Hamdok in Cairo for meetings to end Sudan War

THIS man has the decency and patience of a saint. Anyone who speaks badly of him is a trouble maker who doesn't know how to give due respect. Sudan and South Sudan need more dedicated, honest, hardworking people like him.

Report from Asharq Al-Awsat aawsat.com website

Dated Saturday, 9 March 2024 - here is a copy in full:

Hamdok in Cairo to Push Forward Efforts to End Sudan War

Former Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok. (Reuters file photo)

A delegation from the Sudanese Coordination of Civil Democratic Forces (Taqaddum), led by former Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, kicked off on Friday a visit to Cairo to hold talks with senior Egyptian officials, officials from the Arab League and Sudanese figures residing in Egypt.

The visit is aimed at ending the war in Sudan, said a statement from the group.

Experts said Hamdok’s visit was significant and being held at a “suitable” time, predicting it could have a positive impact.

This is the former PM’s first visit to Egypt since the eruption of the war in mid-April 2023.

The Taqaddum statement added that the visit reflects the historic relations that bind the Sudanese and Egyptian people. It is also part of efforts carried out by the group with friendly countries to help end the war in Sudan.

Officials will discuss the “catastrophic humanitarian conditions endured by our people” and work on effectively responding to it, continued the statement.

“This demands determination from the main parties and regional and international coordination” to address the situation, it stressed.

The statement noted that Egypt is hosting hundreds of thousands of Sudanese people who fled the war, hoping that the visit would be a step forward in intensifying and coordinating efforts to put an end to the conflict.

The Sudanese Coordination of Civil Democratic Forces is a coalition of civil society, youth, vocational and feminist groups working towards bolstering democracy and human rights in Sudan.

The coalition has been active in recent months to help end the war between the army and Rapid Support Forces (RSF). It has held several meetings in neighboring countries to tackle the conflict.

Hamdok had earlier this year called for holding contacts with the army and RSF leaderships. In January, he met with RSF leader Mohammed Hamdan Daglo in Ethiopia.

Head of the head of the Sudanese Alliance Party and leading member of the central council of the Forces of Freedom and Change Kamal Ismail said several Sudanese civilian forces were counting on Cairo to play an effective role in helping end the war through the launch of a political process.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that the visit aims at intensifying efforts to end the war, tackling the humanitarian disaster in Sudan and coming up with political solutions.

He noted that the Sudanese Alliance Party had held intense dialogue with Sudanese political powers in recent months, revealing that they have succeeded in building the political ground and foundation for ending the war.

The details related to political issues can be discussed during the post-war phase through the support of Sudan’s neighbors, led by Egypt, that are keen on Sudan restoring its stability, he remarked.

Egypt had in July 2023 hosted a summit for Sudan’s neighbors, including Libya, Chad, Central Africa, South Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia.

The gatherers agreed on a communication mechanism led by their foreign ministers to discuss the necessary executive measures to tackle the consequences of the crisis on the future and stability of Sudan.

Cairo has also hosted in recent months meetings of a number of Sudanese political forces, including the central council of the Forces of Freedom and Change, that discussed coming up with a political framework to end the war. They also covered the democratic transition in the country.

Source: 

https://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/4901146-hamdok-cairo-push-forward-efforts-end-sudan-war

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UN experts: Sudan’s paramilitary forces carried out ethnic killings and rapes that may be war crimes - Darfur is experiencing “its worst violence since 2005”

EDITH LEDERER, an exceptional war journalist with 50 years experience, never fails to produce well written, accurate news reports devoid of sensationalism and spin. Proper reporting. Here is a good example. 

This report by Ms Lederer today states that a UN panel of experts said Darfur is experiencing “its worst violence since 2005.” Also, according to the panel, the “RSF’s takeover of Darfur relied on three lines of support: the Arab allied communities, dynamic and complex financial networks, and new military supply lines running through Chad, Libya and South Sudan.” 

Also, "while both the Sudanese military and RSF engaged in widespread recruitment drives across Darfur from late 2022, the RSF was more successful, the experts said. And it “invested large proceeds from its pre-war gold business in several industries, creating a network of as many as 50 companies.” The RSF’s complex financial networks “enabled it to acquire weapons, pay salaries, fund media campaigns, lobby, and buy the support of other political and armed groups,” the experts said". Read more.

