The United Nations, on Tuesday (June 20) said that more than 2.5 million people have been uprooted since the conflict between Sudan’s army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) began. Meanwhile, Sudanese officials in Darfur have called for an international investigation amid reports of violence and civilians being killed or shot at as they have tried to escape by foot to Chad since last week.
Three-day ceasefire in Khartoum
There has been relative calm in the Sudanese capital as the 72-hour ceasefire United States-Saudi Arabia brokered deal brought some respite to the residents in Khartoum but is set to expire Wednesday morning. However, there has been a reported increase in cases of looting across the city.
A Sudanese army source told AFP, that a huge fire erupted at the intelligence headquarters in Khartoum and alleged that RSF had “bombarded the building and caused the fire”. This claim was later countered after an RSF source told the news agency that “an army drone bombed the building, where RSF fighters had gathered”.
So far, the fighting which first erupted in April has killed more than 2,000 people across Sudan, as per the data from Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project. Out of which up to 1,100 have been killed in the city of El Geneina alone which is the capital of West Darfur state, according to the US state department.
Sundanese people try to escape violence in Darfur
According to UN officials, the violence in Darfur, a region in Sudan with five provinces, has recently taken an ethnic dimension as RSF and Arab militias have reportedly been targeting non-Arab tribes in the region.
Reuters, citing witnesses, reported that assailants have targeted non-Arab residents by their skin colour. Recent reports have also said how the violence in the region’s El Geneina over the past two months has been driven by Arab nomadic tribes and the RSF.
In the past couple of weeks, residents have been fleeing the city en masse to get to the border on foot to neighbouring Chad. Speaking about the violence in El Geneina, Ibrahim, a resident who made it to the Chadian town of Adre, told Reuters how a large number of people tried to seek protection near the army headquarters in El Geneina on June 14 but were blocked.
“All of a sudden the militias came out and sprayed people with gunfire,” Ibrahim told Reuters from Adre, which is nearly 30 km away from the Sudanese city. He added, “We got surprised by thousands of people running back. People were killed, they were trampled.”
According to AFP, dead bodies were seen across the streets of El Geneina. The international medical relief organisation Doctors Without Borders or MSF, on Monday, said some 15,000 people had fled West Darfur in the past four days.
The organisation also said that many of those arriving from across the border to Chad have reported seeing people shot and killed as they tried to escape El Geneina. At least 150,000 people have fled Darfur into Chad since the beginning of the conflict, as per the UN.
A resident from the Sudanese city told the MSF, “It was a collective decision of the people of El Geneina to leave,” adding that “Most of them fled on foot heading northeast of El Geneina but many of them were killed on this route,” as per Reuters.
What have the officials said about this violence?
Mini Arko Minawi, the governor of Darfur, called on the UN Security Council to allow the International Criminal Court to probe “crimes and assassinations” which have taken place in the region in the past two months. Earlier this month, UN envoy to Sudan, Volker Perthes, referred to reports of attacks “allegedly committed by Arab militias and some armed men” in RSF uniform.
Perthes also said that the attacks included targeted killings, rapes and other atrocities which could amount to crimes against humanity. In a video posted on Monday, Minawi said, “What is happening in Darfur now is no less than what had happened in 2003,” referring to the genocidal war that took place in the region.
According to AFP, in an audio recording Tuesday RSF commander, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, denounced the “tribal conflict” in El Geneina. He also went on to claim that he had ordered his men “not to intervene” and accused the army of “distributing weapons” to civilians.
(With inputs from agencies)
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