Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have committed crimes against humanity, including murder, torture, and rape, during their siege of the city of el-Fasher in the western region of Darfur, a human rights group reports.
The RSF’s campaign to seize the city resulted in widespread violence, with witnesses describing mass killings, sexual violence, and the deliberate targeting of children. The rights group has identified RSF commanders responsible for violations of international law and is calling for accountability.
Crimes Against Humanity in Darfur
The RSF’s crimes included ethnic cleansing, imprisonment, and enslavement, with many victims targeted and killed because of their ethnic identity. Arab fighters from the RSF went after members of local non-Arab communities, often using ethnic slurs.
The siege and takeover of el-Fasher marked one of the bloodiest episodes in Sudan’s civil war, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people and forced more than 14 million from their homes. Widespread sexual violence against men, women, and children is being used as a weapon of war, according to the UN.
A human rights group has released a report detailing dozens of accounts from over 200 survivors, including a 17-year-old boy who was attacked in Abu Zerega, a town south of el Fasher. The boy, who now uses crutches to walk, said eight of his cousins were killed in the same attack.
International Response and Implications
The report adds to mounting evidence of atrocities in el-Fasher, which the UN said early last year bore the “hallmarks of genocide.” International pressure has been increasing on the backers of this conflict to disengage, with aid agencies warning of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
The ongoing civil war in Sudan has significant implications for regional stability and global security, with the potential to exacerbate existing humanitarian crises and create new ones. As the international community continues to grapple with the crisis, it is clear that a lasting solution will require a concerted effort to address the root causes of the conflict and hold those responsible for atrocities accountable.
