Ethnic cleansing in Darfur and possibly even genocide, says Human Rights Watch

NOS News•today, 12:44

According to Human Rights Watch, the excessive violence that the Sudanese rebel movement RSF has caused in the Darfur region is ethnic cleansing. The human rights organization investigated the town of el-Geneina in the Sudanese region, where thousands of people died last year due to violence by the rebel army and Arab militias against Sudanese of African descent.

Refugee residents of the city speak of looting, rape and murder by the rebel movement. Human Rights Watch (HRW) also suspects in the report that people from the Masalit ethnic group were deliberately searched for, which would amount to genocide. HRW wants this to be further investigated by the international community.

Five years ago, autocratic leader Omar al-Bashir was deposed in Sudan after three decades. The coup was carried out by the regular Sudanese army SAF and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF), but the parties subsequently failed to agree on the division of power. In April last year, fighting broke out in the capital Khartoum and other parts of the country.

Both parties are supported and opposed by other groups. The warring parties made several ceasefire deals, but each time the agreement was violated.

According to the Red Cross, the conflict receives too little attention due to other crises in the world and the number of deaths can only be estimated. According to the UN, more than eight million people have fled in one year.

Correspondent Elles van Gelder made this report in September in a refugee camp in Chad, on the border with Sudan:

Residents fled ethnic violence in Darfur: ‘These are systematic attacks’

It is not the first time that there has been ethnic violence in Darfur. Twenty years ago, an estimated 300,000 Sudanese of African descent were killed. At the time the Arab militias were called Janjaweed, the RSF is a continuation of that.

Western countries have evacuated their citizens from Sudan; the Sudanese population is lagging behind. The International Criminal Court is investigating ethnic violence in Darfur.