18 Civilians Killed After Search Party for Missing Travellers Falls Into Rapid Support Militia Ambush, Amid Documented Record of Killings, Torture and Sexual Violence 25 September 2026 Eighteen civilians were killed after joining a search-and-rescue party looking for passengers from a commercial vehicle that had broken down in the desert while travelling toward Al-Dabbah, according to local accounts shared by relatives of the victims and residents of the area. The incident began after contact was lost with a commercial vehicle carrying several passengers to Al-Dabbah. The vehicle reportedly broke down in a remote desert area, and when no news emerged for several days, relatives and local residents set out to search for those missing. The search party later found the vehicle and its driver, who had already died. After burying him, the group continued searching for the remaining passengers. According to information from the area, the search party then fell into an ambush by the Rapid Support Militia. All 18 members of the group were killed. The victims included a traditional community leader, members of the same extended family and relatives who had joined the effort to locate the missing travellers. The killings add to a broader record of abuses against civilians documented by the United Nations across Sudan. The UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan has reported killings, torture, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance and forced displacement by the Rapid Support Militia, alongside rape, gang rape, sexual slavery and other forms of sexual violence. The mission has also documented abuses in detention facilities under militia control, including fatal beatings, summary executions, severe mistreatment and the detention of civilians for ransom. UN reporting has further described widespread sexual violence against women and girls, including cases in which victims were targeted on the basis of ethnic identity. In its February 2026 report on El Fasher, the Fact-Finding Mission said the crimes documented there bore "hallmarks of genocide." The mission described a pattern involving mass killings, serious physical and psychological harm, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence, enforced disappearances and identity-based targeting. It said the evidence raised grave concerns in relation to the treatment of civilians from the Zaghawa and Fur communities. Despite this record, major international powers remain reluctant to confront the Rapid Support Militia in a manner commensurate with the scale of the abuses attributed to it, including by designating it a terrorist organization. This is despite the European Parliament explicitly calling in July 2026 for the militia to be added to the EU terrorism list and for sanctions against external actors facilitating its support. Critics argue that this hesitation exposes a stark contradiction in the international response to Sudan, with economic interests and strategic ties with the United Arab Emirates appearing, in their view, to carry more weight in policymaking than the human cost being borne by Sudanese civilians. In August, 21 US senators urged the administration to suspend certain arms sales to the UAE, saying Abu Dhabi continued to arm the militia and warning that international inaction had already helped enable the atrocities in El Fasher and could allow similar violence to be repeated elsewhere. #Sudan #RSFisTerroristOrganization #UAEKillsSudanesePeople #UAESponsorsTerrorism

Circulated Footage Shows Rapid Support Militia Member Saying He Bought an Infant for 1,000 Pounds and Threatening to “Tear Him Apart” Amid a Documented Record of Abuses Against Civilians Footage circulating on social media shows an armed man presented as a member of the Rapid Support militia carrying an infant and telling those around him that he had “bought” the child for just 1,000 pounds. He repeats the claim several times, asking his companions to witness what he is saying, before directly threatening the baby because of his crying, saying he would “tear him apart” if he continued screaming. At the end of the clip, he says that anyone who wants the child can contact him privately. The footage does not, on its own, establish how the child came into the man’s custody, nor does it independently verify whether the alleged “purchase” actually took place. That does not diminish the seriousness of what can be seen and heard. An infant is being held among armed men, spoken about as though he were a commodity, assigned a price, and then threatened with being “torn apart” for crying. The footage warrants urgent efforts to identify the child, establish his whereabouts, ensure his safety, and investigate the circumstances that brought him into the hands of these fighters. The gravity of the clip is also shaped by the wider context in which it emerged. The Rapid Support militia has been linked by UN bodies and international investigations to a broad pattern of abuses against civilians, including killings, abductions, rape, gang rape, sexual slavery, arbitrary detention, forced displacement, and other forms of coercion. UN reporting has also documented cases involving women and girls who were abducted, detained, repeatedly raped, subjected to forced labour, and in some instances reportedly sold for financial gain or forced into sexual exploitation for the benefit of their captors. Against that background, a member of the Rapid Support militia speaking about having “bought” an infant cannot be viewed simply as an isolated shocking remark. It comes from a force whose members have already been documented in connection with slavery, sexual slavery, abduction, detention, and the exploitation of civilians through violence and coercion. Whether this child was in fact sold, who took him, where he came from, and what happened to his family are all questions that require immediate investigation. Accountability, however, should not stop with the individuals who commit abuses on the ground. It should also extend to the financing, arming, logistics, and external support networks that enabled this terrorist militia to sustain and expand its operations. Throughout the war, a growing body of UN findings, international investigations, and major reporting has documented UAE support for the Rapid Support militia, including supply routes and networks linked to Chad, Libya, and Somalia, as well as weapons, drones, foreign fighters, and contractors. As that body of evidence has grown, the UAE’s role in supporting the Rapid Support militia has increasingly ceased to be treated as a peripheral allegation. It has become one of the worst-kept secrets of the war, and one of the key factors that enabled the militia to keep fighting and prolong the conflict. Until the international community chooses to assume real responsibility, rather than allowing financial interests and political deals to overshadow the human cost of this war, Sudanese civilians will continue to pay the price. At the centre of this tragedy is a child who knows nothing about the war, the forces fighting it, or the states financing it. All the footage shows is a crying infant in the arms of an armed man who says he bought him for 1,000 pounds, and then threatens to “tear him apart.” Finding this child and ensuring his safety should be an immediate priority, followed by an independent investigation into how he came into the hands of the Rapid Support militia, whether he was in fact sold, and what happened to his family. Whatever interests are being pursued through this war, the suffering of Sudanese children should never become an acceptable price for them. #Sudan #RSFisTerroristOrganization #UAEKillsSudanesePeople #UAESponsorsTerrorism