El-Obeid Massacre: The Sudanese Army and Repercussions of Al-Fashir’s Fall on Civilians

By Farouk Abdulahi The city of El-Obeid in North Kordofan witnessed one of the bloodiest field massacres since the outbreak of the Sudanese war, as a circulating video documented elements of the Sudanese army slaughtering unarmed civilians suspected of belonging to tribes loyal to the Rapid Support Forces. The Fall of Al-Fashir: The Spark of […]

By Farouk Abdulahi

The city of El-Obeid in North Kordofan witnessed one of the bloodiest field massacres since the outbreak of the Sudanese war, as a circulating video documented elements of the Sudanese army slaughtering unarmed civilians suspected of belonging to tribes loyal to the Rapid Support Forces.

The Fall of Al-Fashir: The Spark of Revenge

Local sources said the killings were carried out in retaliation for the fall of Al-Fashir, the army’s last stronghold in North Darfur, a loss perceived as both strategic and psychological for the military leadership.
According to witnesses, some soldiers and militias allied with them acted outside any legal framework, employing regional and vengeful rhetoric to justify killings of civilians.

The Army and Islamist Militias: A History of Violations
Human rights reports confirm that these incidents are not isolated.
Since the start of the war, the Sudanese army and Islamist battalions allied with it have been implicated in field executions and civilian purges, most notably:

• Al-Baraa bin Malik Battalion: Perpetrated mass executions in Jebel Awlia and Omdurman during 2023–2024.
• Al-Fath Al-Mubin and Popular Defense battalions: Accused of massacres in Darfur and of liquidating civilians on the basis of tribe or political allegiance.

Field report analyses also indicate that some violations in Al-Fashir, which were attributed to the RSF, were in fact carried out by groups loyal to the army—revealing a dual strategy: escalating violence while accusing the other side to propagate an inciting narrative.

The Legal and Humanitarian Dimension

Local and international rights organizations deem these incidents potential war crimes, calling on the United Nations and the African Union to open an independent investigation into the El-Obeid massacre and identify those responsible for the executions.

Human rights experts warn that the continuation of violence targeting civilians on the basis of tribe or political loyalty could trigger a wide cycle of revenge and increase the risk of ethnic cleansing in Kordofan and Darfur.

With repeated videos emerging from El-Obeid and other areas, the Sudanese army faces an escalating legitimacy crisis internationally, as some of its units increasingly resemble revenge militias operating beyond ethical or legal constraints.

Political analysts say these violations reveal an ideological entanglement between the army and extremist Islamist battalions, turning the war into a retaliatory conflict grounded in identity and tribal loyalty.

The El-Obeid massacre is not merely a transient battlefield incident but an indicator of the Sudanese war’s slide toward systematic, ethnically targeted purges, with civilians becoming direct targets and the army itself part of an organized network of violence fueled by militias and revenge agendas.

In the absence of accountability and effective international oversight, Sudan appears to be heading toward a new spiral of bloodshed that could extend far beyond Darfur and Kordofan, carrying grave humanitarian and political risks.