Sudan war's digital propaganda network and civilian devastation exposed

An investigation uncovered a coordinated digital propaganda operation run by General Abdel Fattah al‑Burhan’s Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and allied militias. The network employs more than 1,500 WhatsApp groups, pro‑army news sites and online influencers to broadcast battlefield updates, portray the SAF as the defender of state legitimacy and launch disinformation campaigns against the rival Rapid Support Forces, including fabricated claims that RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (“Hemedti”) had been replaced by an AI‑generated double.

German journalist Navid Kermani’s on‑the‑ground reportage paints a stark picture of the war’s human toll. He documents villages razed by the RSF, mass killings that left 449 men dead in one raid, and survivors like Anna, a woman who recounts multiple rapes that produced a child she never wanted. As Kermani writes, “La musique soudanaise ne peut pas sonner triste, me semble‑t-il…”, while a villager, Mohammad Abdin, says, “Il te faut un demi‑centimètre d’espoir pour survivre.” The account highlights the ongoing suffering of civilians amid a conflict that has turned the country’s information space into another front line.