According to the guardian’s evidence, more than 500 people may have suffered or starved to death and were then buried in a secret mass grave north of Khartoum.
Shortly after the Sudanese military recaptures, visiting a base belonging to the Paramilitary Rapid Support Force (RSF) A previously unknown detention center was found on the floor with a gate hanging from it, a visible punishment room and blood. The accounts of people held in the detention center describe repeated torture by the kidnappers.
Nearby is a large cemetery of at least 550 unmarked graves, many of which are fresh excavations and apparently contain multiple bodies.
The site is the largest temporary cemetery found in Sudan during the Civil War and, if confirmed, will become one of the worst war crimes in the brutal conflict in Sudan.
People rescued from a detention center about 40 kilometers (70 kilometers) north of the capital said many said many had died and believed to have been buried nearby.
Doctors examined survivors and found countless signs of torture and thought they were hungry.
After the Sudanese army began fighting about two years ago, the RSF took over the base near the village of Gary as a command and training center. Satellite imagery and military data confirmed that there were no graves at the site before the war began on April 15, 2023.
The conflict has caused one of the worst famines in the world in decades, killing thousands of people and forcing more than 14 million people to leave their homes.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has been investigating abuse throughout Sudan during the war, saying the detention center locations could constitute “one of the largest atrocities crime scenes found in Sudan since the war began” and called for UN war crime investigators to gain access.
Dr. Hosham al-Shekh examined 135 men found there after the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) recaptured the site in late January, saying that clinical evidence of torture and chronic malnutrition is broad.
Shekh told the Guardian that when many people were found talking, these people – all of them were civilians.
“When we get there, they can’t even go out. We have to execute them. They have the mark of serious beating, torture,” he said. “Some of them were seriously injured by torture.
“Some of them were shot in their legs with bullets. They were beaten by sticks that left their marks: they were beaten clean and wounded. All of them were tortured.”
A man was beaten so frequently by RSF guards that he took a prolonged fetal stance to protect himself.
“They beat me in the morning and evening, and they discriminated against me. I’m so used to my knees that I can’t walk straight now,” he said in a statement to the Sudanese military medical staff.
These findings raise questions about the credibility of the RSF, and a political charter was signed in Kenya to establish a parallel Sudanese government in the areas under its control.
Satellite images from the base confirmed that the graves only appeared after the war began and after the RSF occupied the site. An image taken a few weeks after the war began showed no traces of burial beside a single-track road at the base.
Another image of the same location captured a year later on May 25, 2024 shows a large number of mounds extending over a distance of about 200 meters.
Captain Jalal Abaker of the Sudanese military said he served at the Garri base before the war broke out in 2023 and said there was no burial site at that time. “I was there until that year of Ramadan [22 March to 20 April 2023],” he said. “There is no cemetery. ”
“All the bodies buried there died at the base,” said Sergeant Sgt Mohammed Amin, who is now stationed in Garri.
Shekh added that the survivors talked about other prisoners who died. “Many of them told me that a lot has passed in it. They said that many people died of torture.”
Senior Sudanese military officer Col Bashir Tamil said the detainees were tied together. “They are in poor physical and injured,” he added.
Jean-Baptiste Gallopin at the HRW crisis, conflict and arms department said the authorities controlling the base regarded it as a potential war crime scene and “immediate effort to ensure that collection and protection may be crucial to responsible work”.
So far, the site appears to be completely preserved, with the Sudanese military without public access to protect the site to protect the evidence. International Popular Grave Experts hope independent analysts will be allowed to access the site.
Many of the most notorious atrocities in the conflict took place in the western part of Darfur, with RSF and Alied Aried Aried militias accused of ethnic cleansing. Earlier this year, the United States accused the paramilitary group of genocide.
The International Criminal Court is investigating the abuse in Darfur. The evidence of crimes against humanity found by the guardian has been forwarded to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.
The Sudanese army has also been accused of exerting serious atrocities against civilians, and its leaders have been approved by the United States.
Military sources believe that the RSF never expected to discover the detention centers and cemeteries near Gary. Until recently, the group occupied so much territory in the region that it might consider the site safe from attack.
RSF has been contacted for comment. When accused of suffering abuse, the group responded by proposing a code of conduct prohibiting abuse by detainees and said it had a committee investigating abuse and prosecuting those responsible.
