Mass grave and evidence of torture discovered at Sudan detention centre

More than 500 people may have been tortured or starved to death and buried in a mass grave north of Sudan's capital, Khartoum, according to evidence seen by the Guardian.

- Mark Townsend

A visit to a base belonging to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) shortly after it was retaken by the Sudanese military found a detention centre with manacles hanging from doors, apparent punishment chambers and bloodstained floors. People held at the detention centre have described being repeatedly tortured by their captors.

Nearby was a large burial site with at least 550 unmarked graves, many freshly dug and a number apparently containing multiple bodies.

It is the biggest makeshift burial ground found during Sudan's civil war and if confirmed would make this one of the worst war crimes of the brutal conflict.

People who were rescued from the detention centre about 40 miles (70km) north of Khartoum said many others had died there and were believed to be buried nearby.

Doctors examining survivors found signs of torture and concluded they had been starved.

The RSF took over the base close to the village of Garri as a command and training centre after fighting began with the Sudanese military almost two years ago. Satellite images and military sources confirm no graves were present before the war started on 15 April 2023.

The conflict has caused one of the world's worst famines, killed tens of thousands of people and forced more than 14 million to leave their homes.

Human Rights Watch (HRW), which has investigated abuses in Sudan during the war, said the detention centre site could constitute "one of the largest atrocity crime scenes discovered in Sudan since the war started", and called for UN war crimes investigators to be given access.