The New Arab Staff & Agencies
12 November, 2023
12 November, 2023
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have allegedly killed over 1000 non-Arab Masalit people in West Darfur, in what has been described as a "campaign of ethnic cleansing" amid Sudan's raging civil war.
The Rapid Support Forces, led by Hemedit, are comprised of the former Janjaweed militias that carried out genocide in Darfur in the recent past
The EU said Sunday it was "appalled" by reports of more than 1,000 people killed this month in Sudan's West Darfur in an apparent "ethnic cleansing campaign"by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
"These latest atrocities are seemingly part of a wider ethnic cleansing campaign conducted by the RSF with the aim to eradicate the non-Arab Masalit community from West Darfur, and comes on top of the first wave of large violence in June," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement.
Since April, forces loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan -- Sudan's de facto head of state -- have been at war with the RSF commanded by his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.
The European Union statement said there were "credible eyewitness reports (that) more than a thousand members of the Masalit community were killed in Ardamta, West Darfur, in just over two days, during major attacks carried out by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and its affiliated militias".
The toll was higher than a previous one of 800 given by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), which said 100 shelters in a displaced persons' camp in Ardamta had been razed.
The human cost of Sudan's spiralling war
"What is happening is verging on pure evil," the UN humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, Clementine Nkweta-Salami, said Friday, citing reports of young girls being raped in front of their mothers.
She voiced fears of a repeat of the genocide campaign that gripped Darfur in the early 2000s.
The EU stressed that Sudan's warring sides "have a duty to protect citizens". It said it was working with the International Criminal Court to document violations "to ensure accountability".
"The international community cannot turn a blind eye on what is happening in Darfur and allow another genocide to happen in this region," it said.
More than 10,000 people have been killed in the Sudan conflict so far, according to a conservative estimate by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data project.
The war has displaced more than 4.8 million people within Sudan and has forced a further 1.2 million to flee into neighbouring countries, according to UN figures.
"These latest atrocities are seemingly part of a wider ethnic cleansing campaign conducted by the RSF with the aim to eradicate the non-Arab Masalit community from West Darfur, and comes on top of the first wave of large violence in June," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement.
Since April, forces loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan -- Sudan's de facto head of state -- have been at war with the RSF commanded by his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.
The European Union statement said there were "credible eyewitness reports (that) more than a thousand members of the Masalit community were killed in Ardamta, West Darfur, in just over two days, during major attacks carried out by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and its affiliated militias".
The toll was higher than a previous one of 800 given by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), which said 100 shelters in a displaced persons' camp in Ardamta had been razed.
The human cost of Sudan's spiralling war
"What is happening is verging on pure evil," the UN humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, Clementine Nkweta-Salami, said Friday, citing reports of young girls being raped in front of their mothers.
She voiced fears of a repeat of the genocide campaign that gripped Darfur in the early 2000s.
The EU stressed that Sudan's warring sides "have a duty to protect citizens". It said it was working with the International Criminal Court to document violations "to ensure accountability".
"The international community cannot turn a blind eye on what is happening in Darfur and allow another genocide to happen in this region," it said.
More than 10,000 people have been killed in the Sudan conflict so far, according to a conservative estimate by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data project.
The war has displaced more than 4.8 million people within Sudan and has forced a further 1.2 million to flee into neighbouring countries, according to UN figures.
Sudan: More than 800 reportedly killed in Darfur attack, UN says
The New Arab Staff & Agencies
12 November, 2023
More than 800 people were reportedly killed when fighters from a paramilitary force and their allied Arab militias rampaged through a town in Darfur, the UN has said.
A UN official has called the Sudan conflict 'one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in recent history'
Fighters from a paramilitary force and their allied Arab militias rampaged through a town in Sudan’s war-ravaged region of Darfur, reportedly killing more than 800 people in a multi-day attack, doctors and the UN said.
The attack on Ardamata in West Darfur province earlier this month was the latest in a series of atrocities in Darfur that marked the monthslong war between the Sudanese military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Sudan has been engulfed in chaos since in mid-April, when simmering tensions between military chief Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan and the commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, exploded into open warfare.
The war came 18 months after both generals removed a transitional government in a military coup. The military takeover ended Sudan's short-lived fragile transition to democracy following a popular uprising that forced the overthrow of longtime strongman Omar al-Bashir in April 2019.
In recent weeks the RSF advanced in Darfur, taking over entire cities and towns across the sprawling region, despite the warring parties’ return to the negotiating table in Saudi Arabia late last month.
The first round of talks, brokered by the US and Saudi Arabia, failed to establish a cease-fire.
The dayslong attack in Ardamata came after the RSF took over a military base in the town after a brief fighting on 4 November with troops there, said Salah Tour, head of the Sudanese Doctor’s Union in West Darfur. He said the military withdrew from the base, adding that around two dozen wounded troops fled to Chad.
After seizing the military base, the RSF and their allied Arab militias rampaged through the town, killing non-Arabs inside their homes and torching shelters housing displaced people, Tour said.
"They violently attacked the town," he said, adding that the RSF and their militias targeted the African Masalit tribe. "They went from house to house, killing and detaining people."
The Darfur Bar Association, an advocacy group, accused RSF fighters of committing "all types of serious violations against defenceless civilians" in Ardamata.
It cited an attack on 6 November during which the RSF killed more than 50 people including a tribal leader and his family.
The UNHCR said more than 800 people have been reportedly killed and 8,000 others fled to neighbouring Chad. The agency, however, said the number of people who fled was likely to be an underestimate due to challenges registering new arrivals to Chad.
The agency said about 100 shelters in the town were razed to the ground and extensive looting has taken place there, including humanitarian aid belonging to the agency.
"Twenty years ago, the world was shocked by the terrible atrocities and human rights violations in Darfur. We fear a similar dynamic might be developing," said UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi.
