Sudan has been gripped by a civil war since April 2023, pitting two former allies against each other: the country’s national army and a powerful paramilitary force. Both sides have targeted civilians with unimaginable brutality.
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) — a paramilitary group that grew out of the Janjaweed militias — have been widely accused of mass killings, sexual violence and ethnic targeting. These abuses have been documented by international investigators and news organisations, including Lighthouse Reports and its partners, and have led to international sanctions and allegations of acts amounting to genocide.
On the other side is Sudan’s internationally recognised government, led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF). While the government and military leadership have also been sanctioned, allegations of serious crimes against civilians attributed to SAF have received far less public scrutiny. Instead, responsibility for atrocities has largely been framed as resting with the RSF, allowing alleged abuses by government forces to remain comparatively hidden from view.
In a months-long investigation in collaboration with CNN and distributed in Sudan War Monitor and Trouw, Lighthouse Reports and CNN can reveal evidence of SAF’s systematic targeting of civilians in al Jazira state on an ethnic basis.
The joint investigation uncovered extensive evidence of ethnic violence, mass killings and dumping of bodies into mass graves and canals.
Using advanced analysis of satellite imagery, the journalists verified hundreds of videos and satellite imagery analysis to complement exclusive, on-the-ground interviews with SAF whistleblowers and survivors of attacks.
The reporting revealed a harrowing picture of a targeted military campaign against civilians, the unleashing of undisciplined SAF-aligned paramilitary groups, and hurried efforts to hide evidence of their crimes.
See the stories below.