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.

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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. His alleged crimes, witnesses say, were not random acts of violence but deliberate performances meant to intimidate, inflame ethnic tensions, and project a grotesque image of power.

In al-Jaili, north of Khartoum, footage appeared of him killing two prisoners of war. In Omdurman’s city’s Al-Salha neighbourhood, he is reported to have participated in the killing of 31 civilians. In West Kordofan state’s Al-Khuwair locality, he is reported to have executed more than 16 captured soldiers, with witnesses alleging his motives were driven by racial hatred.

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And in el-Fasher, he was filmed confronting an unarmed restaurant owner, asking for his tribe, and shooting him dead after the man replied that he was from the non-Arab Berti tribe. The victim’s desperate pleas for mercy were ignored.

On October 27, 2025, more footage circulated online, appearing to show Abu Lulu’s forces killing dozens of civilians in el-Fasher. The massacre, filmed and shared on social media, led to widespread outrage, and the man behind it seemed to relish the attention.

A ‘psychopathic’ mindset

Dr David Holmes, a criminal psychologist who reviewed the footage for Al Jazeera, described Abu Lulu as “a narcissistic psychopath”, whose personality starkly differentiates him from his accomplices. “He is proactive in killing unarmed victims,” Holmes said.

Holmes noted that Abu Lulu’s method of killing often involved repeated, random shooting rather than the use of a single bullet. “[There is a] callous use of weapons to maim and kill with no attempt to execute [using a] single bullet to [the] head,” Holmes said of the videos Abu Lulu appeared in, adding that the fighter appeared to “enjoy indiscriminate shooting”.

Holmes added that Abu Lulu’s demeanor on camera suggests that he views himself as a kind of celebrity. “He is pleased with his position and poses as if he thinks of himself as some kind of celebrity for the public,” Holmes said.

Indeed, Abu Lulu has frequently broadcast his actions online. In one live TikTok session, he boasted about killing “2,000 people” and admitted he had “lost count”. The session attracted both applause and alarm among RSF-affiliated users, some praising him as a “hero” and others urging him to stop filming.

Denial and disavowal

Following the uproar, multiple sources within the RSF claimed that Abu Lulu was not formally part of the paramilitary group, but rather led a “coalition force” allied with it since the war’s outset.

“He does not belong to the RSF,” one senior RSF military source, who did not wish to be named, told Al Jazeera. “He leads a group fighting alongside us, but he will be held accountable for his actions. He does not represent the RSF.”

The RSF’s official spokesperson, al-Fateh al-Qurashi, later echoed the same line, denying that Abu Lulu was part of their command structure. RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti, acknowledged the crimes committed by his troops in recent weeks and announced the formation of an investigation committee, promising that “there will be accountability”.

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But scepticism runs deep, even after Abu Lulu’s arrest. Rights organisations and analysts say the RSF’s repeated pattern of distancing itself from field commanders implicated in atrocities has become a familiar tactic, one that allows the force to preserve its image while maintaining operational ties to local militias.

Roots of a paramilitary empire

The RSF traces its origins to the government-backed/linked militia known as the Janjaweed, Arab tribal fighters mobilised by the Sudanese government during the Darfur war in the early 2000s, and accused of widespread massacres, rape and ethnic cleansing.

In 2013, then-President Omar al-Bashir formally restructured the militia under the RSF banner, appointing Hemedti as its commander. Though nominally part of the Sudanese military structure, the RSF developed into an autonomous power bloc, amassing vast economic resources from gold mining, broader control and mercenary contracts abroad.

Sudan’s civil war erupted after the RSF refused to be integrated into the SAF within the timeline the latter wanted. The conflict allowed the paramilitary force to leverage its deep field networks and urban warfare experience to seize large parts of Khartoum, Darfur, and Kordofan states.

The same tactics used in Darfur – targeting civilians based on ethnicity and perceived loyalties – resurfaced across the country, leaving thousands dead and millions displaced.

Calls for justice

It is within that milieu that Abu Lulu has gained notoriety.

But as footage from el-Fasher’s massacre spread globally, calls grew for the United Nations and the International Criminal Court to investigate Abu Lulu’s crimes for violations of international humanitarian law.

Human rights lawyers argue that his documented killings constitute clear evidence of war crimes.

For survivors and families of victims, however, justice feels distant.

“He murdered people in front of cameras,” said Khalid, a survivor of the el-Fasher massacre, who did not wish to give his full name. “He wanted fame.”

The public actions of Abu Lulu, coupled with the widely available footage of the killings committed in el-Fasher, have further damaged the credibility of the RSF, which has in recent months attempted to present itself as a respectable force. In July, the group announced the formation of a parallel government to administer the areas of Sudan under its control, with a presidential council chaired by Hemedti.

But such efforts have fallen by the wayside when compared with the el-Fasher killings and the actions of fighters like Abu Lulu.

Whether acting independently or under RSF coordination, Abu Lulu has also become a symbol of Sudan’s brutal unraveling.

As Sudan’s war continues, his image – grinning before the camera, rifle in hand – stands as a haunting reminder of the struggles the country faces.