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British Broadcasting CorporationBBC Verify has revealed the role of a Sudanese paramilitary commander in the El Fasher massacre who has been sanctioned by the UK government.
Brigadier General Fatah Abdullah Idris, also known as Abu Lulu, was filmed gunning down at least 10 unarmed prisoners after the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) captured the city in late October.
Thousands of people are believed to have been killed by SSF after the army withdrew from El Fasher. British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the atrocities in Sudan were “scars on the conscience of the world” and “cannot and will not go unpunished”.
Britain also sanctioned three other Forces Without Borders commanders, including deputy commander Abdel Rahim Hamdan Dagalo.
Dagalo was also slapped with EU sanctions in November and verified video showed him visiting a military base in the city in the hours after El Fasher fell. He is the brother of Mohamed “Hemeti” Dagalo, the president of Doctors Without Borders.
Sudan’s civil war, triggered by the collapse of a fragile ruling alliance between Doctors Without Borders and the military, has lasted more than two years, killing hundreds of thousands and displacing millions.
El Fasher is the army’s last major stronghold in Darfur and a traditional stronghold of the paramilitary group Forces Without Borders.
one BBC Verify investigation reveals the brutal tactics Doctors Without Borders used this tactic during the long siege, which included detaining and torturing people trying to smuggle supplies into the city and building huge sand barriers around the city to prevent civilians and troops from escaping.
In a statement announcing the sanctions, Britain’s Foreign Office said it believed Abururu was “responsible for individual violence based on ethnicity and religion and for deliberate targeting of civilians.”
BBC verify October confirmed video shows Aburu executes several unarmed prisoners He was holding an AK-style rifle in a sandy, dusty area northwest of the city. MSF troops who witnessed these events later celebrated their commander’s actions.
British officials have accused Abu Luru, Dagalo, Gedo Hamdan Ahmed and Tijjani Ibrahim Moussa Mohammed of committing “heinous” acts of violence, including mass killings, systemic violence and deliberate attacks on civilians. Travel bans have been imposed on these individuals and any assets they hold will be frozen.
“Today’s sanctions against Médecins Sans Frontières commanders are a direct blow to those with blood on their hands, and our enhanced assistance program will provide life-saving support to those suffering,” Cooper said.
Citing satellite images previously released by Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Laboratory, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that piles of corpses and mass graves could be seen in Fasher after the massacre.
Cooper also pledged an additional £21 million to provide food, shelter and medical services to civilians affected by fighting in remote areas.
In the days after the El Fasher massacre, General Mohamed “Hemeti” Dagalo, leader of Médecins Sans Frontières admitted his troops had committed “illegal acts” and said the incidents would be investigated.
Among those arrested was Aburulu. In a carefully choreographed and edited video posted on the official Telegram account of Médecins Sans Frontières, he is taken into a cell at the prison, which BBC Verify geolocated, on the outskirts of El Fasher.
The commander had previously appeared in propaganda videos posted online but has not been seen since his arrest. In October, the tech giant deleted a TikTok account that had recorded his activity after BBC verify contacted the tech giant for comment.
Britain’s move comes just two days after the United States announced sanctions against a network of companies and individuals it accuses of recruiting former Colombian soldiers and training individuals to fight in Sudan’s civil war.
The U.S. Treasury Department said hundreds of Colombian mercenaries have traveled to Sudan since 2024, including as infantry soldiers and drone pilots for Doctors Without Borders.
Last month, US President Donald Trump pledged to work with Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to “start solving the problem in Sudan” and posted on social media that “tremendous atrocities” were taking place.