The US State Department said it was "deeply disturbed by eyewitness reports of serious human rights abuses by the RSF and affiliated militias, including killings in Ardamata and ethnic targeting of the Masalit community leaders and members.
"These horrifying actions once again highlight the RSF’s pattern of abuses in connection with their military offensives," it said in a statement.
Ardamata is located a few kilometers (miles) north of Geneina, the provincial capital of West Darfur. The RSF and Arab militias launched attacks on Geneina, including a major assault in June that drove more of its non-Arab populations into Chad and other areas in Sudan.
The paramilitary group and its allied Arab militias were also accused by the UN and international rights groups of atrocities in Darfur , which was the scene of a genocidal campaign in the early 2000s . Such atrocities included rape and gang rape in Darfur, but also in the capital, Khartoum.
Almost all reported cases were blamed on the RSF.
The UN Human Rights Office said in July a mass grave was found outside Geneina with at least 87 bodies, citing credible information. Such atrocities prompted the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor to declare that he was investigating alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the latest fighting in Darfur.
The conflict killed about 9,000 people and created “one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in recent history,” according to the UN Undersecretary-General Martin Griffiths.
More than 6 million people were also forced out of their homes, including 1.2 million who have sought refuge in neighboring countries, according to the UN figures.
The fighting initially centered in Sudan's capital, Khartoum, but quickly spread to other areas across the east African nation, including Darfur.
It turned the capital into a battle ground, wrecking most of civilian infrastructure, most recently the collapse of a bridge over the Nile River connecting Khartoum’s northern part with the capital’s sister city of Omdurman.
Both sides traded accusations of having exploded the Shambat bridge.
The New Arab Staff & Agencies
12 November, 2023
More than 800 people were reportedly killed when fighters from a paramilitary force and their allied Arab militias rampaged through a town in Darfur, the UN has said.
A UN official has called the Sudan conflict 'one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in recent history'
Fighters from a paramilitary force and their allied Arab militias rampaged through a town in Sudan’s war-ravaged region of Darfur, reportedly killing more than 800 people in a multi-day attack, doctors and the UN said.
The attack on Ardamata in West Darfur province earlier this month was the latest in a series of atrocities in Darfur that marked the monthslong war between the Sudanese military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Sudan has been engulfed in chaos since in mid-April, when simmering tensions between military chief Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan and the commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, exploded into open warfare.
The war came 18 months after both generals removed a transitional government in a military coup. The military takeover ended Sudan's short-lived fragile transition to democracy following a popular uprising that forced the overthrow of longtime strongman Omar al-Bashir in April 2019.
In recent weeks the RSF advanced in Darfur, taking over entire cities and towns across the sprawling region, despite the warring parties’ return to the negotiating table in Saudi Arabia late last month.
The first round of talks, brokered by the US and Saudi Arabia, failed to establish a cease-fire.
The dayslong attack in Ardamata came after the RSF took over a military base in the town after a brief fighting on 4 November with troops there, said Salah Tour, head of the Sudanese Doctor’s Union in West Darfur. He said the military withdrew from the base, adding that around two dozen wounded troops fled to Chad.
After seizing the military base, the RSF and their allied Arab militias rampaged through the town, killing non-Arabs inside their homes and torching shelters housing displaced people, Tour said.
"They violently attacked the town," he said, adding that the RSF and their militias targeted the African Masalit tribe. "They went from house to house, killing and detaining people."
The Darfur Bar Association, an advocacy group, accused RSF fighters of committing "all types of serious violations against defenceless civilians" in Ardamata.
It cited an attack on 6 November during which the RSF killed more than 50 people including a tribal leader and his family.
The UNHCR said more than 800 people have been reportedly killed and 8,000 others fled to neighbouring Chad. The agency, however, said the number of people who fled was likely to be an underestimate due to challenges registering new arrivals to Chad.
The agency said about 100 shelters in the town were razed to the ground and extensive looting has taken place there, including humanitarian aid belonging to the agency.
"Twenty years ago, the world was shocked by the terrible atrocities and human rights violations in Darfur. We fear a similar dynamic might be developing," said UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi.
The US State Department said it was "deeply disturbed by eyewitness reports of serious human rights abuses by the RSF and affiliated militias, including killings in Ardamata and ethnic targeting of the Masalit community leaders and members.
"These horrifying actions once again highlight the RSF’s pattern of abuses in connection with their military offensives," it said in a statement.
Ardamata is located a few kilometers (miles) north of Geneina, the provincial capital of West Darfur. The RSF and Arab militias launched attacks on Geneina, including a major assault in June that drove more of its non-Arab populations into Chad and other areas in Sudan.
The paramilitary group and its allied Arab militias were also accused by the UN and international rights groups of atrocities in Darfur , which was the scene of a genocidal campaign in the early 2000s . Such atrocities included rape and gang rape in Darfur, but also in the capital, Khartoum.
Almost all reported cases were blamed on the RSF.
The UN Human Rights Office said in July a mass grave was found outside Geneina with at least 87 bodies, citing credible information. Such atrocities prompted the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor to declare that he was investigating alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the latest fighting in Darfur.
The conflict killed about 9,000 people and created “one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in recent history,” according to the UN Undersecretary-General Martin Griffiths.
More than 6 million people were also forced out of their homes, including 1.2 million who have sought refuge in neighboring countries, according to the UN figures.
The fighting initially centered in Sudan's capital, Khartoum, but quickly spread to other areas across the east African nation, including Darfur.
It turned the capital into a battle ground, wrecking most of civilian infrastructure, most recently the collapse of a bridge over the Nile River connecting Khartoum’s northern part with the capital’s sister city of Omdurman.
Both sides traded accusations of having exploded the Shambat bridge.
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