Showing posts with label ethnic cleansing by RSF. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ethnic cleansing by RSF. Show all posts

Monday, April 14, 2025

Sudan: Hundreds feared dead in RSF Janjaweed militia attack on El Fasher N. Darfur & IDP camps

"THE Rapid Support Forces (RSF), at war with the regular army since April 2023, launched "coordinated ground and aerial assaults" on Friday on El-Fasher and the Zamzam and Abu Shouk displacement camps, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.


In recent weeks, the paramilitaries have stepped up their attacks on El-Fasher — the only state capital in Darfur still outside their control — after the army recaptured the national capital Khartoum last month."


Read more in report from FRANCE 24

By FRANCE 24 with AFP

Dated Saturday, 12 April 2025; 22:22 - here is a full copy:


Hundreds feared dead in Sudan as RSF launches attack on famine-hit camps


The United Nations reported on Saturday that more than 100 people, including 20 children, are feared dead after the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) launched attacks on the besieged city of El-Fasher and two nearby displacement camps in Darfur. 

This handout image courtesy of Maxar Technologies shows heavy damage at the entrance to the Zamzam camp near North Darfur's besieged capital El-Fasher on February 13, 2025.
© AFP via Maxar Technologies

More than 100 people, including 20 children, are now feared dead in Sudan following paramilitary attacks on the besieged Darfur city of El-Fasher and two nearby famine-hit camps, the United Nations said on Saturday.


The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), at war with the regular army since April 2023, launched "coordinated ground and aerial assaults" on Friday on El-Fasher and the Zamzam and Abu Shouk displacement camps, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.


In recent weeks, the paramilitaries have stepped up their attacks on El-Fasher — the only state capital in Darfur still outside their control — after the army recaptured the national capital Khartoum last month.


Early reports from the local resistance committee, a volunteer aid group in El-Fasher, put Friday's death toll at 57, with 32 civilians killed in El-Fasher and 25 in Zamzam.


However, the army said Saturday that 74 civilians were killed and 17 wounded in El-Fasher alone.


Activists said Friday the full extent of the damage in Zamzam remains unclear because of internet shutdowns and communications disruptions.


The Sudanese Organisation for the Protection of Civilians said Saturday the dead included nine humanitarian workers operating a hospital in Zamzam, run by an international non-governmental organisation.


UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan Clementine Nkweta-Salami condemned their deaths.


"The colleagues from an international non-governmental organisation were killed while operating one of the very few remaining health posts still operational in the camp," she said in a statement.


"This represents yet another deadly and unacceptable escalation in a series of brutal attacks on displaced people and aid workers in Sudan since the onset of this conflict nearly two years ago.


"I strongly urge those committing such acts to immediately desist."


In a statement on Saturday, the RSF dismissed a video purportedly shared by activists showing civilians killed in Zamzam.


The paramilitary group condemned the footage as a fabricated production, labelling it a "desperate attempt to criminalise" its forces.


A local advocacy group, the Darfur General Coordination of Camps for the Displaced and Refugees, said the attack on Zamzam resumed on Saturday morning, with clashes and heavy gunfire heard for hours.


The camp was the first part of Sudan where a UN-backed assessment declared famine last year.


By December, famine had also spread to two nearby camps — Abu Shouk and Al Salam — and is expected to hit El-Fasher itself by May.


The war has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted more than 12 million since it broke out in April 2023. Both sides in the conflict have been accused of war crimes and breaches of international humanitarian law.


View original: https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20250412-hundreds-feared-dead-in-sudan-as-rsf-launches-attack-on-famine-hit-camps-paramilitary-un

________________________________

Related reports



View original: 

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/abdallahhussain3_sudan-news-activity-7317237019854671872-gFS9

_________________



View original: 

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/relief-international_relief-international-is-devastated-to-report-activity-7316838235903586304-txhY

_________________



View original:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/abdallahhussain3_sudan-news-activity-7317225284187922432-xI59

_________________



View original: 

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/abdallahhussain3_sudan-news-activity-7316867294666620928-Y7AS

_________________


DTM Sudan Flash Alert - Sunday, 13 April 2025

Um Kadadah (Um Kadadah town), North Darfur

On 10 April 2025, DTM field teams estimated that approximately 3,500 households were displaced from Um Kadadah town of Um Kadadah locality, North Darfur due to clashes between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and armed tribal groups. Field teams reported that households were displaced to other locations within Um Kadadah locality, North Darfur. View original with map here.


