Two four-wheel-drive vehicles had been stationed on a side street since 3pm, their armed occupants lying in wait outside the home of Al-Haj Mahmoud Al-Haj (an alias used for security reasons) who resides in northern Bahri and was a trader in Omdurman Market before the war.
As Al-Haj Mahmoud returned home shortly before sunset on January 4, 2024, the lurking force stormed the house. The assailants pounded on the door with the butts of their rifles, creating a deafening and terrorizing scene. When his wife opened the door, she was met by a swarm of Rapid Support Forces (RSF) soldiers who were called Al-Haj Mahmoud by name. They seized him, and when his wife refused to abandon him, they took her as well. Both were blindfolded and transported to an unknown location, which they later discovered was between the Nabta and Al-Haj Yousif neighbourhoods. There, they were confined in a room on the first floor of a building within a farm, cut off from the outside world.
To her shock, the caller was an RSF member demanding a ransom of 10 billion Sudanese pounds (4 thousand USD) for his release, laced with threats.
That night was fraught with fear and brutality. Despite Al-Haj Mahmoud’s chronic health conditions, he endured repeated blows to the head. Throughout their captivity, RSF soldiers would return each morning to interrogate him with arbitrary accusations, claiming he was collaborating with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), receiving funds from a neighbouring country, or communicating with the SAF’s commander.
Meanwhile, his daughter Hala, who resides outside Sudan and has been supporting her family financially since the onset of the war, received a call from her father’s phone. To her shock, the caller was an RSF member demanding a ransom of 10 billion Sudanese pounds (4 thousand USD) for his release, laced with threats.
Fearful and desperate, she negotiated, promising to gather 7 billion pounds to ensure her father’s safety.
“I immediately reached out to my family to pool the money together to save my parents. We transferred the amount, and they were released 16 hours after being abducted,” Hala recounted to Atar.
Upon his return, Al-Haj Mahmoud discovered, through accounts from neighbours, that RSF elements had completely ransacked his home.
Since the outbreak of the war on April 15, 2023, Sudan has witnessed grave human rights violations, including sexual violence against women, brutal atrocities against civilians, extrajudicial killings, and mass abductions. Thousands have fallen victim to torture, rape, enforced disappearances, ransom kidnappings, or forced conscription.
The residents of Abu Hamad locality have organized repeated sit-ins over the past three years before the war broke out, demanding health, development, and education services and protesting mining activities that have caused the death of dozens of animals, fetal deformities, and increased miscarriage cases. They have held the government accountable for the safety of the people and the land. Despite government committees acknowledging the validity of these complaints, they only issued misleading assurances without taking concrete steps. After the war broke out, mining activities increased, along with the amount of waste (“karta”) processed with mercury or cyanide, as oversight by the Sudanese Mineral Resources Company ceased.
The 1979 International Convention Against the Taking of Hostages defines hostage-taking in its first article as any act in which a person seizes or detains another individual and threatens to kill, harm, or continue detaining them to coerce a third party’ be it a state, an international governmental organisation, a natural or legal person, or a group, to take or abstain from a specific action as an explicit or implicit condition for the hostage’s release.
Darfur: A dark epicentre of abductions
Since the eruption of war, the five states of Darfur have become a grim epicentre of unchecked violence against civilians. Reports have documented widespread abductions over the past 20 months.
A staff member of a local organisation in Nyala, which works to protect civilians, shared an alarming account on the condition of anonymity due to security concerns. He recounted how armed men in RSF uniforms abducted Ismail Mohammed at gunpoint on the evening of Tuesday, November 1, 2024, from the city’s marketplace. The victim was then detained at the Popular Police headquarters under the pretext of collaborating with the SAF.
The General Coordination for Displaced Persons and Refugees in Darfur documented multiple abductions in September and October 2024.
“The kidnappers demanded a ransom of one billion pounds. After two days, the abductee’s family managed to pay 800,000 million pounds, and he was released without having suffered any physical torture,” he told Atar.
The General Coordination for Displaced Persons and Refugees in Darfur documented multiple abductions in September and October 2024.
On September 27, 14-year-old Noor Ahmed Noor was kidnapped from Kalma Camp (Sector 8) by RSF forces. On October 17, 40-year-old Omar Suleiman Nasr was abducted from Sector 3 of the same camp by armed militias. Earlier, on October 10, 14-year-old Zeina Hamid Mohammed Juma was taken from east of the camp by armed groups.
Anyone venturing out of the camp for farming is at risk of abduction. Dozens of camp residents have already been taken.
In an interview with Atar, Adam Regal, the official spokesperson for the coordination body, affirmed that ransom kidnappings have become an undeniable reality, illustrating the dire conditions facing displaced persons and refugees amid an absolute lack of intervention. He further revealed that, in December, two displaced individuals were abducted from Kalma Camp, with the camp administration forced to pay a ransom of three million Sudanese pounds despite the severe economic hardships.
“Anyone venturing out of the camp for farming is at risk of abduction. Dozens of camp residents have already been taken,” he said.
