RSF transfers scores of prisoners to Darfur, officer escapes

January 23, 2025 (NYALA) – Scores of prisoners held by Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been transferred from Khartoum to the South Darfur state capital of Nyala, multiple sources told Sudan Tribune, as a military officer escaped the convoy en route.

South Darfur is one of four states that have fallen under RSF control since the outbreak of hostilities with the Sudanese army in mid-April last year. The RSF, which also controls vast swathes of Khartoum, has detained hundreds of military personnel and civilians in the capital’s eastern suburbs of Riyadh and Soba.

Detainees have reportedly suffered from dire conditions in RSF-run prisons, with hundreds believed to have died due to lack of healthcare, inadequate nutrition and mistreatment. Recently released prisoners have described inhumane conditions and treatment by their captors.

The RSF has designated its Soba facility for holding regular army, police, and other security personnel, along with thousands of civilians. Press reports estimate the number of detainees held there to be around 5,000.

A military source told Sudan Tribune that dozens of prisoners from the army, police, and security services arrived in Nyala on Wednesday after a multi-day journey from Khartoum. The source added that the prisoners arrived in a “dire state,” with some dying during the transfer.

During the transfer, a lieutenant managed to escape near the Hamra al-Sheikh area in North Kordofan state, a separate military source said.

The officer, identified as Al-Zein Al-Safi, appeared in a video alongside several soldiers, confirming that the RSF had moved them from Soba and Riyadh detention centres to Darfur.

The second military source said Al-Safi escaped when the convoy stopped to bury two prisoners who had died during the journey.

Al-Safi subsequently informed army units in El Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan, about the deaths of a number of officers. He also reassured the families of his colleagues in a statement posted on social media.

Meanwhile, eyewitnesses in Nyala told Sudan Tribune that over 60 military vehicles and 100 civilian vehicles arrived in the city from Khartoum over the past two days, carrying the families of RSF fighters.