AN X user, @bilal_aljaber18, has posted a video alongside a claim that the Rapid Support Forces keep attacking women in Sudan.
The post was originally written in Arabic but was translated into English by Google Translate.
The seventeen seconds footage was a graphic one as a woman in hijab could be seen running in a bush while she was being kicked by a man in military uniform and surrounded by others and questioned in pidgin English and Hausa ‘’where dem dey’ (redacted) ‘’where dem dey’.
Another woman who had a baby strapped to her back was pushed by the forehead while falling on her back with her baby still strapped.
The video had its caption originally written in Arabic but was translated into English: Rapid Support Forces attacks continuing against women in #السودان (As- Sudan) are continuing and continuing. #KeepEyesOnSudan
The post was made on Friday, December 29, 2023 and has since garnered over 3 million views, over 5,000 reposts and more than 6,000 likes.
Other X users have also posted it as it can be seen here and here. The post has also appeared on YouTube as seen here.
The video was being circulated in respect to the current happenings in Sudan.
In April 2023, a war between the Sudanese Armed Forces under Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces under Hemedti, rival factions of the military government of Sudan, had begun over security force reform during negotiations for a new transitional government.
In a recent investigation, Reuters had reported that young women from the ethnic-African Masalit tribe were sexually assaulted at gunpoint by RSF paramilitary and Arab militia forces during attacks on the city of El Geneina.
CLAIM
Video shows women being attacked in Sudan.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is MISLEADING!Â
The languages spoken in the video, Pidgin English and Hausa respectively, are languages spoken in Nigeria. The official languages spoken in Sudan are Arabic, Nobiin and English.
Further findings by The FactCheckHub show that the camouflage is a Nigerian military uniform as a close look at the video showed the Nigerian flag on the sleeves of the military men in the video as seen below. The men were not from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)Â an Arab-dominated paramilitary group in Sudan.
A Google Reverse Image search conducted on the video after being divided into key frame analysis by InVid led us to other versions of the video posted on the same day it was also posted on X.Â
The FactCheckHub could not independently verify where the video originated from and where exactly in Nigeria the footage was taken.
THE VERDICT
The claim that a video shows women being attacked in Sudan is MISLEADING; the language spoken in the footage are Nigerian languages and the army uniforms won in the video is a Nigerian military uniform and not in anyway connected to the happenings in Sudan.
Seasoned fact-checker and researcher Fatimah Quadri has written numerous fact-checks, explainers, and media literacy pieces for The FactCheckHub in an effort to combat information disorder. She can be reached at sunmibola_q on X or [email protected].
