Two months before the fall of Sinja and Dinder, I said, “Do not underestimate the incompetence of the Sudanese army.” Today, a few small army victories have convinced many Sudanese that “the tide of war has turned.”
Learn from history.
Anyanya. SPLM. Darfur. Nuba Mountains.
1/ Thread on the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) propaganda/media team and RSF communications strategy, tools, and influencers.
Please retweet as this is an effort to crowdsource information. DMs open.
🧵 حول الفريق الإعلامي لقوات الدعم السريع
#KeepEyesonSudan
The incredible moment when South Sudan’s Olympic basketball team took the lead against USA with 20 seconds left in the game. USA star LeBron James responded, giving USA the win 101 to 100. Even so, thrilling game, truly impressive. Mabruk ya junubeen. 👏
١/ ثريد عن بروباغندا فريق اعلام الدعم السريع و استراتيجيات التواصل الرجاء إعادة التغريد حتى نتمكن من الحصول على مزيد من المعلومات
Thank you to
@NazAbis
for the translation. 🙏🏼. For the English version go here:
1/ Thread on the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) propaganda/media team and RSF communications strategy, tools, and influencers.
Please retweet as this is an effort to crowdsource information. DMs open.
🧵 حول الفريق الإعلامي لقوات الدعم السريع
#KeepEyesonSudan
More footage of militia rounding up civilians in Ardamata, near El Geneina, West Darfur. These look to me like schoolboys, old men, traders, craftsmen, etc... but to the militia they see just one thing: their ethnicity.
Exclusive: Members of the Rapid Support Forces, commonly called Janjaweed, looted vehicles and buildings at a U.S. embassy residential complex in Khartoum on May 13. They also tried to break into the U.S. Embassy itself on May 26. 🇺🇸🇸🇩
🧵 ١/ وصلت فرقة المشاة 17 بقيادة اللواء أيوب عبد القادر إلى الخرطوم يوم الأربعاء 7 يونيو الجاري ، معززين القاعدة السلاح المدرعات ، المعرف باسم الشجرة ، وهو محاط من ثلاثة اتجاهات على الأقل.
Five minutes of eerie dystopian horror, this video gives a sniper’s view of the wasteland that was once the civic heart of Khartoum, the capital of a nation of 45 million people. It was filmed yesterday near the Goethe-Institut Sudan. For details:
This is a two-word tweet in Arabic from the Chinese embassy in Sudan, which is a subtle but very astute diplomatic gesture. It requires a tad bit of explanation to translate it properly.
Literally, it just says, “Hunna Omdurman,” meaning, “Here is Omdurman.” Contextually, that’s
The fastest way to stop the war in Sudan might be to escalate the Sudanese conflict with the UAE. If indeed it is true that the UAE delivered large quantities of weapons, drones, and equipment to the Rapid Support Forces (as credible sources are reporting), that is an act of war.
Sudan's army is on the brink of a major military disaster in Khartoum. Several thousand men are trapped at this base. They are fighting desperately from strongpoints in and around the base but cannot easily move reinforcements, supplies, and ammunition from one area to another.
6/ Here is a map showing the approximate situation at Armored Corps after two days of fighting. The map is based largely on geolocated conflict videos from the past two days, as well as prior background knowledge of force dispositions in the area prior to the fighting.
A war in Sudan disrupted the world’s supply of gum arabic (a key ingredient in Coca-Cola), and suddenly the company launched a new flavor, using different ingredients. Coincidence? I think not. Down with fake futuristic Coke! The company should do something for Sudan instead of
🧵Thread on a massacre at Jebel Surkab:
A large group of men were killed at a Rapid Support base in north Omdurman on April 15. Videos of the aftermath, which I found on a pro-RSF social account, show at least 40 bodies in and around a medical facility. Viewer discretion⚠️🕊️🇸🇩.
🖊️ About 80-90% of Sudanese colloquially refer to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as a “militia” or “janjaweed,” compared to an estimated 5% of foreign observers who use the same terminology (my Sudanese followers, please confirm in the replies, or correct me if I am wrong about
This pretty much marks the end of U.S. mediation in Sudan. The Emirates is widely reviled in Sudan due to its support for the RSF. There is simply no way to spin this to the Sudanese public.
What a disaster.
Dry season soon. Time for more fighting.
🇺🇸🤝🇦🇪 H.H.
@MohamedbinZayed
and
@potus
Biden met at the Oval Office where they discussed the enduring U.S.-UAE relationship and their joint determination to further strengthen and deepen our bilateral bond.
