Beirut, Lebanon - Sudan's military is pushing for the retreat of the Paramilitary Rapid Support Force (RSF) from Khartoum, which has sparked hope for many re-stabilized capitals.

But local relief workers say they are worried they will be targeted for a wave of revenge.

"Every time the Army retakes a region, … they start targeting civilians and humanitarian volunteers. That's why we're all so scared." *Ahmed is a local relief volunteer for Sharq El-Nile, the area in Khartoum that threatens to retake it.

A war of local relief workers

Local volunteers like Ahmed are members of the Emergency Response Room (ERRS), who have led grass-roots networks of humanitarian responses since the outbreak in Sudan in April 2023.

Mistakes provide a variety of services such as supporting soup kitchens, safe spaces for women and children, and essential health care for patients and injuries.

Most people rely on donations from Sudanese diaspora and funding from international non-governmental organizations and UN agencies.

Despite their humanitarian role, both sides face arrests, kidnappings and extrajudicial killings in the conflict.

Many were targeted for their pro-democracy stance that threatened the then-joint joint RSF and military rule, after the mass uprising lowered former boss President Omar al- Bashir).

Four years later, the RSF and the Army cooperated to overthrow the civilian government and undermine democracy and put guns against each other. The war between the two sides killed thousands of people and, through most measures, caused the world's largest humanitarian crisis.

Most importantly, at least 112 wronged members have been killed since the beginning of the war. The actual losses may be higher due to fears that reporting attacks will lead to violent revenge.

As the army advances in Khartoum, many of the wrong members will worry about their lives and call for protection.

“We have been thinking about how to get some kind of protection (for the wrong members) and we need the international community to promote and advocate for us,” said Mokhtar Atif, a spokesperson for North Khartoum ERR volunteers.

According to volunteers, analysts and international aid workers, the military often engages in humanitarian activities as traitors in any humanitarian activity in the RSF area.

“Many volunteers refused to evacuate (from Khartoum) because unwanted UN (AIDS) convoys should arrive in the next few days” and the erroneous members needed to distribute aid to hungry civilians. Khartoum Error Coordination Committee.

“Many of these volunteers have caused them to be killed (by the army) and some have sent messages to us and their friends, which has taken them farewell,” he told Al Jazeera.

Surveillance and killing

Several ERR volunteers told Al Jazeera that they knew they were recently killed by the army and killed fellow militiamen in northern Khartoum.

They say their teams are overwhelmed by a huge humanitarian crisis and cannot accurately monitor attacks.

Al Jazeera sent a written question to Army spokesman Nabil Abdullah asking him to respond to the allegations that the military and consistent militia’s regaining of local activists and civilians as they regained Khartoum .

He did not respond before publication.

However, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement that it was aware that at least 18 people were killed in Army-affiliated fighters in northern Khartoum on January 25.

Al Jazeera cannot confirm whether any of the people killed were the wrong members.

The UN Human Rights Office also tried to verify the video, which showed combatants from the Baraa bin Malik Brigade, a militia supporting the army, read a long list of names and said "Zaili" and said "Zaili" - Arabic" Kill” - after each name.

"The Army has its own spies to monitor civilians who interact with the RSF," said an ERR member in Khartoum. "Asking for anonymity, they fear retaliation.

Kuka gives another reason why he believes the Army uses spies to monitor relief personnel.

He said one of his wronged members crossed a nearby town controlled by the army from the RSF area in Khartoum a month ago and was arrested a month ago.

The member suffered torture - Kuka did not disclose how - was accused of working with the RSF for working in a medical center that provides care for injured and patients.

According to Kuka, the Army told ERR members that it had been surveillance of the medical center for a long time and considered all staff RSF collaborators.

Dozens of people work in the center.

"The army knew people by name (voluntarily volunteered at the center) and they said they would get them," Kuka told Al Jazeera.

Smears and charges

Err members said that since the attack was launched in late September to carry out the capital, anonymous social media users have smeared local rescuers and other activists as RSF collaborators are in closed Facebook groups and private WhatsApp chats.

"Whenever the Army reoccupys new areas, there is always a spread of false information," Atif said.

Al Jazeera’s identity verification agency Sanad looked at screenshots of six Facebook posts that threatened people in Halafya near northern Khartoum.

The posts were uploaded by anonymous users and private groups, Sanard said.

Atif added that just as the army recaptured Harafia in early October, the posts began to circulate.

At the time, unspecified Sudanese expert Radhouane Nouicer said in a statement that he was shocked by reports of militias that were aligned with the Army, who executed at least in Halafya. 70 young people because they suspect they are RSF collaborators.

“These (smears on social media) began in September, just before the Army executed many civilians everywhere in Harafi,” Atif said.

Err members said the list of collaborators spread again as the army gained control over northern Khartoum.

A list circulated on WhatsApp, Al Jazeera accused 125 activists, politicians, medical staff and lawyers - conspiring against the military and the state.

Kuka said the wrong member was on the list, and several of his peers were also threatened with death on Facebook.

Escape

The killings carried out by the army's unanimous militia in Harafi forced many ERR volunteers to seek a way to escape from the vicinity of Khartoum to save themselves and their families.

Many say that military personnel who ruled on civilian costumes in Wad Madani, the capital of the state of Gezra, were equally feared, and the RSF surrendered to control a month ago.

Army General Wad Madani’s unarmed personnel targeted ethnic and tribal lines, accusing them of sympathizing with the RSF.

Although the army promised to investigate the incidents, local relief workers in Khartoum firmly believe that if they continue, they will suffer a similar fate.

"We know we will be the next step after the horror in Wad Madani," Ahmed said at Sharq El-Nile.

On Saturday, Ahmed gathered his family’s savings to evacuate his elderly mother to Darfur, a sprawling western region where RSF was almost in full control.

He hopes to raise enough funds to reunite his younger brother and younger sister with his mother in the coming days.

They plan to cross the border from Darfur into Chad, a country that has absorbed more than 700,000 Sudanese refugees. The vast majority escaped the atrocities and abuses of RSF.

Ahmed might join them, but his time runs out to escape. He relies on wrong members abroad to bring his money together so he can pay for transportation leaving the city.

"Everyone here (works in humanitarian work) is really scared. It's really scared," Ahmed said.

"Everyone (from the error) is now preparing to escape. If they can't afford to escape, they are looking for a way to get enough money and escape before the army arrives."

*The name has been changed to protect the source from possible revenge.