Al Fasher (Zamzam IDP camp), North Darfur

Between 11 and 12 April 2025, DTM field teams reported the displacement of approximately 3,190 households from Zamzam IDP Camp in Al Fasher locality, North Darfur due to heightened insecurity. Households were displaced to other locations within Al Fasher locality and to locations across Tawila locality in North Darfur. The situation remains tense and unpredictable. View original with map here.

_________________


DTM Sudan Flash Alert - 14 April 2025

Al Fasher (Zamzam IDP camp), North Darfur

Between 13 and 14 April 2025, DTM received multiple reports of large-scale displacement from Zamzam IDP camp. Based on initial estimates, DTM field teams reported that between 60,000 and 80,000 households were displaced from Zamzam IDP camp due to heightened insecurity. The majority of households remain displaced within Al Fasher locality, while others were displaced to locations across Tawila and Dar As Salam localities, North Darfur. These figures represent preliminary estimates only. 

View original with map: https://mailchi.mp/iom/dtm-sudan-flash-alert-al-fasher-zamzam-idp-camp-north-darfur-update-077

_________________


Infographic from OCHA - Thursday, 10 April 2025

Sudan: Humanitarian Access Snapshot: Al Fasher and Zamzam (As of 8 April 2025)

https://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/sudan-humanitarian-access-snapshot-al-fasher-and-zamzam-8-april-2025

_________________


Special Report: Friday, 11 April 2025

Confirmation of Ground Assault on Zamzam IDP Camp 

https://files-profile.medicine.yale.edu/documents/1c711637-a7c0-4e06-a03b-df4139dbbe78

_________________


Special Report: April 2025 by Prof. Dr. Volker Perthes, Dr. Wibke Hansen

Hunger in Sudan: A Human-Made Catastrophe

Looting, arson, blockades - the warring parties use hunger as a weapon and caused the food system to collapse. In the past two years, the greatest humanitarian crisis the world is experiencing at present developed in Sudan.

https://www.welthungerhilfe.org/global-food-journal/rubrics/crises-humanitarian-aid/hunger-in-sudan-a-man-made-catastrophe


End 

Sunday, December 01, 2024

Campaigns by civilians and SAF to designate Sudan’s RSF janjaweed militia as a terrorist organisation

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: Today, I signed the below mentioned petition calling for Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to be designated a terrorist organisation. I signed it hoping to help eradicate poverty, extreme poverty and suffering in Sudan, South Sudan and neighbouring countries. 


In Sudan, the RSF are trapping civilians in villages in RSF controlled areas by surrounding them and cutting off access to food and medicines, forcing them to drink water from the Nile, using them as human shields to protect themselves and deter bombings by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).


It must be noted that the SAF are responsible for many atrocities since the start of the Darfur rebellion in 2003. SAF chief Gen. Burhan’s dereliction of duty caused 120 peaceful protestors to be slain on the streets of Khartoum. 


*The "killing of at least 120 pro-democracy protesters in 2019 were a flashpoint between activists and the military. Sudanese pro-democracy protesters demanded the Transitional Military Council hand over power to civilians, but they were attacked by the military on June 3, 2019.


The killings, carried out by military forces in an effort to disperse a sit-in calling for civilian rule and democracy, marked a pivotal moment for Sudan after the April 2019 overthrow of former President Omar al-Bashir.”


*Read full story at Al Jazeera, 3 June 2024, here:

What was the ‘Khartoum Massacre’ marked by Sudan’s activists?