#UnitedPartners
Burhan's appointment of Malik Agar as his deputy accomplishes several things. 1st, it aims to dispel suspicions of reactionary Islamism (Agar’s party are avowed secularists). 2nd, to bring experienced SPLM fighters into the war. 3rd, a clear contrast to RSF’s Arab supremacism.
📹 Gathering of the Rapid Support Forces in North Darfur, supposedly mobilizing for an attack on El Fasher. They say "كل القوة الفاشر جوة", which is a little rhyme that means "All the force into El Fasher." April 24.
📷 🖊️ A comparison of four photographs.
(1) Abdulrahim Dagalo with RSF troops 31/5: almost everybody wears kadmul (الكدمول)
(2) Al Burhan with SAF troops 30/5: nobody wears kadmul
(3) RSF in Khartoum, 16/5: nearly all wear kadmul.
(4) SAF in Nyala, 19/5: nobody wears kadmul
Every single child in Wad Madani is more important than Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo and his politics of violence and power. They need school, safety, peace, healthcare, food, and fun. War destroys all of that.
📝 In the months ahead, a new breed of Sudan army officer could emerge to prominence: young men shaped by a type of combat not before experienced by the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) in its whole 70-year existence, namely, protracted urban warfare with existential consequences for the
Just watched a video of a group of Sudanese soldiers showing off two severed heads, and I’m just gonna move on with my day because, although I’m sure there’s something to be said about this, honestly I have no words.
President Al Burhan’s escape from General Command is a significant win for the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF). He is expected to visit Cairo and Jeddah, and likely other foreign capitals too, and this will benefit SAF politically and diplomatically at the expense of the Rapid Support
Witness the devastation. RSF are proud to "control" this area (Khartoum 2), among many others, but the people and businesses are gone. Their conquest is meaningless. As measured by influence and control over population rather than territory, RSF are doubtless losing the war.
West Darfur Governor Khamis Abbakar was abducted and executed. RSF and SAF sources both confirm the killing, according to Al Arabiya and Al Hadath, as well as video circulated by RSF supporters bragging about it.
📷 (1, 2) Reference photos of General Abdul Rahman Juma, Rapid
📝 It's ABSURD that nobody has yet called for a more complete evacuation of Sudan's capital, Khartoum. I said it a few weeks ago and I'll say it again:
More. Civilians. Are. Going. To. Die.
There are NO signs the fighting is about to subside.
The cowardly United Nations made
A favorite motif of the Rapid Support Forces' propaganda is humiliating dark-skinned Sudan army prisoners of war. In this case a light-skinned RSF soldier with a megaphone is standing over darker-skinned prisoners holding a whip while forcing them to say an RSF slogan
🧵 Battle of Khartoum, June 7
Fighting continued Wednesday around Yarmuk weapons factory and storage after the Rapid Support Forces began an attack on the complex Tuesday afternoon. This was the skyline by the end of the day.
🧵 ثريد حول القتال في الخرطوم. الاول من يونيو ٢٠٢٣، هذا المحتوى ترجم بي مساعدة
@FaisalElsheikh
، ويعتمد على ادلة جمعت عن طريق المصادر المفتوحه و مواقع الاحداث وثقت بي مساعدة
@mustapro
و اخرين. /١
These janjaweed don't really know how to handle a horse. Embarrassing. When you spend your life in a Land Cruiser with an AK-47, you don't learn very much.
The irony of this, of course, is that "janjaweed," the popular nickname for the Rapid Support Forces, means "devils on
#Sudan
: What if RSF wins the war? Although this scenario is unlikely (divided control is more likely), the RSF leadership seem to believe that a total military victory is possible. Let’s imagine that they are correct. What then? What would Sudan look like?
Sudan: 90+ people were injured and 11 died in shelling in Karari October 5, according to medics. Who's responsible? Perhaps these RSF fighters firing rocket artillery in that very direction on that same day? 🤷♂️
#OSINT
#Geolocation
(📹; article in Arabic)
I just checked the websites of Al Jazeera, NYT, WSJ, Guardian, Le Monde, Volkskrant, NRC, Frankfurter Allgemeine, CNN, BBC, and Deutsche Welle. Only the latter had a story about Sudan on its front page, sourced from Reuters. Headline: "300,000 flee as RSF advance on key city" 🤦♂️
300,000 people fled in 72 hours.
There's so little for them to survive on; most live in makeshift shelters with no food.
We're finishing needs assessments & starting distributions of relief items tomorrow in Sennar, then Gedaref. But we've little left.
This is catastrophic.