From The Associated Press (AP)
BY EDITH M. LEDERER
Dated Friday, 01 March 2024, Updated 6:26 AM GMT. Here is a copy in full:

UN experts: Sudan’s paramilitary forces carried out ethnic killings and rapes that may be war crimes

FILE - Residents displaced from a surge of violent attacks squat on blankets and in hastily made tents in the village of Masteri in west Darfur, Sudan, on July 30, 2020. Paramilitary forces and their allied militias fighting to take power in Sudan carried out widespread ethnic killings and rapes while taking control of much of western Darfur that may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, according to a new report to the U.N. Security Council, obtained Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, by The Associated Press. (Mustafa Younes via AP, File)

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Paramilitary forces and their allied militias fighting to take power in Sudan carried out widespread ethnic killings and rapes while taking control of much of western Darfur that may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, United Nations experts said in a new report.

The report to the U.N. Security Council, obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, paints a horrifying picture of the brutality of the Arab-dominated Rapid Support Forces against Africans in Darfur. It also details how the RSF succeeded in gaining control of four out of Darfur’s five states, including through complex financial networks that involve dozens of companies.

Sudan plunged into chaos in April, when long-simmering tensions between its military led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary commanded by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, broke out into street battles in the capital, Khartoum.

Fighting spread to other parts of the country, but in Sudan’s Darfur region it took on a different form: brutal attacks by the RSF on African civilians, especially the ethnic Masalit.

Two decades ago, Darfur became synonymous with genocide and war crimes, particularly by the notorious Janjaweed Arab militias against populations that identify as Central or East African. It seems that legacy has returned, with the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor Karim Khan saying in late January there are grounds to believe both sides are committing possible war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide in Darfur.

The panel of experts said Darfur is experiencing “its worst violence since 2005.”

The ongoing conflict has caused a large-scale humanitarian crisis and displaced approximately 6.8 million people — 5.4 million within Sudan and 1.4 million who have fled to other countries, including approximately 555,000 to neighboring Chad, the experts said.

The RSF and rival Sudanese government forces have both used heavy artillery and shelling in highly populated areas, causing widespread destruction of critical water, sanitation, education and health care facilities.

In their 47-page report, the experts said the RSF and its militias targeted sites in Darfur where displaced people had found shelter, civilian neighborhoods and medical facilities.

According to intelligence sources, the panel said, in just one city — Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state near the Chad border — between 10,000 and 15,000 people were killed.

The experts said sexual violence by the RSF and its allied militia was widespread.

The panel said that, according to reliable sources from Geneina, women and girls as young as 14 years old were raped by RSF elements in a U.N. World Food Program storage facility that the paramilitary force controlled, in their homes, or when returning home to collect belongings after being displaced by the violence. Additionally, 16 girls were reportedly kidnapped by RSF soldiers and raped in an RSF house.

“Racial slurs toward the Masalit and non-Arab community formed part of the attacks,” the panel said. “Neighborhoods and homes were continuously attacked, looted, burned and destroyed,” especially those where Masalit and other African communities lived, and their people were harassed, assaulted, sexually abused, and at times executed.

The experts said prominent Masalit community members were singled out by the RSF, which had a list, and the group’s leaders were harassed and some executed. At least two lawyers, three prominent doctors and seven staff members, and human rights activists monitoring and reporting on the events were also killed, they said.

The RSF and its allied militias looted and destroyed all hospitals and medical storage facilities, which resulted in the collapse of health services and the deaths of 37 women with childbirth complications and 200 patients needing kidney dialysis, the panel said.

After the killing of the wali, or governor, of West Darfur in June, the report said, Masalit and African communities decided to seek protection at Ardamata, just outside Geneina. A convoy of thousands moved out at midnight but as they reached a bridge, RSF and allied militias indiscriminately opened fire, and survivors reported that an estimated 1,000 people were killed, they said.

The panel stressed that disproportionate and indiscriminate attacks on civilians — including torture, rapes and killings as well as destruction of critical civilian infrastructure — constitute war crimes under the 1949 Geneva conventions.

The RSF was formed out of Janjaweed fighters by Sudan’s former President Omar al-Bashir, who ruled the country for three decades, was overthrown during a popular uprising in 2019, and is wanted by the International Criminal Court for charges of genocide and other crimes during the conflict in Darfur in the 2000s.

According to the panel, the “RSF’s takeover of Darfur relied on three lines of support: the Arab allied communities, dynamic and complex financial networks, and new military supply lines running through Chad, Libya and South Sudan.”

While both the Sudanese military and RSF engaged in widespread recruitment drives across Darfur from late 2022, the RSF was more successful, the experts said. And it “invested large proceeds from its pre-war gold business in several industries, creating a network of as many as 50 companies.”

The RSF’s complex financial networks “enabled it to acquire weapons, pay salaries, fund media campaigns, lobby, and buy the support of other political and armed groups,” the experts said.

