In January 2024, Ahmed Abubakr Imam picked up a rifle to defend his community.The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had just captured four of the five provinces in Sudan’s sprawling western region of Darfur – South, East, Central and West – in a lightning attack as it advanced in its war against the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and its allies.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listIt was now threatening to capture North Darfur, leaving thousands of people like Imam terrified.He knew that the largely nomadic – often referred to as “Arab” – RSF was notorious for abducting and raping women and girls and extrajudicially killing men and boys from predominantly sedentary “non-Arab” communities.Like thousands of non-Arabs in North Darfur, Imam joined the Popular Resistance, which are neighbourhood defence groups backed by the SAF.“The RSF militia clearly doesn’t distinguish between civilians and fighters,” the 27-year-old told Al Jazeera.Nowhere to goSince an all-out civil war erupted between the SAF and the RSF in April 2023, the latter has nearly consolidated control over its stronghold in Darfur.Both sides have committed grave abuses, yet the RSF is implicated in additional atrocities such as genocide and systematic sexual violence, according to United Nations experts and local and international monitors.In April 2024, the RSF imposed a crippling siege on North Darfur’s capital el-Fasher, where some 260,000 people are languishing and withering away from hunger.Many women, children, and some men have been able to escape to nearby Tawila, a town about 45 miles (70 kilometres) east, which is dealing with its own catastrophic chol …