U.S. Embassy Khartoum cost $100+ million to build and was fortified, well-guarded, & not targeted when fighting erupted April 15. Despite this, every single American evacuated & not even 1 🇸🇩 staff was tasked with safeguarding passports of visa applicants.
I have nothing clever or insightful to say on the 1-year anniversary of Sudan’s war, just something straightforward: This war benefits no one & there will be no victor. Everyone loses. They could end it tomorrow, but they choose not to. A year from now it will still be going on.
📝 A note about the start of the current Sudan war:
On the first day of fighting, April 15, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) quickly took over military airports in Khartoum and Merowe, and a helicopter base in Jebel Aulia. They destroyed or disabled numerous military cargo planes,
Fresh fighting in Khartoum is going to spark some heated debates about who is "winning" the war in Sudan.
My perspective on this is that nobody is *winning* and everybody is losing. This war is impoverishing the Sudanese nation and people. Children are being orphaned daily,
Breaking: A delegation of the Rapid Support Forces has left the Sudan coast heading for Jeddah in Saudi Arabia to participate in ceasefire talks with the Sudan army. Sources tell me that they got lost on the Red Sea and were rescued by a group of wealthy Emirati sport fishermen.
I expect if Burhan does not send a delegation to Geneva to make a deal, then he will suffer the same fate as Gaddafi or Mussolini. His army is losing and looks incapable of turning the tide. Either the RSF will get him, or his own people or officers will. Sudan is disintegrating.
The Rapid Support Forces are now within striking distance of Blue Nile. If they attack that state, I fear severe violations including mass rape, arrests, and killings, because the RSF are extremely racist toward the darker-skinned people of the region.
#Sudan
🧵 Pan-Arabism and Chadian-Sudanese unionism within the Rapid Support Forces ranks.
The first four videos that I'll share were uploaded in the past three weeks by a Chadian RSF supporter and possible fighter (tiktok: zdan_27taoit). 1/n
I highlighted the risk of an attack on Wad Madani in an analysis in October, saying it was one of several cities “at greatest risk.” I wrote that the Rapid Support Forces had thousands of spare troops in Khartoum, "which could deploy elsewhere on short notice.” I complained of an
RSF in Omdurman (~Nov 12). Two observations:
1- They’re all so young. To the RSF leaders, their lives are disposable; they don't care if they die for the sake of their ambitions.
2- They're dressed similarly to SAF, & this may be a deliberate deception.
Months ago I wrote an article envisioning a nightmare scenario in which Sudan’s warring parties failed to negotiate, the war lasted another few years, and the RSF ultimately won. It was not a pro-RSF article. It was a warning & an indictment of both sides.
Americans will watch hours and hours of horrifically violent movies and TV about zombies, fantasy kingdoms, historical wars, or whatever. But if you try to talk to them for even 5 minutes about an actual ongoing war, like the one in Sudan, their eyes will glaze over with boredom.
📝 UAE begged USA for security guarantees in 2022
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is historically a U.S. ally, but relations have cooled in recent years. For background, the UAE became very frightened after a Houthi missile and drone attack in January 2022. The Gulf monarchy
ICYMI, the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum was shot at, and diplomatic residences looted, but not a single American news outlet covered it. If they care so little about their own embassy, what makes anyone think they're going to cover attacks on Sudanese?
Videos of this kind from Gaza would have been shared millions of times. But this attack happened in Sudan a week ago and the world completely ignored it. Suffering is suffering wherever it occurs; but in some places it's deemed important enough to matter.
Detailed timeline of events in Sudan over the past three months. This looks like it was a lot of hard work to put together, and it's a good way to catch up on several months' worth of news if you haven't followed that closely (or even if you have).
I have reconstructed an approximate timeline of the capture of Jebel Surkab RSF base by Sudan Armed Forces on 4/15-16. I performed this task in connection with an investigation into a mass of bodies of RSF found at a medical clinic in the base, geolocated to 15.740015, 32.500119.
During the massacres last year in West Darfur, Arab racists belonging to the Rapid Support Forces targeted the Gimir tribe alongside the Masalit. They call these tribes “slaves.” Now that they’ve exterminated or forced into exile the political and intellectual leaders of these
#MilitaryHistory
: Sudanese forces played a critical role in the invasion of Italian-occupied Ethiopia and Eritrea in 1940-1941, alongside Indian troops deployed via Port Sudan.
