The scene is the dirt courtyard of a farm in North Darfur, western Sudan. Two bodies lie on the ground, one with his head in a pool of blood. Around them, a dozen men proudly brandish swords, whips and Kalashnikov-type assault rifles. They chant "Allahu Akbar."

A second video, shot a kilometer away, shows six lifeless bodies lying in front of a row of turbaned men. Four of the victims have their hands tied behind their backs; blood is dripping from the head of one of them. It's an execution. Who is behind it and why?

These images, obtained and authenticated by Le Monde with Lighthouse Reports, the Washington Post and Sky News, shed light on the ethnic dimension of these summary executions. They also identify those responsible: Arab militias affiliated to the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Ethnic-based atrocities

Since April 2023, the RSF, led by dissident general Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, known as "Hemedti," have been at war with the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), the regular army under the control of general Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman Al-Burhan. In just over a year, this conflict has left nearly 8 million people displaced and several tens of thousands dead, according to the United Nations.

In the Darfur region, the conflict is marked by ethnic violence that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives since 2003. The RSF enjoy the support of Arab tribes, among whom they raise militias to fight the regular army and its allies. The allies include rebel groups recruiting from the region's non-Arab ethnic minorities.

According to several NGO reports, the conflict is witnessing an increase in violent acts committed by Arab militias affiliated with the RSF against civilians from non-Arab communities, notably the Masalit and Zaghawa. The RSF has repeatedly denied these abuses, blaming "purely tribal conflicts" and regular Sudanese forces. Videos verified by Le Monde, however, contradict these assertions.

The town of Kutum attacked

At the beginning of June 2023, the conflict reached the small town of Kutum, in North Darfur. According to a dozen local testimonies we gathered, on the morning of June 3, RSF militias first stormed the town. Some of the attackers then headed for the Kassab refugee camp, established 3 kilometers north of Kutum following the 2003 genocide and inhabited mainly by members of the Zaghawa community. It was here that the attacks took place.

Visual clues in the two videos of these executions enabled Le Monde and its partners to geolocate them. The first was filmed in Kassab, in the courtyard of a house northwest of the camp. Analysis of the size of the shadows visible in the video reveals that the scene took place shortly before midday.

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