Gruesome new testimony details one of the worst atrocities of the year-long Sudanese civil war – the large-scale massacre of civilians as they desperately tried to flee an ethnic rampage in Darfur last summer.
Together, the 221 witness statements collated by Human Rights Watch offer the latest evidence that the Arab-led RSF has orchestrated a concerted 12-month campaign of ethnic cleansing against Sudan’s non-Arab Masalit tribe in West Darfur.
The current flashpoint, El Fasher, is the last city held by Sudan’s military in Darfur.
The city is encircled by the RSF, and diplomats fear it is on the “precipice of a large-scale massacre”.
“Then they piled up the children and shot them,” he said.
Other attacks chronicled by HRW include another RSF attack on 15 June on a makeshift medical clinic in El Geneina, where 25 injured patients were seeking treatment.
At about 5pm, seven armed men in uniform came into the clinic, beating him and using racial slurs.
We want to torture you, Nuba [an ethnic slur]!’” Ali was rescued by his family hours later after the gunmen left the clinic.
One of the worst atrocities of the year-long Sudanese civil war is described in graphic new testimony: the widespread killing of civilians who were attempting in vain to escape an ethnic rampage in Darfur last summer.
Witnesses recount how the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) “piled up and shot” still-alive children as they tried to flee El Geneina, the regional capital, in June of last year during an ethnic violence outbreak that claimed thousands of civilian lives.
The 221 witness statements compiled by Human Rights Watch collectively provide the most recent proof that the RSF, led by Arabs, has planned a coordinated 12-month ethnic cleansing campaign against the non-Arab Masalit tribe of Sudan in West Darfur.
According to Human Rights Watch, in order to safeguard civilians, the African Union and the United Nations should immediately impose an arms embargo on Sudan and send a mission with a strong police force to Darfur, the country’s vast western region.
In a report released on Wednesday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) demands that those ultimately accountable for massive war crimes be sanctioned. These individuals include the commander of the RSF in West Darfur, Abdel Rahman Joma’a Barakallah, as well as the notorious Mohamed “Hemedti” Hamdan Dagalo and his brother Abdel Raheem.
More than 8 million people have fled their homes as a result of fighting that broke out between the RSF and Sudan’s military in April 2023. The UN warns that this humanitarian crisis is one of the worst in decades.
The final Darfuri city under Sudanese military control is El Fasher, the current flashpoint. Diplomats fear that the city is on the “precipice of a large-scale massacre” because the RSF has surrounded it.
“The large-scale atrocities committed in El Geneina should be seen as a reminder of the atrocities that could come in the absence of concerted action,” stated Human Rights Watch executive director Tirana Hassan. “As the UN security council and governments wake up to looming disaster in El Fasher.”. “.
When the RSF and its allies attacked a civilian convoy stretching kilometers as it attempted to flee El Geneina, escorted by Masalit fighters, it was one of the worst incidents of the civil war in Sudan.
When men, women, and children ran through the streets or tried to cross the seasonal Kaja River, which flows quickly through the city, the RSF pursued them, rounded them up, and shot them, witnesses told HRW researchers. Many of them perished by drowning.
On June 15, twelve children and five adults were killed. The 17-year-old boy who recounted the events said that “two RSF forces… grab[bed] the children from their parents and, as the parents started screaming, two other RSF forces shot the parents, killing them.”.
He continued, “After that, they shot and piled up the kids.”. Their possessions were thrown into the river along with their bodies. “.
Tens of thousands of civilians were targeted by attacks as they attempted to cross into Chad during the remainder of the day and the days that followed.
A second RSF attack on a makeshift medical clinic in El Geneina on June 15, where 25 injured patients were receiving treatment, is among the other attacks that HRW has documented.
Ali stated: “They started shooting at us and killed everyone except me and a woman [who was also wounded].” Ali had previously been shot in the leg during an attack. My right arm was shot by them. I knelt down and pretended to be dead. “.
Ali and the woman remained motionless for ten hours amid the corpses, while the RSF persisted in their attack on the city.
Around 5:00 p.m., he was beaten and subjected to racial epithets by seven armed and uniformed men who entered the clinic.
One of them exclaimed, “We want to torture you, Nuba [an ethnic slur]! We won’t kill you!”.
Hours after the gunmen fled the clinic, Ali’s family came to his aid.