This 1943 British propaganda film celebrates the Sudanese role in the Battle of Keren, which the
A rare video of Rapid Support Forces commanders planning an attack, specifically the attack on Dilling that took place yesterday. They are discussing the number of enemy troops and equipment in various locations. The video demonstrates the use of precise reconnaissance and
In every generation, men become enamored by novel instruments of war. Millenia ago, it was chariots. Then catapults, muskets, blimps, planes, machine guns, poison gas, etc. Every wave of innovation brings the same excitement. But the nature of war is always the same: It is death.
Regional composition of Sudan's Armed Forces in 1986, according to a declassified CIA assessment: 35% from Kordofan, 15% Darfur, only 1% from Khartoum. But the officer corps was dominated by northerners.
Even in 1986, the hyper-militarization of Sudan's west was already
Such is the culture of impunity in Sudan that the Janjaweed can film themselves killing wounded captives without fear of any consequences. On the RSF side of the frontline in Omdurman, this man shot two prisoners of war, likely fatally, saying to one, "your days are finished." ⬇️
Would any of the 10,000 military/weapons nerds obsessively following the Ukraine war be willing to lend a hand occasionally to identify munitions and weapons types in Sudan videos? I think all the attention on Ukraine is wholly justified but Sudan is larger and more populous than
Today the Rapid Support Forces lost one of their most promising, aggressive, and charismatic field commanders, Abdelrahman Al-Bishi. He will be remembered for inflicting widespread suffering and terror on the people of Sennar.
#sudanwar
This video says a lot about Sudan's war. A teenage boy in RSF uniform, filming himself for a TikTok video, interrogates a captured army soldier. The boy asks him his name, rank, army ID number, and how many years he’s served in the army. When the prisoner replies 34 years, they
Everyone talks about UAE’s support for Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces, but I’d like to know how much China’s CNPC and Sinopec are paying RSF not to harm the oil pipelines.
These pipelines, after all, ensure a vital revenue flow to the Sudan Armed Forces, which the RSF are
#Sudan
: Video of a dungeon where the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are keeping prisoners of war in inhumane conditions. Although the RSF share many videos on social media of the moments when they first capture prisoners, often beating or whipping them, they have shared relatively
Typical racism from one of the militia’s influencers. It refers to the RSF’s plans to invade Blue Nile, topple that region’s top politician Malik Agar, and enslave the populace in all but name. Negative
#AI
use case on display right here.
These civilians were freed during the RSF attack on the Sudan army's Al Shajara base in southwest Khartoum today. The Sudanese army's inhumane and illegal treatment of them has given RSF a propaganda victory in addition to their military gains of the past two days. They were
On the occasion of Hemedti’s visit to the Kigali Genocide Memorial yesterday, I share this opening paragraph from a recent article in
@TheEconomist
. It describes incidents in which members of Hemedti’s RSF killed 15-month and 23-month-old babies clinging to their mothers' backs.
Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, a long-time commander of Darfur militias known as the ‘janjaweed,’ and now the leader of the Rapid Support Forces, visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial, which commemorates the Rwanda genocide of 1994.
Speeches will be made, but it is very unlikely there will be any international intervention in Darfur this time. British MP Vicky Ford’s speech is noteworthy for pointing to the only immediately viable and actionable intervention, which would be a joint French-Chadian one (though
Systemic ethnic cleansing is taking place in Darfur, Sudan right now.
Boys aged over 10 are being murdered.
Girls over 12 are being raped.
We do not know the death toll, but an eye witness says it’s already in the thousands.
My urgent question in the
@HouseofCommons
today
2/ The Rapid Support Forces media effort is well-funded, international, and fairly sophisticated.
RSF Facebook page managers are located in UAE (2), Saudi Arabia (1), Sudan (1), and USA (1).
According to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Sudan is at "the brink of a full-scale civil war, potentially destabilising the entire region."
I don't quite understand this. What is happening in Sudan is not a "full-scale" civil war? Is it half-scale?
Fittingly, a building belonging to the Ministry of Justice burned down during the attack by the Darfur janjaweed (“Rapid Support Forces”) on the Sudan Armed Forces positions in central Khartoum today.
Both sides have flaunted national and international justice efforts.
RSF are blocking civilians from leaving Gezira State, according to reports from grassroots sources. “These restrictions on civilian movements appear to be systematic and widespread... If confirmed, this would constitute a war crime.”
The Darfur Bar Association says it has received several reports of the existence of “slave markets” in North Darfur where girls and women kidnapped from conflict-affected areas are sold, including from Khartoum.
