did not appoint him top commander of North Darfur after conquering the state. Like so many people, Yasser was appalled when SAF\u2019s chief commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan embraced Al-Gubba and other defectors. <\/p>\n

After hearing that al-Burhan gifted Al-Gubba a vehicle as a gesture of gratitude, he was unable to reconcile how his daughter was still in prison while perpetrators of war crimes and genocide were being rewarded.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is all deeply unjust. People who committed documented crimes \u2014 killings and massacres \u2014 are granted immunity and accepted back into our society without accountability,\u201d Yasser said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeanwhile, my innocent daughter is imprisoned \u2026 for an image that she didn\u2019t even have on her phone,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n

Truthout<\/em> sent WhatsApp messages to SAF spokesman General Assim Awad requesting comment on the disparity between the army\u2019s treatment of defected RSF commanders and that of civilians accused of supporting the RSF.<\/p>\n

He did not respond by publication. <\/p>\n

Revenge and Score Settling<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Many of those charged with treason are women who were too poor to flee to SAF areas after the RSF invaded and occupied their cities and towns. Poverty pushed many to work in markets and sell tea and coffee to RSF fighters to survive, especially if their male relatives and partners were disappeared or killed, explained Osman. <\/p>\n

When SAF recaptured cities, they rounded up local aid activists and those suspected to be from western Sudan. Men were often executed while women were arrested, sometimes due to false allegations made to settle personal scores.<\/p>\n

According to Osman, a man accused one woman of being a collaborator because she refused to have sex with him. Yasser also suspects that his neighbors in Kassala slandered his daughter as a spy after they got into a dispute.<\/p>\n

Originally from Darfur, he suspects his neighbors are prejudiced. Like the security forces, many communities in central, eastern, and northern Sudan perceive anyone from the west as sympathizing with the RSF. Still, Yasser is grateful that his lawyers convinced a judge to overturn his daughter\u2019s death sentence. <\/p>\n

Others have not been so lucky. In April 2025, the International Service for Human Rights, a non-profit from Geneva, Switzerland, identified at least 25 women charged with treason, some of whom face execution. Most are between the ages of 19 and 26 and one is a minor.<\/p>\n

Yasser fears that many more people will be killed or arrested with a veneer of legality while war criminals go free.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes I ask myself: are we even human beings? Human beings are supposed to have reason, ethics, and conscience. But what\u2019s happening to me and so many others is deeply immoral,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Read more Morale Plummets in Lebanon as Talks Fail to Halt Israel\u2019s Ceasefire Violations<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

War criminals, tyrants, and their enablers have rarely faced consequences, helping maintain a cycle of abuses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":283,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nIn Sudan, Perpetrators of War Crimes Are Rewarded While Civilians Languish - Smart Moving Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=284\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In Sudan, Perpetrators of War Crimes Are Rewarded While Civilians Languish - Smart Moving Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"War criminals, tyrants, and their enablers have rarely faced consequences, helping maintain a cycle of abuses.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=284\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Smart Moving Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-03T19:10:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=284#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=284\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ec0d70042821fd684a174c8d0e8becfa\"},\"headline\":\"In Sudan, Perpetrators of War Crimes Are Rewarded While Civilians Languish\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-03T19:10:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=284\"},\"wordCount\":1435,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=284#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/315754bc5bd42d271a429bae2bf1d20d.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=284#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=284\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=284\",\"name\":\"In Sudan, Perpetrators of War Crimes Are Rewarded While Civilians Languish - 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