Face of Truth: Septic Tank Crimes: When War’s Bottom Floats

Ibrahim Shiglawi

Since the outbreak of war in Sudan on April 15, 2023, the capital, Khartoum, specifically Bahri locality, has turned into an open arena for systematic violations committed by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia against civilians, with no regard for laws or humanitarian norms. The recent liberation of Bahri revealed not only the extent of destruction but also horrifying human tragedies, indicating that the battle was not just over land but fought over the bodies of innocent civilians.

In the southern Shambat area, one of the most heinous of these crimes emerged when the civil defense teams in Khartoum State, in cooperation with the Sudanese Red Crescent Society, managed to retrieve the corpses of men and women whose bodies had been thrown into a septic tank in one of the houses. These were not just unidentified bodies but victims subjected to brutal torture, as evident from their fractured bones and crushed skulls, before being wrapped in prayer rugs and thrown into the pit, as confirmed by the forensic medical report.

The most painful detail was the identification of the body of Professor Montasir Ahmed Al-Hassan Al-Saouri, Director of the Central Operations Department at First Abu Dhabi Bank, along with his wife and children, who had been missing since May 2023. A man known for his good morals, with no political affiliation or military activity, only to meet his fate, along with his family, as victims in a septic tank at the hands of a militia that recognizes neither law nor human values.

This crime is part of a long series of violations and atrocities committed by the RSF militia in the areas under its control. What occurred in Shambat and its surroundings likely conceals similar tragedies in other homes and neighborhoods, their secrets still buried under the rubble and destruction left by the war.

With every new revelation, the responsibility of the government and its security and judicial institutions increases, to cleanse the capital and liberated areas of the war’s remnants and the militia’s violations, ensuring the return of normal life through thorough sweeping operations, sanitizing sites, and immediate response to any reports of suspicious objects or explosive devices.

But more importantly, these atrocities compel political elites and the international community to reconsider how they describe the ongoing conflict in Sudan, especially those who reduced it to a war between two generals. The war, as its developments have shown, is not merely a power struggle but an existential battle between a state striving to regain its sovereignty and institutions, almost snatched away by a militia coup backed by local and regional supporters, turning it into one of the worst forms of terrorism against civilians.

This crime exposes a behavioral pattern adopted by the militia in the areas it controlled, where killing, torture, and enforced disappearances became tools to subjugate civilians—actions that clearly fall under the purview of international humanitarian law. As is well known, Common Article 3 of the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 categorically prohibits violence against persons not taking part in hostilities, including murder, torture, and cruel treatment. Moreover, the Second Additional Protocol of 1977, governing non-international armed conflicts, reiterates and emphasizes this prohibition, affirming that targeting civilians by any means constitutes a war crime.

What happened in Shambat falls under the definition of crimes against humanity as stipulated by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. According to Article 7 of the Statute, acts such as murder, torture, enforced disappearance, and persecution of any civilian population constitute crimes against humanity—criteria clearly met by the crimes committed by the militia in Shambat and elsewhere.

What the civil defense teams uncovered in Shambat, corroborated by medical and criminal investigations, places upon us a legal and historical responsibility that brooks no delay or appeasement. To do otherwise is to betray the victims, who await justice in death after it failed them in life. Remaining silent about such crimes or treating them as isolated incidents paves the way for a culture of impunity and threatens the collapse of the remaining legal and constitutional values in Sudan. No call for halting the war or negotiation can ignore the fact that crimes against civilians are not subject to a statute of limitations, and that justice is not an option but a prerequisite for restoring security and peace.

The Sudanese government must keep this case open before both national and international courts, document all violations according to legal standards, and activate channels of cooperation with international judicial organizations to ensure accountability for everyone involved from the rebel militia and their local and regional supporters, ensuring the blood of the innocent does not evaporate into Khartoum’s air without retribution.

According to what we see from the #Face_of_Truth, the septic tank crimes have exposed the ugly face of war, bringing its depths to the surface, and reaffirming that this is a battle for dignity and justice before it is a military one. The blood of innocents spilled underground will not dry until the rule of law is entrenched, and full national sovereignty is restored, away from regional and international ambitions and the ambitions of internal agents who have mortgaged the country to foreign powers for a handful of money and influence.

Wishing you well and health.
Monday, March 24, 2025
Shglawi55@gmail.com