Terror has a name in Darfur: the Rapid Support Forces. New evidence from Human Rights Watch reveals their role in a brutal campaign against ‘non-Arab’ minorities. “Masalit children were torn from their parents, thrown into a pile and shot dead,” witnesses said.
In the Sudanese region of Darfur, rebels from the Rapid Support Forces have been guilty of ethnic cleansing of the worst kind. This was stated by the human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a report that was made public today. The Masalit ethnic minority and other non-Arab communities in particular are victims of systematic violence.
More than a year ago, fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) began in the country. The United Nations also previously warned that there may be war crimes in Sudan. The US has accused both sides of war crimes. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the conflict and more than 8 million people have fled their homes.
Human Rights Watch now accuses the RSF of organizing a targeted campaign to exterminate Darfur’s non-Arab population shortly after the start of the war a year ago. The human rights organization has collected hundreds of chilling testimonies to support that charge. The violence, which included mass torture, rape and looting, reached a low point in mid-June when thousands of people were killed within days. From late April to early November last year, the RSF and allied militias “conducted a systematic campaign to remove ethnic Massalit, including by killing them,” HRW said.
Bulldozers
In the Darfur town of El-Geneina, where between 10,000 and 15,000 people have been killed since April last year, HRW found that Massalit neighborhoods have been “systematically dismantled, often with bulldozers, preventing civilians who have fled from returning to their homes.” . HRW recognizes ‘ethnic cleansing’ in this, because the attacks are aimed at ‘permanently expelling the population groups from the region’.
‘Two men from the Rapid Support Forces snatched children from their parents and when the parents started shouting, two other members of the RSF shot them. Then they threw the children into a pile and killed them, after which they threw their bodies into the river.’ This horrifying testimony comes from a 17-year-old survivor. He says that on June 15, 2023, five adults and twelve children were shot dead in cold blood in El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur, as they tried to escape the fighting. This is one of many testimonies included in the Human Rights Watch report.
Refugees
The RSF and their allies also attacked a mile-long refugee convoy. Witnesses described how militias chased and rounded up men, women and children running through the streets and then shot them, either as they tried to swim across the Kaja River. Many drowned. The refugees tried to reach neighboring Chad.
HRW is demanding that sanctions be imposed on those responsible for these crimes, including the RSF commander of West Darfur, Abdel Rahman Joma’a Barakallah, as well as the infamous RSF commander Mohamed ‘Hemeti’ Hamdan Dagalo and his brother Abdel Raheem.
HRW urges the United Nations to extend the arms embargo on Darfur to all of Sudan. The International Criminal Court (ICC) is investigating ethnic violence in Darfur.
The war between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese army led by General Al-Burhan broke out on April 15, 2023. After the coup that overthrew President Omar Al-Bashir in April 2019, RSF commander ‘Hemeti’ became vice president of the Sovereign Council, the transitional body that was supposed to lead the country before a civilian government was established. General Al-Burhan became president. But sharing power led to infighting that resulted in a wave of violence in April last year. Since then, more than 8 million people have fled the fighting.
As early as the early 2000s, many in West Darfur had to flee similar ethnic violence. Government-backed Arab militias – the so-called janjawid who now fall under the RSF – expelled ‘non-Arab’ (black) population groups from their country, including the Masalit. Looting took place on a large scale. Markets and hospitals were set on fire and sexual violence against women and girls was committed on a massive scale.
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Tags: Darfur relives nightmares NonArab minorities victims ethnic cleansing
