Beirut, Lebanon – Sudan’s army is pushing the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to retreat from Khartoum, sparking hope among many in the capital for renewed stability.
However, local relief workers said they fear they will be targeted in a wave of reprisals.
Every time the army recaptures an area, “they start pursuing civilians and humanitarian volunteers.” This is why we are all so frightened”, said *Ahmed, a local relief volunteer in Sharq el-Nile, an area in Khartoum that the army is threatening to recapture.
A war on local relief workers
Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs), grassroots networks that have spearheaded the humanitarian response since Sudan’s eruptive crisis in April 2023, are comprised of local volunteers like Ahmed.
ERRs provide multiple services, such as supporting soup kitchens, safe spaces for women and children, and basic healthcare for the sick and wounded.
The majority of them depend on funding from international NGOs and UN agencies as well as donations from the Sudanese diaspora.
ERR workers are subject to arrests, kidnappings, and extrajudicial killings on both sides of the conflict despite their crucial humanitarian role.
Many people have faced criticism for their pro-democracy positions, which threatened the then-allied RSF and army’s joint rule following the uprising that resulted in the dismissal of their former boss, President Omar al-Bashir, in April 2019.
After working together to overthrow a civilian administration and sabotage popular aspirations for democracy, the RSF and army turned their weapons on one another four years later. Tens of thousands of people have been killed by the conflict between the two countries, making it the most severe humanitarian crisis in the world.
On top of that, at least 112 ERR members have been killed since the start of the war, according to an ERR spokesperson. Given the possibility that reports of attacks could lead to violent retaliation, the toll may be higher.
As the army advances in Khartoum, many ERR members fear for their lives and are calling for protection.
The spokesperson for ERR volunteers in Khartoum North, Mokhtar Atif, stated that “we have been considering how to get some kind of protection] for ERR members.” We also need the international community to push and support us.
Volunteers, analysts, and international aid workers claim that the army frequently treats anyone engaging in humanitarian work in RSF areas as a traitor.
“Many volunteers are refusing to evacuate]from Khartoum] because there are badly needed UN]aid] convoys that should be coming in the next few days” and the ERR members need to distribute the aid to hungry civilians, said Hajooj Kuka, spokesperson for the Khartoum ERRs coordination committee.
“Many of these volunteers have made peace with the fact that they will be killed]by the army] and some have already sent messages]to us and their friends] saying their goodbyes”, he told Al Jazeera.
Surveillance and killings
Several ERR volunteers shared information with Al Jazeera about the recent assassinations of civilians and fellow aid workers in Khartoum North by the army and aligned militias.
They claimed that their teams are incapable of accurately monitoring attacks and are overwhelmed by the severe humanitarian crisis.
Nabil Abdullah, the army spokesperson, was contacted by Al Jazeera to respond to accusations that the army and affiliated militias are allegedly pursuing local activists and civilians as they recapture Khartoum.
He did not respond before publication.
However, Khartoum North, according to a statement from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, is aware of at least 18 fatalities reported by army-affiliated fighters on January 25 in Khartoum North.
Whether any of those killed were ERR members is unknown.
The UN human rights office is also attempting to verify video that shows members of the Baraa bin Malik Brigade, an organization that backs the army, reading out lengthy lists of names and adding the word “zaili” (Arab for “killed”) after each name.
One ERR member in Khartoum who questioned their anonymity alleged that the army “has its own spies” who monitor civilian interactions with the RSF.
Kuka cited another justification for his assertion that the army eavesdrops on relief workers.
He claimed that one of his ERR members was detained a month ago after crossing into a nearby army-controlled town from an RSF-controlled area.
The member was tortured, but Kuka did not explain how, and accused of working for the RSF in a hospital that treated the sick and injured.
The army, in Kuka’s opinion, informed the ERR member that it had been monitoring the medical center for a while and that it had considered working as RSF collaborators.
A few dozen people work at the centre.
“The army knows the people]who volunteer at the centre] by name, … and they said they are going to get them”, Kuka told Al Jazeera.
Smears and accusations
Anonymous social media users have smeared local relief workers and other activists as RSF collaborators on private WhatsApp chats and closed Facebook groups since the army’s offensive began in the capital in late September, according to ERR members.
Every time the army retakes a new area, disinformation spreads, Atif said.
Al Jazeera’s authentication agency, Sanad, looked at screenshots of six Facebook posts that threatened or smeared people in Halafya, a neighbourhood in Khartoum North.
Sanad claimed that anonymous users and private groups had posted the posts.
Atif added that the posts started to circulate just as Halafya was recaptured in early October.
At the time, the UN-designated expert on Sudan, Radhouane Nouicer, said in a statement he was alarmed by reports that army-aligned militias had summarily executed at least 70 young men in Halafya on suspicion they were RSF collaborators.
“These]smears on social media] started in September just before the army executed lots of civilians in Halafya”, Atif said,
As the army consolidates control over Khartoum North, according to ERR members, lists of alleged collaborators are becoming more common.
One list circulating over WhatsApp and seen by Al Jazeera accuses 125 people – activists, politicians, medics and lawyers – of conspiring against the army and state.
Kuka claimed that a member of ERR is also listed, and that several of his peers have also been the target of death threats on Facebook.
Escape
Many ERR volunteers are compelled to flee their Khartoum neighbourhoods to save themselves and their families as a result of the summary killings committed by army-aligned militias in Halafya.
Many people expressed fear after the RSF handed control of Wad Madani, the state’s capital, to the army-aligned militias, who carried out extrajudicial executions of unarmed men in civilian clothes a month ago.
In Wad Madani, the army accused unarmed men of sympathizing with the RSF by targeting them along ethnic and tribal lines.
Local relief workers in Khartoum are persuaded they will suffer the same fate if they continue, despite the army’s promise to look into the incidents.
After witnessing the horrifying events in Wad Madani, Ahmed told Sharq el-Nile, “We knew we would be next.”
On Saturday, Ahmed pooled his family’s savings to evacuate his elderly mother towards Darfur, a sprawling western region that the RSF almost entirely controls.
In the upcoming days, he wants to raise enough money to bring his younger brother and sister into their mother’s care.
From Darfur, they plan to cross the border into Chad, a country that has already absorbed more than 700, 000 Sudanese refugees.  , The vast majority fled RSF atrocities and abuses.
Ahmed may join them, but he is running out of time to escape. To pay for transportation to the city, he depends on ERR members abroad to send him money.
“Everyone]working in humanitarian work] around here is really scared. Really scared”, Ahmed said.
“Everyone]from the ERRs] is just arranging to flee right now. They are looking for a way to get enough money before the army arrives if they can’t afford to flee.
Source: Aljazeera
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