Al-Fashir is the capital of North Darfur Province in western Sudan. It is also a traditional stronghold of the RSF, i.e. the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces they have been fighting a civil war with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) since April 2023. Al-Fashir was long the last army stronghold in Darfur, but it fell in late October after an 18-month siege. Almost immediately, reports of rapes, summary executions and crimes against humanity spread around the world.. The UN reports that over 60,000 people fled the city. people, but there are still approximately 150 thousand inhabitants.
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RSF rejects reports that ethnic killings are taking place in the city and that Arab paramilitary forces are committing violence against non-Arab people. However, there are more and more testimonies. Many of them are reported by the British public broadcaster BBC. Its journalists verified numerous recordings from Al-Fashir that have appeared on the Internet in recent days.
Abu Lulu's brutal crimes in Sudan. “Narcissistic psychopath”
The frames from the shooting of the prisoner mentioned at the beginning show one of the RSF commanders, who goes by the pseudonym Abu Lulu on the Internet. The website of the Qatari station Al-Jazeera reports that he is also known as Abdullah Idris. He is easy to recognize: medium-length curly hair falls over his face with a few weeks' stubble. The BBC reports numerous recordings of him executing unarmed prisoners. One witness told the BBC that he heard Lulu ordering the killing of several innocent people, including children.
Chief Commander of the RSF Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo admitted that his troops had committed “violations” and said the incidents would be investigated. The rebels released a video showing Abu Lulu's arrest. They also started to distance themselves from him. Al-Jazeera reports that multiple sources within RSF, including an official spokesman, are now emphasizing that Abu Lulu was not formally a member of this groupbut rather commanded “coalition forces” allied with it from the beginning of the war.
A rather extensive profile of Abu Lulu is presented on the Al-Jazeera website. Over the past year, Abu Lulu has been linked to numerous killings across Sudan. According to witnesses, the crimes he was accused of were not random acts of violence, but deliberate actions aimed at intimidating, fueling ethnic tensions and creating a grotesque image of the authorities.
Abu Lulu frequently reported his activities online. During one of the live broadcasts on TikTok allegedly boasted of killing “two thousand people” and admitted that he “lost count”. The broadcast reportedly sparked both applause and concern among RSF-affiliated users. Some praised him as a “hero” and others urged him to stop filming and sharing the videos.
David Holmes, a criminal psychologist who analyzed the Abu Lulu videos for Al-Jazeera, described him as a “narcissistic psychopath.” He emphasized that his personality clearly distinguishes him from other rebels. Holmes also noted that Lulu willingly kills unarmed victimsand his favorite method is to fire a whole series of shots instead of a single one.
Some of the inhabitants of Al-Fashir found shelter in the camp in Al-Dabba in northern SudanStringer/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
The International Criminal Court is looking into the situation in Sudan
According to data provided by humanitarian organizations, over 2,000 people died in Al-Fashir in October alone. people. On Monday The International Criminal Court (ICC) said it was investigating whether the RSF may have committed “war crimes and crimes against humanity”.
However, there are more recordings from Al-Fashir, as well as perpetrators of numerous crimes. Analysts also noticed numerous clusters of stationary objects in satellite images resembling human bodies in size and shape. The BBC describes recordings of executions carried out on defenseless and injured victims. There is also an account of the brutal torture of a man accused of trying to smuggle into the city. The rebels tied him up and hung him upside down from a tree. Another video shows dozens of bodies strewn across the floor of a university building in the western part of the city. The recordings show RSF soldiers finishing off the wounded.
Currently, Al-Fashir is cut off from the world. Satellite photos show a massive sand embankment that closes the road to the city and cuts off all aid supplies.
