‘Enlist or die’: Fear, looming famine and a deadly ultimatum swell the ranks of Sudan’s paramilitary forces

CNN — In mid-December, the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces swept into Sudan’s central Al Jazira state, known as the country’s breadbasket, with an ultimatum: “Enlist or die.” Since then, the militia group has sought to use food as a weapon, withholding supplies from the hungry in a bid to coerce men and boys to join its ranks, according to over three dozen witnesses. In response to CNN’s request for comment for this story, RSF spokesperson Nizar Sid Ahmed provided a written statement denying that hunger and fear are being wielded by the RSF to force recruitment, and describing such claims as “baseless.” The RSF “absolutely does not need to forcibly recruit youths,” Sid Ahmed said, as it has “hundreds of thousands of fighters” and “supporters throughout Sudan, who ready to fight in their ranks.” Sudan’s breadbasket Jazira state in central Sudan feeds much of the country’s population of around 48 million, according to United Nations data. “In under a week’s time,” Kinzli said, “our warehouse containing more than 2,500 metric tons of life-saving food, including pulses, sorghum, vegetable oil and nutrition supplements, enough stocks to feed nearly 1.5 million severely food insecure people for one month in Jazira state, were looted by elements associated with the RSF.” In response to CNN’s request for comment on the allegation, RSF spokesman Sid Ahmed said “the World Food Programme’s aid warehouses were looted by hungry residents deprived of humanitarian aid” and called on the UN to launch an investigation. The RSF’s violent advances in Jazira state, their targeted destruction of warehouses, Sudan’s gene bank and irrigation systems will inevitably further exacerbate Sudan’s massive food shortages,” she said.