RSF Arab Dominated Forces Kill 300 in Kordofan (Sudan)
Murad Makhmudov, Noriko Watanabe, and Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
The United Nations (UN) continues to accuse the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and their allied militias of committing widespread atrocities against non-Arab populations in Darfur and South Kordofan. In Darfur, the Masalit community and other African ethnic groups have been systematically targeted.
Similarly, in South Kordofan, the African Nuba people have faced ongoing persecution. Therefore, the latest massacre of civilians by the RSF in North Kordofan appears to be yet another chapter in a pattern of relentless and brutal violence.
In the latest massacre, the RSF reportedly killed around 300 people in coordinated attacks on villages across North Kordofan state, according to Sudanese activists. The violence, which began on Saturday, represents another massacre in the civil war that has gripped Sudan since April 2023.
The Emergency Lawyers, a local human rights group, stated on Monday that the RSF launched coordinated assaults around the city of Bara, which is currently under the group’s control.
In one of the deadliest incidents, more than 200 people were reportedly killed in the village of Shag Alnom. In the nearby village of Hilat Hamid, 46 individuals — including pregnant women and children — were brutally slain. Additionally, RSF-led looting raids in surrounding villages claimed the lives of at least 38 more civilians, with dozens of others still unaccounted for.
Reuters reports, “The United States and human rights groups have accused the RSF of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Its soldiers have carried out a series of violent looting raids in territory it has taken control of across the country.”
Various ethnic groups have also suffered greatly at the hands of the RSF amid the ongoing conflict with the Sudanese Armed Forces. Darfur, which drew international attention for the brutal Arab Muslim-led massacres of Black African groups such as the Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa between 2003 and 2005, is once again engulfed in violence. Since the outbreak of the most recent conflict, ethnic massacres have resumed, predominantly targeting Black African communities in both Darfur and South Kordofan. The latest massacre in North Kordofan further underscores the ruthless and brutal nature of the RSF.
The BBC reports, “Allegations of war crimes have persisted throughout the past two years, and in January 2025 the US determined that the RSF and allied militias had committed a genocide against the region’s non-Arab population.”
Catherine Russell (the Executive Director of UNICEF – actively involved in highlighting the crisis in Sudan) said, “Children as young as one being raped by armed men should shock anyone to their core and compel immediate action… Millions of children in Sudan are at risk of rape and other forms of sexual violence, which is being used as a tactic of war. This is an abhorrent violation of international law and could constitute a war crime. It must stop.”
Slavery was officially abolished in the region of Mecca (modern-day Saudi Arabia) in the 1960s, following international pressure. However, troubling parallels remain, as seen in the recent enslavement of Yazidis by ISIS in Iraq and reports of Arab Muslim groups in Sudan enslaving the Dinka (South Sudan split from Sudan) and other African ethnic communities in recent decades. This suggests that the practice of slavery, particularly targeting Black African populations, has not been fully eradicated in some parts of the Arab Muslim-dominated world. Such exploitation is often accompanied by deep-rooted animosities, as reflected in the ongoing persecution in Darfur and South Kordofan.
The people of Sudan desperately need a break from the relentless cycle of war and chaos. Yet, despite repeated calls for a halt to the violence, peace remains frustratingly out of reach.
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