In a chilling escalation, the Abu Zreiga Administrative Unit in North Darfur accused RSF forces of executing 50 civilians, including individuals abducted from their farms and later massacred. Additionally, RSF elements reportedly torched homes and looted residents’ belongings. The administrative unit’s statement condemned the RSF for targeting Abu Zreiga’s population along ethnic lines, calling on international organisations to urgently intervene and protect the besieged community.
A Steady Rise in Kidnappings in Al-Jazirah
the number of people kidnapped from the towns of Tamboul, Rufaa, and Al-Hilaliya has hit 42 since these areas were overrun in October 2023.
Since October 21, 2024, the frequency of kidnappings in Al-Jazirah State has increased, with most victims being young men, according to civil society activists. The kidnappings are followed by exorbitant ransom demands ranging from three to 10 billion Sudanese pounds in exchange for the victims’ release. The Resistance Committees in Al-Hasahisa stated that kidnappings have escalated recently, revealing that six residents of the city, including a 13-year-old child, were abducted, with demands of more than 10 billion pounds for their release.
The Central Sudan Appeal – Al-Jazirah State reported that the RSF have been using the Al-Rawdah Poultry Farm, located north of Al-Jazirah along the Khartoum-Madani Road, as a detention centre for hundreds of abductees. The RSF also kidnapped humanitarian activist Musa Babiker, who had been dedicated to supporting local residents by providing food and medicine. Additionally, the number of people kidnapped from the towns of Tamboul, Rufaa, and Al-Hilaliya has hit 42 since these areas were overrun in October 2023. The RSF has demanded hefty ransoms from the families of some of the abductees in exchange for their release and has also kidnapped civilians from villages such as Al-La’uta Al-Hujjaj, Al-Fowar, and Al-Sireeha.
Al-Jazirah Conference revealed that during its siege of Rufaa, the RSF abducted five residents, including a retired teacher, and demanded ransoms of up to 5 billion Sudanese pounds per person.
In southern Al-Jazirah, RSF forces also kidnapped citizens Al-Nazir Mohammed Zain Haroun and Mohammed Abdulrahman Al-Haj from the villages of Wad Matar Al-Khawalda and Wad Al-Bur Al-Khawalda.
The Preparatory Committee of the Sudanese Doctors’ Union accused the RSF of committing violations in most cities and villages in eastern Al-Jazirah, ranging from the killing of hundreds of civilians to the burning and looting of properties, in addition to kidnappings for ransom. Circulating video footage documented RSF members kidnapping merchant Khalil Al-Tayeb in Rufaa and demanding a ransom of 50 million Sudanese pounds for his release.
During a press conference, Hala Al-Karib, the regional director of the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA), stated that one of the forms of gender-based violence prevalent in Al-Jazirah State includes abductions, forced marriages, and the exchange of girls for money paid by RSF members to families who cannot refuse.
No One Wants to Pay
On August 25, 2024, the Sudanese Journalists’ Union announced that an armed group had kidnapped journalist Alaa Al-Din Abu Harba from his home in the East Nile area. The union stated in a press release that the armed group initially demanded a large ransom for his release, threatening to kill him if the amount was not paid. Despite receiving the ransom, the kidnappers doubled their demand from 1 million to 2 million pounds, “placing Abu Harba’s life in imminent danger at any moment.” Footage circulated online showed Abu Harba handcuffed, revealing the circumstances of his abduction.
Speaking exclusively to Atar, Abu Harba recounted his eight-day ordeal in RSF detention. He was held alone in a filthy, dark room, blindfolded and shackled, with only meager meals three times during his entire detention period.
They began messaging my family, demanding a ransom, and then blindfolded me and took me to an isolated room
As he was near his home, a tinted “Hilux” vehicle stopped beside him, with two men inside. They first asked whether he was a soldier or a civilian. When he replied that he was a civilian, they demanded his identification card. He politely explained that it was at home and offered to retrieve it, but they refused and forcibly pushed him into the vehicle.
“We arrived at a place with an Internet connection, where they took my phone and demanded the password for my Bank of Khartoum Bankak app,” Abu Harba said.
“They began messaging my family, demanding a ransom, and then blindfolded me and took me to an isolated room,” he recounted.
The kidnappers confined him in a room reeking of human waste for more than 24 hours. He had no idea where he was but estimated the journey from his home to the location took about two hours by car.
“It seemed like they were driving through alleys, making it difficult for me to determine the direction,” he said. Once in the room, they removed his blindfold.
The kidnappers returned in the morning, beating him mercilessly with whips and the butts of their rifles while recording videos of the abuse to send to his family.
“I went through a harrowing time, completely drained, to the point where I could barely pray. I endured further beatings and insults whenever they saw solidarity campaigns for me on social media,” Harba said.
Without warning, Abu Harba said, the kidnappers released him on the ninth day, telling him:
“No one wants to pay your ransom.”
They blindfolded him again and drove him back to a mosque near his home.
“I never imagined being released so suddenly. I still don’t feel safe; threats and intimidation are coming from both warring sides,” Abu Harba said, adding:
“Abduction strips you of your humanity. Its effects still haunt me. It is not easy to forget the experience of being beaten relentlessly by four men using weapons and their fists while hurling vile insults. To this day, I have not been able to resume my normal life or write about what happened. I still fear for my family and those who know me in East Nile.”