United States Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who visited Chad in September, called the report’s findings “horrific” and expressed “deep disappointment” that the U.N. Security Council and the international community have paid such little attention to the allegations.

“The people of Sudan feel that they have been forgotten,” she said.

In light of the humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan and the broader region, Thomas-Greenfield demanded that the Sudanese military lift its prohibition on cross-border assistance from Chad and facilitate cross-line assistance from the east. She also demanded in a statement Wednesday that the RSF halt the looting of humanitarian warehouses and that both parties stop harassing humanitarian aid workers.

“The council must act urgently to alleviate human suffering, hold perpetrators to account, and bring the conflict in Sudan to an end,” the U.S. ambassador said. “Time is running out.”

Source: https://apnews.com/article/sudan-paramilitary-ethnic-killings-united-nations-report-37eb2b6980e029d5603d83401619c85d

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The three guises of RSF terrorist group leader Hemeti

Report from Radio Dabanga website
Dated Thursday, 8 February 2024, 13:17 - here is a copy in full:

Sudan war: Hemedti laments human suffering amid daily RSF attrocities

The commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Lt Gen Mohamed ‘Hemedti’ Dagalo, has issued an “urgent call to the international community on the humanitarian crisis in Sudan”. Hemedti’s appeal has been met with cynicism amid widespread daily reports of rape, assault, and theft by RSF militiamen, ‘wreaking havoc’ in Darfur and other parts of Sudan that fall under the militia’s control.

In a lengthy statement posted on X (formerly Twitter) today, Hemedti points out: “Sudanese civilians find themselves in dire circumstances, facing the real possibility of starvation. This situation necessitates prompt action from regional and international organisations and agencies to provide urgent relief”.

In his statement, the RSF commander asserts that the war in Sudan, that broke out in April last year, “[was] ignited by remnants of the former regime and their allies within the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF).” He highlights that “the situation has deteriorated significantly, culminating in a famine in certain areas of the country”, and that “Sudanese civilians find themselves in dire circumstances, facing the real possibility of starvation.” He calls on “prompt action from regional and international organisations and agencies to provide urgent relief”.

"The three guises of  of RSF terrorist group leader Hemeti" 

Caption by Sudan Watch Editor 

Cartoon by Omar Dafallah / Radio Daganga

However, as previously reported by Radio Dabanga, mounting allegations from Sudan indicate that the RSF is part of the problem, rather than part of the solution. Marauding members of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are reportedly “wreaking havoc“ among civilians in parts of Sudan under the militia’s control. While individual incidents are often hard to verify, reports reaching Radio Dabanga show a clear pattern of widespread banditry, including murder, robbery, and sexual violence.

Humanitarian catastrophe

International aid organisations have long lamented the humanitarian catastrophe befalling Sudanese civilians, and a group of UN experts reported last week that “about 25 million people, including 14 million children, are in dire need of humanitarian assistance in Sudan”.

In today’s post on X, Hemedti says that the RSF “reaffirm our steadfast commitment to working with all international partners to facilitate the unrestricted delivery of humanitarian aid in Sudan, ensuring the welfare and safety of affected populations and humanitarian workers.”

However, as a few respondents voiced support for the RSF, most reactions scorned Hemedti’s remarks. “You are the main reason for war. You should be sent to International Criminal Court immediately for all crimes in Sudan,” says ‘Shadia’. In another response, ‘Sogra’ says: “RSF (Janjaweed) are responsible for the suffering of the Sudanese people. RSF started a war against Sudanese people and their army. RSF (Janjaweed) soldiers and leaders are criminals.”

UN relief

Yesterday, the United Nations and its partners appealed for a combined $4.1 billion to meet the most urgent humanitarian needs of civilians in war-torn Sudan and those who have fled to neighbouring countries.

A joint statement by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), pints out: “Ten months since the conflict erupted, half of Sudan’s population – some 25 million people – needs humanitarian assistance and protection. More than 1.5 million people have fled across Sudan’s borders to the Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia and South Sudan.”

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) coordinates the response inside Sudan, with this year’s Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan calling for $2.7 billion to reach 14.7 million people. UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, coordinates the Regional Refugee Response Plan, which requests $1.4 billion and targets nearly 2.7 million people in five countries neighbouring Sudan.

See the RSF commander Hemedti’s complete statement here.

See the joint OCHA and UNHCR statement here.

View original: https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/sudan-war-hemedti-laments-human-suffering-amid-daily-rsf-attrocities

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Panic grips Sudan as terrorists move toward south. Civilians flee Sudan register at UNHC in Renk S.Sudan

In Tambul, halfway between Khartoum and Wad Madani, witnesses said RSF members rampaged through one of the state's main markets, shooting into the air at random. And many who tried to flee the onslaught were unable to. Activists, who risk their lives to document the horrors, said the RSF had set up checkpoints across the state, stopping civilians as they tried to flee and ordering them to turn back. Read more.

