UK is sending Darfur Sudan war crimes evidence to UN Security Council, UN Human Rights Council & ICC

UK is penholder on Sudan file at UN Security Council. The ICC launched a new investigation into alleged war crimes in Sudan in July with ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan saying “we are in the midst of a human catastrophe”.

Read more in a report at the Guardian

By Patrick Wintour Diplomatic Editor
Dated Tue 22 Aug 2023 17.25 BST; Last modified 17.59 BST - full copy:

War crimes being committed in Darfur, says UK minister Andrew Mitchell

Africa minister says civilian death toll horrific and UK is to send evidence to UN

Sudanese people fleeing the conflict in Darfur cross the border between Sudan and Chad in Adre. Photograph: Zohra Bensemra/Reuters

War crimes and atrocities against civilians are being committed in Darfur, western Sudan, the UK’s Africa minister Andrew Mitchell said on Tuesday, becoming one of the first western officials to identify that the fighting in Sudan has developed into more than a power struggle between two rival factions.

Mitchell said there was growing evidence of serious atrocities being committed, describing the civilian death toll as horrific in a statement released by the Foreign Office. “Reports of deliberate targeting and mass displacement of the Masalit community in Darfur are particularly shocking and abhorrent. Intentional directing of attacks at the civilian population is a war crime.”

He added the UK would do all it could to assemble credible evidence to present to the UN security council, the UN Human Rights Council and the international criminal court.

There had been an expectation that the US would have explicitly joined the UK in making a formal atrocity determination, but so far the State Department has held off, partly because the US does not want to jeopardise talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, designed to end the civil war between Sudanese Armed Forces and the independent Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Observers claim the larger power struggle that broke out in April, with fighting in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, has provided cover for RSF allied forces to undertake ethnic cleansing in west Darfur, reviving memories of the genocide committed in Darfur 20 years ago.

The attacks on the Masalit and other ethnic communities are led by the Janjaweed militias allied with the RSF. The RSF is commanded by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo.

More than 300,000 Sudanese nationals have crossed the border into neighbouring Chad since the conflict broke out, according to the UN’s migratory agency.

Africa minister Andrew Mitchell is one of the first western officials to identify that the fighting in Sudan is more than a struggle between two factions. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Kate Ferguson, co-executive director of the human rights NGO Protection Approaches, welcomed Mitchell’s statement saying: “He is absolutely right to condemn not only the armed conflict between the SAF and RSF which is devastating Sudan but also to highlight the deliberate targeting and mass displacement of non-Arab communities in Darfur.

“These two related but distinct trajectories of violence require related but distinct solutions; this reality must be a cornerstone for the UK government and the entire international system in the pursuit of peace in Sudan.

The Saudi peace talks rely on progress being made between different bad faith actors over which Riyadh seems to have little leverage. Others say the true external players in Sudan are Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, which are closely linked to the SAF and RSF respectively.

The ICC launched a new investigation into alleged war crimes in Sudan in July with ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan saying “we are in the midst of a human catastrophe”.

The UK has imposed sanctions on businesses linked to the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces in an effort to register its disapproval.

View original: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/22/war-crimes-being-committed-in-darfur-says-uk-minister-andrew-mitchell

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Sudan: Facebook removed RSF and leader's Hemeti's account. Next @X @elonmusk @instagram please?

WONDERING why Sudan's RSF is not classed as a terrorist organisation. It's all over the place, terrorising, attacking, killing, raping unarmed civilians and children, torturing and executing PoWs, fighting and killing government forces in order to take over Sudan's military, government, land and riches.

