Amid the ongoing war in Sudan since mid-April between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, there have been conflicting stories about the reality and objectives of the war. It all started with the firing of the first shot, for which the two sides have accused each other of responsibility.
Conflicting facts extended from responsibility for starting battles to control the ground, and then events followed. Both sides of the conflict continued their parallel media war to bolster their narratives or attack their political and military opponents. To achieve this, dozens of accounts and pages on social media platforms support the parties to the conflict and spread misleading and fabricated information targeting Sudanese and international public opinions.
While the methods and tools of disinformation throughout the past months of the war have been conventional, in March it moved to a new stage of disinformation using artificial intelligence in the media war parallel to the war on the ground between the army and the Rapid Support Forces.
In this context, journalist and TV Talk Show presenter Jonny Gould published an audio video on February 14 on the X platform, claiming that it is a leaked call bringing together Sudanese Armed Forces Commander Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and Abdeen Al-Shami, the Deputy Chief of Operations. The audio content suggests that Al-Burhan ordered Al-Shami to occupy citizens’ homes and use them for military purposes, such as positioning snipers.
The audio clip was accompanied by a claim describing Burhan as the head of the Muslim Brotherhood in Sudan. According to the claim, in that call, he ordered those he referred to as “terrorists” to attack civilians, deploy snipers, and occupy buildings. He was quoted as saying, “Will the world call for a ceasefire now and protect the innocent in Sudan? No. Because Israel is not involved.” The clip was shared by pro-Israel groups, who accused international institutions of only caring about Israel’s violations and turning a blind eye to other violations and crimes in the world.
Johnny Gold, who posted the video, is a television presenter and British political commentator. He is known for being pro-Israel and supporting the normalization of relations between Israel and the UAE. Our team used the AI Voice Detector tool to analyze the audio and found that the sound was generated by artificial intelligence, hence it is fabricated.
The first person to retweet the fabricated audio clip was an account named Amjad Taha Emirati writer and policy expert who supports normalization between the UAE and Israel. According to his posts on the X platform, he supports Israel’s war on Gaza and also criticizes the Muslim Brotherhood in Sudan, Palestine, and other countries.
Just 10 minutes later, the manipulated audio clip was posted by a pro-Rapid Support account called (WdAl-Behair). The post claimed that the British and American press had revealed a leaked call that exposed Al-Burhan’s plan to kill civilians. The account referred to the American journalist @DrEliDavid. We checked his account and did not find the recording posted on the same day, or it may have been deleted. However, the account reposted it the next day.
The account named (WdAl-Behair) added that the audio comes within a series of recordings that they will publish later.
Then, a group of accounts advocating for Rapid Support Forces on X published and republished the audio from the British journalist John.
The next day, political figures such as former Anti Empowerment Committee/ Empowerment Removal Committee (ERC) member Salah Mannaa circulated a doctored audio clip on his X account. The clip contained an allegation in which the army commander describes Al-Burhan as the commander of the Ali-Karti militia (Secretary General of the Sudanese Islamic Movement).
Misleading Misinformation
On March 15, in response to Salah Manna’s tweet on Platform X, an account named “Abi” posted an audio clip. We used the AI Voice Detector tool to examine the clip, and the results indicated that the audio was artificially created. The content claimed to be a leaked recording of a meeting involving the Rapid Support Commander (Hemedti) with leaders of the Forces for Freedom, Change, and Progress. The clip included images and audio of the Rapid Support Commander (Hemedti), former Minister of Cabinet Affairs Khaled Omar Youssef, and the head of the People’s Movement democratic wing, Yasser Said Arman.
The account that posted the tweet admitted to intentionally faking the audio clip, warning against using such methods due to its poor quality.
However, the fake video mentioned was circulated and later published by Sudan National Television the next day. It claimed that the call brought together Khaled Omar Youssef, Yasser Arman, and Hemedti before the conflict began on April 15. The claim was that they were planning to destroy the country, and it added that the truth was now revealed to everyone.
On the same day, the video was published on several news sites’ accounts and pro-army pages on Facebook and other platforms. The video contained allegations that suggested Hemedti and the Forces for Freedom and Change coordinated before April 15 for the war to take place.
The clip was also published by Yasir Elhusseina Sudanese journalist, former editor-in-chief, and former deputy secretary-general of the Union of Journalists.
In a related context, on March 22, an account named Noor Dahri published a video clip with the claim that it was a call to the army commander Al-Burhan, who was described as the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Sudan, ordering his soldiers to attack civilians.
He also confirmed the same story published by the British journalist (John) in his fabricated first video, and that the ceasefire does not matter as long as Israel is not involved.
Nur Dahri identifies himself as the Executive Director of the ITCT Center in Britain. An institution that focuses on countering Islamic extremist ideology, providing in-depth research reports, and advisory services. Dahri is a pro-Zionist and a supporter of Israel, as well as an advocate for normalization between Israel and the UAE, according to his posts on the X platform.
It is noted that all the fabricated videos that targeted the Sudanese Armed Forces carry an allegation that confirms the rapid support media narrative and that it is fighting the Muslim Brotherhood in Sudan, claiming the latter controls the decision of the Sudanese army.
The video in question was shared by a set of accounts supporting the rapid support Forces, claiming that it was the second recording of al-Burhan ordering his soldiers to destroy citizens’ homes with heavy weapons.
In conclusion, the accounts that our team confirmed published false information targeting the Sudanese Armed Forces reinforced the media’s narrative that the rapid support is fighting Islamist groups in Sudan who have taken control of the army’s decision-making process. These accounts were in support of Zionist ideology and Israel. Additionally, the propaganda is circulated by accounts that promote normalization between the UAE and Israel. The accounts also falsely linked the events of Israel’s war on Gaza and the war in Sudan through fabricated information.
The pro-rapid support accounts widely disseminated fabricated audio clips with different allegations attacking the commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces and reinforcing the narrative of rapid support forces.
The pro-rapid support accounts widely disseminated fabricated audio clips with a different allegation attacking the commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces and reinforcing the narrative of rapid support.
In a similar context, our team looked into a fake video clip that was released by Sudan National Television. The video showed a meeting between the Rapid Support Commander and the Democratic Civil Forces Command, but it was created using artificial intelligence. This video was circulated by accounts and platforms that support the Sudanese army. They claimed that it proved the alliance between the Rapid Support and the Forces of Freedom and Change on April 15 and that this alliance was the main cause of the ongoing war.
The parties involved in the Sudan war are using advanced methods and tools, including artificial intelligence, to create false and misleading information. This is done to strengthen their narratives and sway public opinion both domestically and internationally.