Report from Daily Sabah

By Agence France-Presse - AFP
Al-Jazira State, Sudan
Dated Monday, 25 December 2023 5:54 PM GMT+3 - here is a copy in full:

Panic grips war-hit Sudan as paramilitaries move toward south

Civilians fleeing conflict in Sudan wait for asylum registration procedures at the U.N. High Commissioner, in Renk, South Sudan, Dec. 18, 2023. 

(AFP Photo)

The war-hit Sudan has plunged into a state of panic as reports emerged that the country's notorious paramilitary forces were moving south in their war against the army.

On a countryside road in battle-ravaged Sudan, the hum of a passing vehicle turns villagers' blood cold, fearing their arrival.

"They've created a state of total panic," said Rabab, who lives in a village north of Wad Madani, the Al-Jazira state capital and the latest site of fierce battles between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Like others AFP spoke to, she requested to be identified by first name only out of fear of retaliation from fighters who have consistently targeted civilians during more than eight months of war.

On Saturday at least eight people were killed by RSF fighters in a village in Al-Jazira state, witnesses told AFP, saying they had been shot after trying to stop their looting.

Just south of Khartoum, more than half a million people had sought shelter in Al-Jazira after the fighting overwhelmed the Sudanese capital.

This month, however, paramilitaries pressed deeper into the state and shattered one of the country's few remaining sanctuaries, forcing more than 300,000 people to flee once again, the United Nations said.

Those who remain – unable or unwilling to leave – have found themselves in what the Red Cross has called "another death trap."

Since April 15, Sudan has been gripped by a war pitting army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

By the end of November, at least 12,190 people had been killed in the fighting, according to a conservative estimate from the Armed Conflict and Location Event Data project.

The United Nations says more than 7 million people have been displaced by the war. At least 85,000 had sought refuge in Wad Madani.

In the village of Aykura, 30 kilometers (19 miles) north of Wad Madani, one resident told AFP by phone that "the RSF has taken everything – the cars, the trucks, the tractors."

He, too, stressed the need for anonymity to protect him from paramilitary violence.

'At war with us?'

Before the war, Al-Jazira was a key agricultural hub.

However, as the RSF has moved southwards from Khartoum it has taken over swathes of agricultural land and terrorised the farmers that till it.

By Saturday, RSF fighters were seen north of Sennar, about 140 kilometers south of Wad Madani, according to witnesses.

The RSF has become notorious for looting property, with civilians who fled watching in horror as fighters posted videos of themselves on social media taking joyrides in stolen cars and vandalizing homes.

In the market of Hasaheisa, a town 50 kilometers north of Wad Madani, an AFP correspondent saw shop doors flung open with the merchandise looters had not wanted strewn on the ground.

Omar Hussein, 42, stood in the wreckage of his family business.

Every store and vehicle they owned was destroyed. "Is the RSF at war with the army or with us?" he said.

On Saturday, fellow Hasaheisa resident Abdin found "seven men in RSF uniform carrying machine guns" at his door.

They questioned him about the car in his driveway, "and took it at gunpoint."

When Rabab was robbed, she did not receive the courtesy of a knock.

"They fired their guns in front of the house, stormed in and left no room unsearched," she said.

Free rein

Home invasions have been a hallmark of RSF takeovers – as have sexual assaults.

According to Sudan's Combating Violence Against Women Unit, most sexual violence occurs "inside homes, when gunmen – whom survivors describe as wearing RSF uniforms – break in and assault women and girls."

Both the RSF and the army have been accused of a range of systematic violations including indiscriminate shelling of residential neighborhoods, arbitrary detention of civilians and torture.

In Tambul, halfway between Khartoum and Wad Madani, witnesses said RSF members rampaged through one of the state's main markets, shooting into the air at random.

And many who tried to flee the onslaught were unable to.

Activists, who risk their lives to document the horrors, said the RSF had set up checkpoints across the state, stopping civilians as they tried to flee and ordering them to turn back.

Three days into the RSF's assault on Wad Madani, the army said it opened an investigation into "the retreat of forces from their positions" in the city.

Burhan warned every "negligent and complacent person" would be held to account after the RSF – accused of committing atrocities in the Darfur war where it fought on behalf of the army – had free rein.

View original: https://www.dailysabah.com/world/africa/panic-grips-war-hit-sudan-as-paramilitaries-move-toward-south

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