In mid-December, the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) swept into Sudan’s central Al Jazira state, known as the country’s breadbasket, with an ultimatum: “Enlist or die.”
Since then, the militia group has sought to use food as a weapon, withholding supplies from the hungry in a bid to coerce men and boys to join its ranks, according to over three dozen witnesses.
The RSF has been battling the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) for control of the country since a civil war broke out between the two rival factions in April last year. Both forces have been accused of killing civilians.
Now, a CNN investigation led by CNN Chief International Investigative Correspondent Nima Elbagir has found that almost 700 men and 65 children have been forcibly recruited by the RSF over the past three months in Jazira state alone.
Many of the victims were identified by witnesses, survivors, and family members. CNN cross-checked their names with residents from their communities to get details of what happened in each case.
CNN was independently able to corroborate the identities of all 750 people swept up by the RSF press gangs in Jazira. Of those, at least 600, including 50 boys under 18, joined the RSF in eastern Jazira, in many cases driven by hunger, witness testimonies revealed. Another 150, including 15 boys, were forcibly recruited in western Jazira. Many of the men previously worked as farmers or traders.
The RSF campaign unfolded in Sudan’s agricultural heartland during its peak cultivation and harvest period, exacerbating food insecurity in a country already on the brink of famine.
Eyewitnesses detailed a range of coercive methods employed by the RSF to compel individuals to join their ranks, including intimidation, torture, summary execution and the withholding of food and medical aid.
RSF soldiers looking to swell the militia’s ranks targeted one village on February 27, witnesses said.
The militia tried to recruit 20 young men from the village, eyewitnesses, survivors and families of victims said. When the residents refused, they set up a base in the village, unleashing what the witnesses described as a campaign of terror. Homes were looted, and supermarkets and food warehouses were set on fire before the soldiers took off with over 30 stolen vehicles.
The three dozen eyewitnesses CNN spoke with from across Jazira, including survivors and the families of victims, say refusing the RSF’s ultimatum comes at the cost of food, home and safety. CNN is not naming the villages and most of the people who spoke due to fear of RSF reprisals.
The RSF has yet to respond to CNN’s request for comment on this story.
