The face in the photo has become well-known in Sudan. The fighter, with his medium-length hair framing a bearded face, has appeared in numerous videos. Sometimes he smiles, even as he kills unarmed people.
This is Abu Lulu. But the photo of him released last Thursday by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the group he purported to represent, showed him with handcuffs on after being arrested.
The arrest is part of RSF’s efforts to distance itself from atrocities committed in the Darfur city of el-Fasher, which its forces took control of on October 26 after 18 months of siege. At least 1,500 civilians have been killed since the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) fled the town, and the RSF rampaged through, according to the Sudan Doctors Network.
Abu Lulu, also known as Brigadier General al-Fateh Abdullah Idris, has come to symbolise Sudan’s descent into cruelty since the war between RSF and the SAF began in April 2023.
Over the past year, Abu Lulu has been linked to a series of killings across Sudan.
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