Here is a copy of a tweet by Cameron Hudson (@_hudsonc) 4:17 PM Aug 11, 2023 regarding Facebook removing the RSF's and Hemeti's account. It says, Alhamdulillah. Now @X @elonmusk @instagram https://t.co/Bc2RAH9hqI

Alhamdulillah. Now @X @elonmusk @instagram https://t.co/Bc2RAH9hqI

— Cameron Hudson (@_hudsonc) August 11, 2023

UN blames Sudan's RSF over 'mass grave' in Darfur

Report at Reuters.com
By Emma Farge and Khalid Abdelaziz
Published Thursday 13 July 2023; 3:58 PM GMT+1 - here is a full copy:

At least 87 buried in Sudan mass grave, including women, children, UN says

Summary

- Victims buried in shallow grave near El Geneina

- Paramilitary force RSF denies any involvement

- Women and children among the dead, UN says

- Darfur violence recalls 'Janjaweed' killings of 2000s

GENEVA, July 13 (Reuters) - The U.N. human rights office said on Thursday at least 87 people including women and children had been buried in a mass grave in Sudan's West Darfur, saying it had credible information they were killed by the country's Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

RSF officials denied any involvement, saying the paramilitary group was not a party to the conflict in West Darfur.

Ethnically motivated bloodshed has escalated in recent weeks in step with fighting between rival military factions that erupted in April and has brought the country to the brink of civil war. In El Geneina, witnesses and rights groups have reported waves of attacks by the RSF and Arab militias against the non-Arab Masalit people, including shootings at close range.

"According to credible information gathered by the Office, those buried in the mass grave were killed by RSF and their allied militia around 13-21 June...," the U.N. statement said.

Local people were forced to dispose of the bodies including those of women and children in the shallow grave in an open area near the city between June 20-21, it added. Some of the people had died from untreated injuries, it said.

"I condemn in the strongest terms the killing of civilians and hors de combat individuals, and I am further appalled by the callous and disrespectful way the dead, along with their families and communities, were treated," said U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk in the same statement, calling for an investigation.

Sudanese people, who fled the violence in their country and newly arrived, wait to be registered at the camp near the border between Sudan and Chad in Adre, Chad April 26, 2023. REUTERS/Mahamat Ramadane/File Photo

An RSF senior official who declined to be identified said it "completely denies any connection to the events in West Darfur as we are not party to it, and we did not get involved in a conflict as the conflict is a tribal one."

Another RSF source said it was being accused due to political motivations from the Masalit and others. He reiterated that the group was ready to participate in an investigation and to hand over any of its forces found to have broken the law.

It was not possible to determine exactly what portion of the dead were Masalits, a U.N. spokesperson added.

The ethnic killings have raised fears of a repeat of the atrocities perpetuated in Darfur after 2003, when "Janjaweed" militias from which the RSF was formed helped the government crush a rebellion by mainly non-Arab groups in Darfur, killing some [SW Ed: allegedly] 300,000 people. Sudanese civilians have fled the area on foot, some having been killed or shot as they escaped.

"This report is a good first step, but more efforts are needed to uncover more violations," said Ibrahim, a refugee in neighbouring Chad, who asked to withhold his last name for fear of retribution.

Army spokesperson Brigadier General Nabil Abdullah told Reuters the incident "rises to the level of war crimes and these kinds of crimes should not pass without accountability."

"This rebel militia is not against the army but against the Sudanese citizen, and its project is a racist project and a project of ethnic cleansing," he said.

Play Video: Report from Khartoum, Sudan

(Reporting by Emma Farge in Geneva and Khalid Abdelaziz in Dubai; Additional reporting by Nafisa Eltahir in Cairo; Editing by Rachel More and William Maclean)

View original and video:  https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/least-87-buried-mass-grave-sudans-west-darfur-un-2023-07-13

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VIDEO GENEINA DARFUR: Sudan’s warring leaders agree new 7-day ceasefire – but civil war fears grow

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: This depressing stomach churning video also provides Matt Frei’s video interview with Professor Mukesh Kapila, UN humanitarian co-ordinator in Sudan, 2003-2004 who predicts the current Sudan crisis, not yet called a civil war, to result in 2 million or more refugees.

Report from Channel 4 News UK

By Lindsey Hilsum

International Editor

Dated Tuesday 2 May 2023 - full copy:

Sudan’s warring generals agree new ceasefire – but civil war fears grow

Sudan’s warring generals have agreed – in principle at least – to a seven day ceasefire starting on Thursday [May 4], as fighting continues in the capital Khartoum.

