Gunmen killed at least 40 civilians in a single day in Sudan’s Darfur region as ethnically motivated bloodshed has escalated in step with war between rival military factions, Human Rights Watch reported on Tuesday.
In the West Darfur city of El Geneina, several prominent figures have been killed in recent days and volunteers are struggling to bury corpses littering the streets, the Darfur Bar Association, which monitors the conflict, said in a statement.
A Sudanese national flag is attached to a machine gun of a paramilitary Rapid Support Forces soldier as they wait for the arrival of Lieutenant General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, deputy head of the military council and head of RSF, before a meeting in Aprag village 60, kilometers away from Khartoum, Sudan, on 22nd June, 2019. PICTURE: Reuters/Umit Bektas//File photo
SUDAN’S ARMY-ALIGNED FOREIGN MINISTRY REJECTS EAST AFRICAN PEACE BID
Sudan’s army-aligned foreign ministry on Tuesday rejected a regional summit’s proposal to consider deploying peacekeeping forces to protect civilians, dashing tentative hopes the gathering might help efforts to end a near three-month-old war.
The violent power struggle between the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces since 15th April has killed more than 1,000 civilians and displaced 2.9 million, according to the United Nations.
Neither side has gained a clear advantage, and much of the capital has been abandoned or destroyed while mediation efforts thus far have failed.
The summit, held by East African regional body IGAD and attended by heads of states as well as representatives of several other countries and bodies, had suggested considering the deployment of regional peacekeeping forces and the further involvement of civilians in talks.
It represented the first such meeting in weeks, after a separate set of talks in Jeddah had been suspended by the United States and Saudi Arabia after numerous ceasefire violations.
The army had boycotted the IGAD mediation effort, accusing Kenya, which headed the effort, of providing a haven to the Rapid Support Forces.
“The disrespect of IGAD towards the opinions of its member states will cause the Sudanese government to re-think the utility of its membership in the organisation,” the foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
“The Sudanese government rejects the deployment of foreign forces in Sudan and will consider them enemy forces,” it added.
The statement did welcome an upcoming summit held by Egypt, widely-seen as closer to the army than to the RSF, to be held later this week.
The IGAD summit, held in Addis Ababa, had featured American representatives, who in statements appeared to reject the prospect of future military rule in Sudan.
“Reaching a negotiated settlement does not – and cannot – mean returning to the status quo that existed before April 15,” said US Ambassador John Godfrey.
– NAFISA ELTAHIR and KHALID ABDEL-AZIZ, Cairo, Egypt/Reuters
Violence and displacement in Darfur has resurged sharply as the regular army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces continue to battle in the capital Khartoum and other areas of Sudan in a power struggle that exploded in mid-April.
The conflict has uprooted over 2.9 million people and sent almost 700,000 fleeing into neighbouring countries. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said last week that Sudan, Africa’s third largest country by land area, was on the brink of full-scale civil war that could destabilise the wider region.
In El Geneina, witnesses have reported waves of attacks by Arab militias and the RSF against the non-Arab Masalit people, the largest community in the city, that have sent tens of thousands of people fleeing across the nearby border with Chad.
In a new report, Human Rights Watch said it had documented the killings of at least 40 civilians, including the execution of at least 28 Masalits, in the West Darfur town of Misterei, 45 kilometres from El Geneina.
RSF forces and allied Arab militias surrounded Misterei early on 28th May, entered homes and schools and shot civilians at close range before pillaging and burning most of the town, the HRW report said.
Local officials later said 97 people had died including members of a self-defence force, and HRW called on the International Criminal Court to investigate the violence.
“The accounts of those who survived recent attacks in West Darfur echo the horror, devastation, and despair of Darfur 20 years ago,” said Jean-Baptiste Gallopin, HRW senior crisis and conflict researcher.
Human Rights Watch said it had shared its findings with the RSF and received no response. The RSF – many of whose fighters came from the Arab Janjaweed militia blamed for ethnic atrocities in Darfur’s conflict two decades ago – has previously denied responsibility for killings in the region and has said any members found to be involved in abuses will be held to account.
The United Nations estimates that over 300,000 people have been displaced within West Darfur alone since the armed conflict started on 15th April. About 217,000 have fled to Chad, 98 per cent of them from the Masalit community, HRW says.
The army and the RSF seized full power in a coup in 2021 before falling out amid disputes over an internationally-backed plan for a transition to civilian democratic government.
International efforts to broker an end to the fighting have shown little sign of progress.
This story initially headlined “Random shelling kills 34 people, including children, in Sudan-health authorities” has been withdrawn by Reuters. At this time, Reuters can not determine the veracity of the web site that posted the information and is unable to immediately verify the information.