Reports are “numerous and varied, as well as some conflicting.” Al
📍 12.051667, 24.870159 (Nyala, South Darfur): RSF inside a primary school for children of military officers, firing toward the 16th Division HQ, which is 300 m east. Then they do a little tribal dance. Other videos filmed near here show RSF infantry rushing across a field toward
📝
#Sudan
: It is important that diplomatic stakeholders not fall for the ‘bad’ and ‘less bad’ framing of the Sudanese conflict, which is promoted by certain influencers who support the Sudanese military junta and Sudan Armed Forces (SAF).
These influencers nod to the idea that
I posted this without realizing that Americans wouldn’t share it because my Twitter handle is in Arabic. 400+ likes and shares so far, but nearly all from Sudanese. Never underestimate the parochialism and insularity of contemporary American culture and politics, including (or
Exclusive: Members of the Rapid Support Forces, commonly called Janjaweed, looted vehicles and buildings at a U.S. embassy residential complex in Khartoum on May 13. They also tried to break into the U.S. Embassy itself on May 26. 🇺🇸🇸🇩
Ali Rizkallah aka “Savannah,” a former commander of the Revolutionary Awakening Council of Musa Hilal, is fighting with the RSF. He fought both for and against the government in Darfur and spent several years in prison after being captured in 2017.
Here are additional photos from the U.S. diplomatic residences. It's important to note that Khartoum residents in general have been victimized by widespread looting in areas controlled by the RSF, to the extent that they launched a popular social media campaign,
#RSFlootshouses
.
A few observations on the occasion of South Sudan President Salva Kiir’s meeting with Vladimir Putin, from a journalist who has profiled him and covered South Sudan’s government extensively:
🔹 Although Kiir has ruled South Sudan since 2005, he has never been elected in a fair
@simsimt
59/🧵 Since this thread has gotten very long, a reminder to anyone joining mid-way that it is an effort to document the particular brand of Arabism of Sudan's Rapid Support Forces' ("Janjaweed"), which is Saharan/Sahelian in its orientation and emphasizes the purity and
Sudan: RSF leader Hemedti flew into a jealous rage yesterday when he saw South Sudan rolled out the red carpet for his rival, Lt Gen al-Burhan, during the latter’s second foreign visit since escaping Khartoum (Egypt likewise received him w/ full honors).
🧵 I visited a botanical garden yesterday. It got me thinking about this idea to turn military sites in Khartoum into public parks after the war. This is an idea at the nexus of peace-building, urban design, and environmentalism/climate protection. 1/5
قلنا المنطقة من النيل مرورا بمنطقة القيادة العامة للقوات المسلحة الآن والمطار وإلى الساحة الخضراء
سيتم حراثتها وتحويلها لحديقة ضخمة تستعيد شيئا من ماضي هذه الجغرافيا؛ فتوفر مساحات لعب للأطفال وأنس للأسر، وتلهم ملكات الإبداع والفن، وتلطف اجواء الولاية فتقلل صرف الماء والكهرباء.
💡 The account "wdalbehair" often posts the same or very similar content as the official Rapid Support Forces Twitter account within minutes or even seconds. This is impossible to do unless he knows in advance what RSF is posting. Therefore, he likely controls the RSF account.
A statement by the Emir of the Ta'isha and Emir of the Rizeigat Mahamid, inciting violence against the Masalit tribe and calling on all their tribesmen to join the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). These are leaders of the Arab militias in West Darfur loyal to the RSF, which are not
Ali Osman Taha said to the Janjaweed commanders, “We are willing to supply weapons, ammunition, camels, salary, horses… I don’t want one single village of Zurgas left in Darfur. All the Zurga lands are yours.”
And where is he now? He is freed from the prison.
Pipeline engineers can cross frontlines in Sudan's war, but humanitarians can't. Why? Because both SAF and RSF think it important to keep the Chinese in their good graces. But surgical supplies for C-sections, medicines, food etc? Not so important.
📍14.5537, 32.2470, White Nile
Many Sudanese are celebrating news of a huge explosion in N'djamena, capital of Chad, reportedly caused by detonation of an ammunition depot. This schadenfreude stems from suspicions of 🇹🇩 support for the 🇸🇩 RSF. Bodes ill for stability in the Sahel.
Not surprising. The Omdurman front became a meat grinder that didn’t jive with RSF’s glamorization of mobility warfare and individual heroism. In the end what mattered was logistics, manpower, equipment & will. RSF paid or coerced hundreds of South Sudanese and others recruited
SAF announced on Thursday the capture of 14 South Sudanese nationals following their recapture of the Radio and Television Corporation headquarters. These individuals were allegedly fighting alongside the RSF.