The face within the photograph has change into well-known in Sudan. The fighter, along with his medium-length hair framing a bearded face, has appeared in quite a few movies. Typically he smiles, at the same time as he kills unarmed folks.
That is Abu Lulu. However the photograph of him launched final Thursday by the paramilitary Speedy Help Forces (RSF), the group he presupposed to signify, confirmed him with handcuffs on after being arrested.
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The arrest is a part of RSF’s efforts to distance itself from atrocities dedicated within the Darfur metropolis of el-Fasher, which its forces took management of on October 26 after 18 months of siege. At the very least 1,500 civilians have been killed for the reason that Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) fled the town, and the RSF rampaged by way of, in line with the Sudan Medical doctors Community.
Abu Lulu, often known as Brigadier Normal al-Fateh Abdullah Idris, has come to symbolise Sudan’s descent into cruelty for the reason that war between RSF and the SAF started in April 2023.
Over the previous yr, Abu Lulu has been linked to a sequence of killings throughout Sudan. His alleged crimes, witnesses say, weren’t random acts of violence however deliberate performances meant to intimidate, inflame ethnic tensions, and challenge a grotesque picture of energy.
In al-Jaili, north of Khartoum, footage appeared of him killing two prisoners of conflict. In Omdurman’s metropolis’s Al-Salha neighbourhood, he’s reported to have participated within the killing of 31 civilians. In West Kordofan state’s Al-Khuwair locality, he’s reported to have executed greater than 16 captured troopers, with witnesses alleging his motives had been pushed by racial hatred.
And in el-Fasher, he was filmed confronting an unarmed restaurant proprietor, asking for his tribe, and capturing him lifeless after the person replied that he was from the non-Arab Berti tribe. The sufferer’s determined pleas for mercy had been ignored.
On October 27, 2025, extra footage circulated on-line, showing to indicate Abu Lulu’s forces killing dozens of civilians in el-Fasher. The bloodbath, filmed and shared on social media, led to widespread outrage, and the person behind it appeared to relish the eye.
A ‘psychopathic’ mindset
Dr David Holmes, a legal psychologist who reviewed the footage for Al Jazeera, described Abu Lulu as “a narcissistic psychopath”, whose persona starkly differentiates him from his accomplices. “He’s proactive in killing unarmed victims,” Holmes stated.
Holmes famous that Abu Lulu’s methodology of killing typically concerned repeated, random capturing reasonably than using a single bullet. “[There is a] callous use of weapons to maim and kill with no try and execute [using a] single bullet to [the] head,” Holmes stated of the movies Abu Lulu appeared in, including that the fighter appeared to “take pleasure in indiscriminate capturing”.
Holmes added that Abu Lulu’s demeanor on digital camera means that he views himself as a sort of celeb. “He’s happy along with his place and poses as if he thinks of himself as some sort of celeb for the general public,” Holmes stated.
Certainly, Abu Lulu has ceaselessly broadcast his actions on-line. In a single reside TikTok session, he boasted about killing “2,000 folks” and admitted he had “misplaced depend”. The session attracted each applause and alarm amongst RSF-affiliated customers, some praising him as a “hero” and others urging him to cease filming.
Denial and disavowal
Following the uproar, a number of sources throughout the RSF claimed that Abu Lulu was not formally a part of the paramilitary group, however reasonably led a “coalition drive” allied with it for the reason that conflict’s outset.
“He doesn’t belong to the RSF,” one senior RSF navy supply, who didn’t want to be named, advised Al Jazeera. “He leads a gaggle preventing alongside us, however he will probably be held accountable for his actions. He doesn’t signify the RSF.”
The RSF’s official spokesperson, al-Fateh al-Qurashi, later echoed the identical line, denying that Abu Lulu was a part of their command construction. RSF chief Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, extensively often known as Hemedti, acknowledged the crimes dedicated by his troops in latest weeks and introduced the formation of an investigation committee, promising that “there will probably be accountability”.
However scepticism runs deep, even after Abu Lulu’s arrest. Rights organisations and analysts say the RSF’s repeated sample of distancing itself from discipline commanders implicated in atrocities has change into a well-known tactic, one that enables the drive to protect its picture whereas sustaining operational ties to native militias.
Roots of a paramilitary empire
The RSF traces its origins to the government-backed/linked militia known as the Janjaweed, Arab tribal fighters mobilised by the Sudanese authorities through the Darfur war within the early 2000s, and accused of widespread massacres, rape and ethnic cleaning.
In 2013, then-President Omar al-Bashir formally restructured the militia underneath the RSF banner, appointing Hemedti as its commander. Although nominally a part of the Sudanese navy construction, the RSF developed into an autonomous energy bloc, amassing huge financial sources from gold mining, broader management and mercenary contracts overseas.
Sudan’s civil conflict erupted after the RSF refused to be built-in into the SAF throughout the timeline the latter needed. The battle allowed the paramilitary drive to leverage its deep discipline networks and concrete warfare expertise to grab massive elements of Khartoum, Darfur, and Kordofan states.
The identical ways utilized in Darfur – concentrating on civilians based mostly on ethnicity and perceived loyalties – resurfaced throughout the nation, leaving 1000’s lifeless and thousands and thousands displaced.
Requires justice
It’s inside that milieu that Abu Lulu has gained notoriety.
However as footage from el-Fasher’s bloodbath unfold globally, calls grew for the United Nations and the Worldwide Felony Court docket to analyze Abu Lulu’s crimes for violations of worldwide humanitarian regulation.
Human rights legal professionals argue that his documented killings represent clear proof of conflict crimes.
For survivors and households of victims, nevertheless, justice feels distant.
“He murdered folks in entrance of cameras,” stated Khalid, a survivor of the el-Fasher bloodbath, who didn’t want to give his full title. “He needed fame.”
The general public actions of Abu Lulu, coupled with the extensively obtainable footage of the killings dedicated in el-Fasher, have additional broken the credibility of the RSF, which has in latest months tried to current itself as a decent drive. In July, the group introduced the formation of a parallel authorities to manage the areas of Sudan underneath its management, with a presidential council chaired by Hemedti.
However such efforts have fallen by the wayside compared with the el-Fasher killings and the actions of fighters like Abu Lulu.
Whether or not performing independently or underneath RSF coordination, Abu Lulu has additionally change into a logo of Sudan’s brutal unraveling.
As Sudan’s conflict continues, his picture – grinning earlier than the digital camera, rifle in hand – stands as a haunting reminder of the struggles the nation faces.
