Khartoum mass graves point to RSF abuses in Sudan

Two mass graves containing the remains of thousands of people were recently found in Khartoum, exposing a dark chapter in Sudan’s ongoing conflict between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Local sources told Anadolu on Saturday that the two mass graves were discovered in the Riyadh neighbourhood, near Obeid Khatim Street in the capital.

Remains found inside showed that the victims were buried haphazardly.

The sources said the RSF forces had used nearby buildings in the neighbourhood, which previously housed an RSF command centre, as detention centres.

According to eyewitnesses, civilians and military personnel who died under torture in RSF-run prisons were transported by other detainees and buried in pits dug using heavy machinery.

Large numbers of sandals and shoes, along with various personal belongings, can be seen around the graves, reflecting the scale of the tragedy that unfolded at the site.

“The delay in opening the mass graves is due to the enormous number of victims,” Sudan’s Attorney General, Intisar Ahmed Abdel Aal, told Anadolu.

Delay due to scale of victims

"Efforts are currently underway to open these graves and transfer the bodies to proper cemeteries,” she said. “The number of those buried is very large, and there are bodies that were buried in schools, universities and public places."

Abdel Aal explained that the exhuming is being carried out in coordination with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

“The lack of resources is not the only challenge, but also the high numbers of bodies,” she said.

“Mass graves are not limited to Khartoum alone but extend to Wad Madani and large areas of central Sudan.”

The attorney general stressed that the government is pressing ahead with efforts to transfer the bodies and “hold those responsible for these crimes accountable.”

Sudan has been engulfed in a deadly conflict since April 2023, when fighting erupted between the army and the RSF over a dispute on integrating the paramilitary force into the national military.

Of Sudan’s 18 states, the RSF controls all five states of the Darfur region in the west, except for some northern parts of North Darfur that remain under army control.

The army, in turn, holds most areas of the remaining 13 states in the south, north, east and centre, including the capital, Khartoum.

The conflict has since killed thousands of people and displaced millions of others.