More War Crimes in Sudan, Daily Brief February 26, 2025

On the morning of January 10, dozens of fighters from the Sudan Shield Forces – an armed group that fights alongside the Sudanese military (SAF) – entered the village of Tayba in Sudan’s Gezira state, riding Toyota Land Cruisers mounted with heavy machine guns.

They shot indiscriminately at men and boys and set buildings on fire. A 60-year-old man told Human Rights Watch that gunmen wearing green camouflage attacked him at close range: “They said, ‘Stop!’ and then shot me near my kidney with a Kalashnikov [rifle]”.

They attacked the village again in the afternoon as residents were burying the victims, going from house to house looking for men and boys, killing, looting, and burning, witnesses said.

On the evening of January 10, the bodies of men and boys lay strewn about the village: The attack killed at least 26 people, including a child.

These acts constitute war crimes and may amount to crimes against humanity, a new report shows.

These attacks by the Sudan Shield forces, which are led by Abu Aqla Keikel, were part of a deadly surge in attacks by military-aligned groups and militias against communities in Gezira and other areas that the army recently recaptured from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The military and the RSF, along with their allies, have been fighting for power in Sudan since 2023. The suffering the relentless fighting has caused is barely fathomable. Both sides have carried out a litany of war crimes, the RSF carried out crimes against humanity as a part of a campaign of ethnic cleansing.

But it is important to remember that for each unlawful attack, there is a chain of command, and there is someone who can and should be held accountable.

Sudan’s military has condemned the attack on Gezira but downplayed the abuses as “individual transgressions.” Instead of minimizing what happened, the military should investigate these attacks, publish their findings, and hold all responsible parties accountable. They should also suspend Keikel.

Additionally, the UN, African Union, and other regional organizations should support the deployment of a mission to protect civilians in Sudan. The international community, particularly the US, EU, and UK, should impose targeted sanctions on those responsible. Pressure is key to stopping the suffering and number of war crimes committed in Sudan from rising even higher.