Port Sudan (Sudan) (AFP) – Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Thursday accused once again of committing “ethnic cleansing” and killings “which may indicate that genocide has occurred or is taking place” against the Masalit African ethnic group in El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state.
A man stands by as a cattle market area in El Fasher, the capital of Sudan’s North Darfur state, catches fire on September 1, 2023 following shelling by the Rapid © Support Forces (RSF) – AFP
The New York-based rights group published an 186-page report titled “Masalit will not return home: ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity in El Geneina,” a reference to the suffering of West Darfur’s most prominent non-Arab ethnic group, which uses El Geneina as its historic capital.
The report documents, according to Human Rights Watch, “the targeting by the RSF and Arab militias of predominantly Masalit neighborhoods of El Geneina in continuous waves of attacks from April to June, and a further escalation of abuse in early November.”
According to the report, “attacks by the Rapid Support Forces and allied militias in El Geneina, the capital of Sudan’s West Darfur state (…) It has killed at least thousands of people and left hundreds of thousands refugees,” she said, noting that more than half a million refugees fled from West Darfur to Chad between April and late October 2023, “75 per cent of whom were from El Geneina.”
The NGO asserted that “the targeting of Masalit and other non-Arab communities (…) The clear aim of getting them to leave the area permanently, constitutes ethnic cleansing.”
“The particular context in which the large-scale killings took place also raises the possibility that the RSF and its allies have an intention to destroy the Masalit in whole or in part in West Darfur,” the report quoted the executive director of the rights group Tirana Hassan.
“The particular context in which the large-scale killings took place also raises the possibility that the RSF and its allies intended to destroy at least all or part of the Masalit in West Darfur, which may indicate that genocide has occurred or is taking place there,” she said.
“The potential for genocide in Darfur requires urgent action by all governments and international institutions to protect civilians, and they should ensure that the facts investigate whether the facts show a specific intent on the part of the RSF leadership and its allies to destroy Masalit and other non-Arab ethnic communities in West Darfur,” the organization said in its report.
Screenshot from El Fasher city in North Darfur state on September 1, 2023 © – / AP / Archive
Hassan appealed to “governments, the African Union and the United Nations to act now to protect civilians.”
The violence in El Geneina began nine days after war broke out in Sudan on April 15th between the army led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. To date, the war has killed thousands of people, including up to 15,000 people in El Geneina, West Darfur state, according to UN experts.
The war has also pushed the country of 48 million people to the brink of famine, destroyed already dilapidated infrastructure and displaced more than 8.5 million people, according to the United Nations.
“They threw their bodies into the river”
According to the Human Rights Watch report, the violence “culminated in a large-scale massacre on June 15, when the RSF and its allies opened fire on a kilometer-long convoy of civilians trying to flee, accompanied by Masalit fighters.”
In November, the RSF again “targeted the Masalit (…) who sought refuge in the El Geneina suburb of Ardamatta, arrested men and children, and killed at least a thousand people, according to the UN.”
The report cited the testimony of a 17-year-old boy who witnessed the killing of 12 children and 5 adults from several families.
According to the report, “Two RSF forces … When the parents started screaming, two other forces shot them dead, then rounded up the children and shot them. And they threw their bodies and belongings into the river.
Human Rights Watch also documented the killing of Arab residents in Darfur and looting of their neighborhoods by the Masalit and asked the international community to “support the investigations of the International Criminal Court (…) to enable it to carry out its mission in Darfur and in its various agendas.”
On July 14th, the ICC launched an investigation into possible war crimes in Darfur, particularly sexual violence and the targeting of civilians based on their ethnicity.
