{"id":267921,"date":"2025-11-17T14:18:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T14:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/267921\/"},"modified":"2025-11-17T14:18:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T14:18:08","slug":"his-role-is-to-recruit-the-sheffield-based-propagandist-for-sudans-rsf-militia-sudan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/267921\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018His role is to recruit\u2019: the Sheffield-based propagandist for Sudan\u2019s RSF militia | Sudan"},"content":{"rendered":"

A British citizen based in Sheffield appeared in a TikTok live broadcast laughing along while a notorious fighter from Sudan\u2019s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces group boasted about participating in mass killings in the city of El Fasher<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The video, broadcast on 27 October, is just one of hundreds posted to social media in which 44-year-old Abdalmonim Alrabea expresses support for the RSF and the ethnically targeted atrocities it has committed in Sudan\u2019s western Darfur<\/a> region.<\/p>\n

One of the most-high profile online propagandists for the RSF, he has travelled to Darfur at least twice since the war began and has uploaded monologues on an almost daily basis to accounts with tens of thousands of followers on TikTok, YouTube<\/a> and X.<\/p>\n

Members of the Sudanese diaspora in the UK have called for action to be taken against Alrabea for what they perceive to be inciting hate and glorifying violence.<\/p>\n

\u201cFreedom of speech should never serve as a shield for hate speech or incitement to violence,\u201d said Abdallah Abu Garda, chair of the UK-based Darfur Diaspora Association. \u201cWe urge the authorities to take decisive action, ensure accountability, and prevent him from continuing to spread harmful content.\u201d<\/p>\n

Little is known about Alrabea\u2019s life in the UK, though some of his videos appear to show that he has worked as a taxi driver in Sheffield<\/a>. The Guardian approached him for comment.<\/p>\n

On 27 October, Alrabea featured in a live TikTok broadcast hosted by an RSF figure called Zafer. Also in the broadcast was Al-Fateh Abdullah Idris, an active RSF fighter who goes by the name Abu Lulu<\/a> and who has appeared in numerous videos shot in El Fasher showing fighters killing unarmed people.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday I killed 2,000 people and then I lost count. I want to start again from zero,\u201d Abu Lulu says at one point, to which Alrabea responds with laughter. Elsewhere in the video Alrabea tells Abu Lulu he wants him to \u201cfuck these falangayat up and down\u201d, using a word considered a slur towards indigenous ethnic groups in Darfur.<\/p>\n

After the Guardian got in touch with TikTok<\/a>, it said it had taken down Alrabea\u2019s account, which had 240,000 followers, \u201cfor violating our policies on violent and criminal behaviour\u201d. YouTube also said last week that it had removed his account, which had material dating back to December 2023, \u201cfor violating our violent extremist or criminal organisations policy\u201d.<\/p>\n

Screengrabs from a broadcast featuring Alrabea and an active RSF fighter who goes by the name Abu Lulu. Photograph: Social media<\/p>\n

TikTok said it uses technology and moderation teams to vet content, including on TikTok Live. Videos broadcast on the Live feature do not stay on the platform after broadcast, meaning inflammatory material can go unnoticed by the wider world unless viewers make their own recordings.<\/p>\n

X has taken down Alrabea\u2019s accounts in the past only for him to open new accounts that quickly gain followers. The company sent links to its rules on violent and hateful content in response to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

The RSF captured El Fasher from the Sudanese army late last month<\/a>, since when evidence has emerged<\/a> of ethnically targeted mass killings, sexual violence and abductions. Satellite imagery analysed by Yale researchers has shown visible blood stains <\/a>on the city\u2019s streets and possible mass graves being dug.<\/p>\n

In January the United States formally declared that the RSF had committed genocide<\/a> during the war.<\/p>\n

Mohamed Suliman, a Sudanese researcher and writer based in Boston who lobbies social media companies to take down RSF-linked accounts, described Alrabea as a \u201cdedicated RSF supporter\u201d who \u201cmight be the group\u2019s most influential social media activist\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cRSF social media activists play a key role in strengthening the militia\u2019s followers by spreading the narrative that justifies their war.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alrabea is named in an application by British resident Yaslam Altayeb, who was detained by the RSF in the early months of the war, for the British government to apply sanctions against several individuals accused of supporting the RSF. Altayeb was eventually released and made his way back to the UK.<\/p>\n

Many of the videos Alrabea has appeared in have subsequently been deleted, though some have been archived by the online platform Sudan in the News.<\/p>\n

In June of this year Alrabea posted videos to YouTube and TikTok from El Fasher itself, during a visit to parts of the city that were under the control of the RSF at the time.<\/p>\n

\"BritishBritish citizen posts TikTok from inside El Fasher in Sudan \u2013 video<\/p>\n

Mohaned Elnour, a Sudanese human rights lawyer, said Alrabea\u2019s ability to visit Darfur during an active conflict indicated he has influence within the organisation that went beyond cheerleading from his car.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis role is to recruit, to encourage,\u201d said Elnour. \u201cThere are so many people spreading hate speech and trying to inspire the RSF but none of them were on the ground, meeting RSF officials, standing on top of tanks,\u201d Elnour added, referring to an image shared by Alrabea from an earlier trip to Darfur in 2023. \u201cLook at Rwanda, how it started \u2013 those who spread hate speech fuelled the war.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A British citizen based in Sheffield appeared in a TikTok live broadcast laughing along while a notorious fighter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267922,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-267921","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}