AI-generated video of mass grave falsely linked to Sudan war
- Published on July 2, 2026 at 13:07
- 2 min read
- By AFP Pakistan
Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in years of fighting between Sudan's regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), but footage circulating online does not show a mass grave in the country where people had been buried alive. While the RSF and militia groups have been accused of the atrocity, the clip shows signs it was made with AI.
"In Sudan, people were buried alive in the ground with their hands left sticking out. And behind the atrocity is the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which is providing billions of dollars in funding," reads the caption of an Urdu-language Facebook video shared on June 23.
It shows what appears to be a mass grave with lines of human arms extending out from the ground.
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Some 200,000 people have been killed in three years of fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) -- a conflict that has unleashed one of the world's worst humanitarian crises (archived link).
While both sides have been accused of atrocities, Amnesty International said in a report on July 1 that the RSF has been backed with a steady flow of weapons and other equipment from foreign backers, including the UAE (archived here and here).
A UAE official has denied its involvement in Sudan when commenting on a report from the Human Rights Watch (HRW) in May that made similar accusations, telling AFP that the country "does not permit its territory to be used for the recruitment, training, financing or transit of foreign fighters to any conflict, including Sudan" (archived here and here).
The HRW also accused in a 2024 report that the RSF and allied militias committed war crimes, including burying people alive along with corpses in the context of ethnic cleansing against the ethnic Massalit and other non-Arab populations in and around El-Geneina (archived link).
Similar claims were shared elsewhere on social media, including X and Instagram, but the video was not actually filmed in Sudan.
Made with AI
A reverse image search using keyframes led to a similar video published to the Facebook group "Crazed AI" on February 27 with a caption that reads: "Real or AI?" (archived link)
One of the group's rules states it only allows "AI images/videos", and features many other fabricated videos and images.
AFP reached out to the group's moderator for comment, but a response was not forthcoming.
The circulating clip also shows visual clues it was made with AI, including that all hands appear identical in shape, size and skin tone. Each also extends from the ground in the same way -- different from genuine human hands, which would display differences in skin tone, positioning and posture.
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The Verification Plugin -- also known as InVID-WeVerify -- also found the video has a "99 percent" likelihood of being AI-generated.
AFP has previously debunked other misinformation about the war in Sudan.
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