That’s where much of the focus on this conflict has been –  but we’ve managed to get exclusive footage which reveals how civilians have been targeted in El Geneina in the western Darfur region.

More than 200 people have been killed in attacks in the past week, with no health care facilities left open to treat the wounded.

View original and video showing El Geneina, West Darfur in western Sudan here: https://www.channel4.com/news/sudans-warring-generals-agree-new-ceasefire-but-civil-war-fears-grow

The video can be seen at YouTube here: https://youtu.be/Sxq2OxZiXtk

View more videos of the Sudan crisis here: https://www.channel4.com/news/by/lindsey-hilsum

Channel 4 is a public service broadcasting service.

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Sudan's Islamists use online networks and AI to make their move. Waiting to return is ex NISS chief Gosh

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: It's good to see veteran Africa correspondent Rob Crilly reporting on Sudan again. Sometime before during and after the Darfur war, Rob wrote a book cleverly titled 'Saving Darfur: Everyone's Favourite African War'. The book became well known, sold well and is still available from leading book sellers including on Kindle at Amazon.  

Here below is a summary of Rob's latest report on Sudan for the Daily Mail, followed by a copy in full. Thanks Rob, good to see you back safe and sound!

Sudan's Islamists use online networks and AI to make their move

Waiting in the wings to return are notorious figures such as Salah Gosh, former head of NISS

Social media research shows Sudan's Islamists making a push for power

It includes using AI to fake an address by the U.S. ambassador, researchers say

They are seeking a return to relevance amid fighting between rival generals 

On Sunday, US special forces carried out a precarious evacuation of the US Embassy in Sudan

Images of foreigners fleeing are being used by Islamists to say they are winning the war against the West, just like the Taliban did in Afghanistan when Americans fled in 2021

The fighting pitches army chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, who has allied himself with the country's Islamists, against Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo (better known as Hemedti) who heads the Rapid Support Forces

While Hemedti, who rose to prominence amid the war crimes of Darfur, claims to promote democracy, Burhan has linked up with Islamists as part of his strategy to emerge as victor

‘He basically made a deal with the devil,' said Cameron Hudson, senior associate in the Africa program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies'

'And that deal was: I will allow you to reemerge and to regain a foothold in this country, and you have to support me politically and use your networks and your, your deep state influence to support me against the RFS 

Waiting in the wings to return in the event of an army victory, he said, were notorious figures such as Salah Gosh, the former leader of the feared National Intelligence and Security Service.

Read the full report from DailyMail.com

By ROB CRILLY, SENIOR U.S. POLITICAL REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

Published: 21:09, 27 April 2023 | Updated: 21:49, 27 April 2023 - excerpts:

EXCLUSIVE Sudan's Islamists use online networks and AI to make their move: Social media accounts spread claims hardliners will seize power as democracy leaders flee during Western evacuation just like the Taliban did in Afghanistan

Sudan's Islamists are out of favor and out of power after once being the force behind the country's military rulers. 

But they are now using sophisticated social media networks and AI to try to worm their way back to a position of influence amid the country's turmoil. 

Sudan's top two military leaders have spent most of the past two weeks fighting for control of Africa's third largest nation, prompting the U.S. and other foreign nations to evacuate diplomats and nationals.

Islamist groups are using those images to claim that the West is in retreat and they are poised for victory, just like the Taliban in Afghanistan, according to research by a social media monitoring group.

Their online networks have even used AI technology to spread fake audio recordings suggesting the U.S. was trying to reduce the influence of Islam on the country.

Islamists are using a sophisticated social media operation to gain influence in Sudan. That includes using AI to fake a plot by US Ambassador John Godfrey to intervene in the country

Amil Khan, founder of Valent Projects which researches the impact of social media, said Islamists had a powerful network of accounts spreading images of Western-led evacuations, and of civilian leaders taking flights out of Khartoum.

