The war in Sudan: How journalists fall into the trap of disinformation and Artificial Intelligence

As a frail child stands in a pitiful state beside his sister after their home was bombed and their mother killed, the few seconds captured in the footage are profoundly moving and deeply saddening. The video spread widely online, purportedly showing scenes from the city of Al-Fashir during recent battles — but did it really happen there?

Basha Tabiq, advisor to the commander of the Tasis Alliance Forces, after a series of posts accusing his forces of being behind the attack on the family’s home, described the circulation of this video by Arab and Sudanese media outlets as a journalistic failure and a blatant bias.

In a post on his X account, Tabiq wrote: “The circulating video of the child and his sister, which some channels claimed showed Tasis forces killing their mother, in fact documents the army’s shelling of their home in the Al-Dibaybat area of South Kordofan and the assassination of their mother. It has no connection whatsoever to Al-Fashir.”

He added that “the full version of the video exists and is well-documented with evidence, proving the fabrication of facts and the lack of professionalism in the coverage by those channels.”

He demanded that the outlets “issue an official apology and immediately investigate the sources of this video and how it was presented in such a misleading way.”

Tabiq pointed out that “this dangerous media blunder, which serves the narrative of the Islamic Movement allied with the Sudanese army and misleads public opinion, proves that within some satellite channels there are individuals advancing political agendas aligned with the false narratives propagated by the Islamic Movement — the Sudanese branch of the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood.”

The Tasis Alliance official urged channels covering Sudanese affairs to “exercise accuracy and professionalism in reporting and avoid bias toward any political or military party.”

These same channels, he said, “deliberately turned a blind eye to tragic events in Kordofan, particularly after activists circulated a video showing members of the Sudanese army slaughtering civilians from local tribes in El-Obeid, North Kordofan, on the pretext that these tribes form a social base supporting the Tasis Alliance.”

The continuing game of deception

Along the same lines, the Sudanese National Human Rights Observatory warned in a post on X that “the use of journalists as propaganda tools in the conflict is a new crime added to the series of atrocities committed by the Sudanese army and its allied militias.”

The Observatory strongly condemned “the practices carried out by the Sudanese army — involving the coercion of journalists and media professionals in the Al-Fashir conflict, forcing some to make biased statements adopting the narrative of one party — in a clear violation of journalistic independence and neutrality.”

It further stated that “forcing journalists to adopt political or military positions constitutes a crime against media freedom and represents a dangerous attempt to distort public awareness and manipulate public opinion under military and security pressure.”

In the wake of fabricated videos portraying scenes as if they were from Al-Fashir, and blaming the Tasis Alliance following its success in liberating the city, the Observatory held “the Sudanese Armed Forces and their allied militias fully legally responsible for any harm or violation against journalists’ safety.”

Another warning came from the X account “Bello the Cobra,” addressing millions across the Arab world:

“A warning to all our brothers in the Arab world regarding Sudan: Do not be deceived by the Muslim Brotherhood’s media or swept away by emotion. After the liberation of Al-Fashir, they were stricken with panic and launched a systematic disinformation campaign to distort the truth and manipulate public opinion. They dominate Twitter (X) through their organized online rooms.”

He cited an image of Tunisian women falsely presented as victims in Al-Fashir, emphasizing that “some of the circulated images promoted by the Muslim Brotherhood propaganda have nothing to do with Sudan, yet they mislead many unaware of the reality of the Sudan war or the extent of the Brotherhood’s deceit in manipulating public opinion.”

He also warned of an increasing use of artificial intelligence tools to generate fabricated videos and images — depicting women weeping and civilian homes burning — in an attempt to falsely implicate the Tasis Alliance.

A racial war

In a swift move to counter this Brotherhood-led disinformation campaign exploiting the post-liberation media chaos in Al-Fashir, Dr. Alaa Al-Din Awad Naqd, official spokesperson for the Tasis (Founding Sudan) Alliance, denied allegations of violations in the North Darfur capital, rejecting claims that Tasis forces were involved in such acts.

Naqd stated: “We have seen numerous videos on social media attributing violations against civilians in Al-Fashir, Bara, and other liberated areas to Tasis forces. It must be clarified that many of these videos are fabricated by the Islamic Movement’s media, its mercenaries, and others — something easily noticeable upon closer examination.”

He added: “It is illogical to claim that our forces, which evacuated nearly 800,000 civilians from Al-Fashir to safe areas during military operations, would then turn to committing violations against civilians after liberating the city.”

He further said that “those who choose false neutrality and shrink from speaking the truth, refusing to take clear positions in this war, will always resort to equivocation to justify their stance — much like the Islamist extremists, though for different reasons and ends.”

Naqd emphasized that “the attempt by the Islamic Movement, its militias, and its mercenaries from allied armed factions within the Sudanese army to turn this war into an ethnic and racial conflict has failed and dissipated. Sudanese will never again fight one another over racial, religious, or tribal lines. This will be the last of Sudan’s wars — one that will uproot the cancer of the Muslim Brotherhood, the National Congress Party, their army, and their battalions.”

He clarified: “This war, from its very beginning, has been a stage for the lies of the Islamic Movement and the National Congress Party — its very inception was a grand deception. They called it the ‘War of Sudanese Dignity,’ when in truth it was the war to preserve the dignity of the Muslim Brotherhood and their militias.”

He vowed that the Tasis Alliance would continue on its chosen path to free Sudan from terrorism, declaring: “Our hands will remain extended for peace — but a peace that preserves Sudan’s unity, the dignity of its people, their freedom, and liberation from the tyranny and injustice of the Muslim Brotherhood, their militias, and their army.”

Meanwhile, the Government of the Darfur Region issued an appeal concerning the humanitarian and security situation in Al-Fashir, affirming its national and moral duty to protect civilians and safeguard their dignity while monitoring developments in the capital of North Darfur State.

The regional government reiterated its full commitment to protecting civilians and ensuring their safety, continuing — in coordination with local authorities, traditional administrations, regular forces, and the federal police — efforts to strengthen stability and prevent any violations or abuses against citizens and their property.

It expressed deep concern over the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in Al-Fashir, caused by ongoing hostilities and restrictions on aid movement, which have led to severe shortages of food, medicine, and clean drinking water.