'They're opportunistically then using that to say this is Western collapse, and linking it to Kabul allows them to try to paint themselves as victors in the same way that they see the Taliban,' he said.

'It reflects messaging around the word that the Taliban have won the US. The US left in disarray. 

'The Islamists are trying to say that we are the people that conquered them.' 

In their heyday, Sudan's Islamists turned the nation into a haven for terrorists. Osama bin Laden made his home in the capital Khartoum from 1991 to 1996. 

Khan said that although they had lost influence following the toppling of longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2019, they had built a powerful online presence.   

'What they did have was this really extensive manipulation-digital infrastructure with hundreds and hundreds of mass accounts that could just get a coordinated message out and dominate the digital space,' he said.

At the same time, they were claiming that fleeing Sudanese leaders were leaving with their foreign paymasters — all part of an effort to undermine the popularity of civilian rule. 

But he added there was little evidence that Sudan's weary population was being swayed by such blatant propaganda. 

Even so, Republican Rep. Mike Waltz, a former Green Beret who sits on the House intelligence committee, said the development was deeply worrying.

'It’s absolutely a concern and we're going to lose even more visibility and intelligence gathering now that the State Department has had to pull its embassy staff,' he said.

Social media messages have celebrated the exit of former foreign minister Omar Qamar al-Din, for example.

'This is how the clients are falling one after the other,' said a post reviewed by DailyMail.com, comparing his early morning exit with the flight of officials from the Western-backed government in Kabul in 2021 as Taliban forces closed in on the Afghan capital.

Valent also concluded that Islamist accounts were behind a faked audio message supposedly from US Ambassador John Godfrey, apparently outlining strategies to impose secularism on Sudan.

'The first is international intervention with military force and imposing a new reality on this people by force of arms. This is now excluded in light of the weak world order,' the faked voice says.

'As for the other option, support us in the process of subjugating the rapid support militias and exploiting the two brothers greed for power and using them as a deterrent force and guardian of the secular democratic state, no matter how brutal it may be.'

Western governments used a ceasefire this week to bring home their diplomats and rescue as many nationals as possible.

It came after the troubled African nation was plunged into violence, two years after a coup sidelined its civilian prime minister.

Talks to lead the country back to civilian rule appeared to reach an agreement in December, but hopes of a peaceful transition were dashed by fighting that erupted two weeks ago between the head of the army and the head of the Rapid Support Force (RSF). 

RSF chief Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (better known as Hemedti) had been deputy to General Abdel Fattah Burhan, until the two fell out over plans to integrate his militia into the army.

Witnesses have described seeing bodies on the streets of the capital and more than 500 people have been killed around the country. 

While Hemedti, who rose to prominence amid the war crimes of Darfur, claims to promote democracy, Burhan has linked up with Islamists as part of his strategy to emerge as victor.

'He basically made a deal with the devil,' said Cameron Hudson, senior associate in the Africa program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies'. 

'And that deal was: I will allow you to reemerge and to regain a foothold in this country, and you have to support me politically and use your networks and your, your deep state influence to support me against the RFS 

Waiting in the wings to return in the event of an army victory, he said, were notorious figures such as Salah Gosh, the former leader of the feared National Intelligence and Security Service.

'We know what their rule of the country looked like,' he said. 'And these are bad dudes. 

'These are these are all the guys that were responsible for all of the worst abuses of the Bashir regime.'

See gallery of 11 photos (including 5 above) with credits and these captions:

1. Shells are seen on the ground near damaged buildings at the central market during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum North 
2. Islamists helped propel an army colonel to power in 1989. They were the power behind the throne under Omar al-Bashir's reign, until he was dumped out of power in 2019
3. Sudanese army soldiers, loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, pose for a picture at the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) base in the Red Sea city of Port Sudan
4. VIDEO Sudan doctor fears hospital will run out of medical supplies
5. Islamists are using a sophisticated social media operation to gain influence in Sudan. That includes using AI to fake a plot by US Ambassador John Godfrey to intervene in the country
6. Sudan's capital Khartoum has been rocked by two weeks of fighting between rival generals. Smoke can be seen her rising from the city's international airport last week
7. On Sunday, U.S. special forces carried out a precarious evacuation of the U.S. Embassy in Sudan. Images of foreigners fleeing are being used by Islamists to say they are winning the war against the West, just like the Taliban did in Afghanistan when Americans fled in 2021
8. Pictured: British Nationals about to board an RAF aircraft in Sudan, for evacuation to Larnaca International Airport in Cyprus
9. Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan
10. Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo

View the original report plus video and photo gallery here: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12021059/Sudans-Islamists-use-online-networks-say-seize-power-like-Taliban-did-Kabul.html

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- - -

From Amazon.co.uk

Saving Darfur - Everyone's Favourite African War

Africa is a continent riddled with conflict. Most are forgotten wars that rumble away unnoticed for decades. Darfur is different. For six years an unlikely coalition of the religious right, the liberal left and a smattering of celebrities has kept Darfur's bloody conflict in the headlines. Rob Crilly arrived in Sudan in 2005 to find out what made Darfur special. 

Far from being a simple clash of good and evil, he discovers the complicated truth about Arabs and Africans, and the world's failed attempts to halt the killing. Along the way he rides with rebels on donkeys, gets caught in a Janjaweed attack and learns lessons from Osama bin Laden's horse. What he found will turn your understanding of the war upside down.

Product description 

Review

'A haunting and brutally honest account of international failure and African suffering. Lucid, engaging and written with love for the entire continent of Africa.' --Fergal Keane, BBC News

Rob Crilly tells the story of Darfur up close, focusing on the people who have fought and suffered. Neither cynical nor moralizing, he brings to life its protagonists-rebel fighters, Arab militiamen, displaced villagers, foreign aid workers, diplomats and campaigners. Saving Darfur delves beneath the stereotypes to tackle the complexities of Darfur and Sudan, illuminating both the ordinariness and the bizarreness of this extraordinary African war.' --Alex De Waal, author of 'Darfur: A New History of a Long War'

'While I disagree with much of Mr Crilly's analysis, he provides us with a solid journalistic account of his first-hand experiences in Darfur.' --Mia Farrow, actress and activist

From the Inside Flap

`A haunting and brutally honest account of international failure and African suffering' - Fergal Keane, BBC News

From the Back Cover

'A haunting and brutally honest account of international failure and African suffering' - Fergal Keane, BBC News

'Rob Crilly tells the story of Darfur up close, focusing on the people who have fought and suffered' - Alex de Waal, author of Darfur: A New History of a Long War

'This books peels off the labels that have been stuck on Darfur by outsiders and exposes the stubborn realities beneath the surface' - Richard Dowden, Director of the Royal African Society

About the Author

Rob Crilly is a freelance foreign correspondent. For five years he lived and worked in East Africa, travelling through war zones in Sudan, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and northern Uganda, reporting for The Times, The Irish Times, The Christian Science Monitor, The Daily Mail and The Scotsman. Born in 1973, he was educated at the Judd School, Tonbridge, and Cambridge University. Before moving to Africa he spent five years working for British newspapers, most recently as Edinburgh Bureau Chief of The Herald.

View original https://www.amazon.co.uk/Saving-Darfur-Everyones-Favourite-African/dp/1906702195

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Ex Sudanese president Bashir and 30 allies out of jail before Sudan's leaders started fighting 15 April 2023

Report from Reuters via The New Daily.com Australia

By Khalid Abdelaziz and Nadine Awadalla, Reuters

Dated Wednesday 26 April 2023 - full copy:

Former president Omar al-Bashir and allies out of jail as Sudan fighting flares

Play Aljazeera Video - SUDAN TRAVEL EXPLOITATION? 

Sudanese civilians priced out of leaving conflict 

As foreign nationals are evacuated out of Sudan by their embassies, many Sudanese are being priced out of a journey.

Sudan’s capital has resounded with gunfire and explosions, eroding a truce amid collapsing basic services, dwindling food supplies and the opening of a prison that let out allies of a jailed former autocrat.

With the conflict between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) showing no sign of easing, the army said former president Omar al-Bashir had been transferred to a military hospital before hostilities started on April 15.

It said Bashir was moved from prison with 30 former members of his regime, including Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein, who along with the former president is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes for atrocities during an earlier conflict in the Darfur region.

The whereabouts of Bashir came into question after a former minister in his government, Ali Haroun, announced on Tuesday he had left Kober prison in Khartoum with other former officials.

Haroun is also wanted by the ICC on dozens of war crimes charges.

Thousands of convicted criminals, including some sentenced to death, were held in the vast prison, along with senior and lower-ranking officials from the Bashir regime, which was toppled four years ago.

Play France24 Video - Sudan fighting: Clashes between army and RSF underway despite truce. 

The US-brokered ceasefire in Sudan is now in its second day.  

But reports of new air strikes show just how fragile that truce between two warring generals really is. 

Civilian life has come to a standstill in Sudan. 

The country's residents are now facing major shortages of food, water, fuel 

and electricity. 

Sudan was already heavily dependent on humanitarian aid before the violence began nearly two weeks ago. 

But the situation has now been plunged into chaos. 

FRANCE 24's regional correspondent Bastien Renouil has the latest from Djibouti.

Sudanese authorities and the RSF traded accusations over the release of inmates, with the police saying paramilitary gunmen had stormed into five prisons at the weekend, killing several guards and opening the gates.

The RSF blamed authorities for letting Haroun and others out.

The release of convicted criminals added to a growing sense of lawlessness in Khartoum, where residents have reported worsening insecurity, with widespread looting and gangs roaming the streets.

“This war, which is ignited by the ousted regime, will lead the country to collapse,” said Sudan’s Forces of Freedom and Change, a political grouping leading an internationally backed plan to transfer to civilian rule derailed by the eruption of fighting.

Bashir came to power in a 1989 military coup and was ousted in a popular uprising in 2019.

Two years later, the army led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, with support from the RSF, took over in a coup.

The present conflict between the army and RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo broke out in part over disagreements about how quickly to integrate the RSF into the army under the planned transition to civilian rule.

The ICC in The Hague has accused Bashir of genocide, and Haroun of organising militias to attack civilians in Darfur in 2003 and 2004.

The ICC declined to comment on Bashir, Haroun and Hussein’s prison transfers.

Play Video - WHO Warns of 'Biological Hazard' After Sudan Fighters Take Control of Laboratory 

On April 25, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned of a "high risk of biological hazard" after a central public laboratory was seized in war-torn Sudan.

The renewed battles were in Omdurman, one of Khartoum’s twin cities, where the army was fighting reinforcements to the RSF brought in from other regions of Sudan, a Reuters reporter said.

The army has accused the RSF of using a three-day truce to reinforce itself with men and weapons.

The truce was due to end on Thursday evening.

Thanks to the ceasefire, fighting between army soldiers the RSF was more subdued in the centre of Khartoum.

The fighting has turned residential areas into battlefields.

Air strikes and artillery have killed at least 459 people, wounded more than 4000, destroyed hospitals and limited food distribution in a nation where a third of its 46 million people rely on humanitarian aid.

United Nations special envoy on Sudan Volker Perthes told the UN Security Council on Tuesday the ceasefire “seems to be holding in some parts so far”.

But he said neither party showed readiness to “seriously negotiate, suggesting that both think that securing a military victory over the other is possible”.

Foreign powers have evacuated thousands of diplomats and private citizens in recent days, including 1674 from 54 countries helped out by Saudi Arabia.

Sudanese along with citizens of neighbouring countries have also been leaving en masse.

More than 10,000 people crossed into Egypt from Sudan in the past five days, authorities in Cairo said, adding to an estimated 20,000 who have entered Chad.

Others have fled to South Sudan and Ethiopia, despite difficult conditions there.

-Reuters

View original: https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2023/04/26/omar-al-bashir-out-of-jail-sudan/

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