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/6/3/what-was-the-khartoum-massacre-marked-by-sudans-activists

___________________________


Related Report


From Middle East Monitor

By Mohamed Suliman

Dated 06 November 2024 - excerpt:


There is a strong case for designating Sudan’s RSF militia as a terrorist organisation

A view of streets as clashes continue between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) despite the agreement on cease fire in Khartoum, Sudan on April 30, 2023 
[Ömer Erdem/Anadolu Agency]

Recently, there have been several social media campaigns and online petitions that call for the RSF’s designation. Individuals who are participating in these campaigns are sharing examples of incidents that expose how the RSF Janjaweed militia is attacking and harassing them. All of these grassroots initiatives demonstrate the public support for a terrorist designation of the militia”. 


Such a move will send a strong signal that the world rejects it and that the RSF can’t be part of Sudan’s political future. Moreover, it will have a practical impact on limiting the arms supply and funding from countries that back the militia, such as the UAE, which will be legally obliged to abstain from this destructive role.


Read more (and see its pale green share this icon to see dozens of ways to repost the article containing news of the campaigns and online petitions) here: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241106-there-is-a-strong-case-for-designating-sudans-rsf-militia-as-a-terrorist-organisation/

___________________________


POSTSCRIPT from Sudan Watch Editor


Here is a comment by Musaab Yousif posted at above article 25 days ago. It tells a story almost identical to the one I've heard from someone in Sudan with family trapped inside a village surrounded by RSF and cut off from essential supplies and medicines, drinking polluted water from the Nile.


"The people of Hilaliya village in aljazeera state more than 3000 civilians including womens, children's, elders and peoples with chronic sickness are being held in three mosques a few meters away from their homes by RSF militia and are completely forbidden from reaching them. They are being ravaged by cholera, watery diarrhea, hunger and thirst... no medicine or food in a complete war crime by the RSF militia, in addition to the crimes of murder, looting and other violations committed by the militia against defenseless civilians to any one trying to get out .

#Save_Hilaliya_from_Janjaweed

#Rapid_Support_is_a_terrorist_organization"

___________________________


Weekly Sudan Updates


From journalist Abdallah Hussain posted at LinkedIn on 1 Dec 2024: 



🔴 Former Political Advisor to RSF Commander, Youssef Ezzat [pictured above]: The Islamic Movement is managing political and civil affairs in all areas under the control of the Rapid Support Forces with full authorization from the leadership.

🔴 Sovereign Council Chairman Al-Burhan denies rumors of political settlements, emphasizing no agreement with any entity. 

🔴 Health crisis deepens in Khartoum, with 73 out of 80 private hospitals out of service, according to the Sudanese Doctors Network.

🔴 Gunmen hijack a UNICEF truck in eastern Nile Khartoum carrying medicines and medical supplies.

🔴 Heavy artillery shelling shakes Omdurman’s Thawrat neighborhoods as early morning attacks continue. 

🔴 5 civilians injured following militia shelling in Karrari, Omdurman, as health authorities report more unregistered cases.

🔴 The Nile River State Security Committee denies reports of launching drones from residential areas near Atbara, labeling them as misinformation. 

🔴 Minister of Culture and Information Khalid Al-Ayser discusses plans to reform Sudanese media institutions and improve public messaging.

🔴 Broadcasting Authority reports $16 billion in losses due to militia attacks, with Minister Khalid Al-Ayser calling for international condemnation.

🔴 The Sudanese Foreign Ministry issued a statement condemning the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) for its recent allegations:

“We condemn the unfounded accusations and extreme bias against the government and the armed forces by the NRC.”

“The NRC Secretary-General unjustly implicated the armed forces in using starvation as a weapon and blocking humanitarian aid — a crime solely committed by the RSF militias.”

“The Secretary-General failed to name those responsible for destroying villages, employing scorched-earth policies, committing mass rapes, and other atrocities, which are well-documented crimes of the RSF militias.”

“The NRC’s Country Director in Sudan claimed before the UK’s House of Commons that humanitarian work regulations in Sudan are designed to obstruct aid delivery to those in need.”

“This aggressive stance by the NRC represents the worst example of politicizing humanitarian work and an attempt to tarnish the Sudanese government’s image internationally.”

🔴 The Federal Ministry of Health reported a rise in HIV/AIDS cases in Sudan, with 48,000 infections recorded. Of these, 19,549 individuals are aware of their condition, but only 8,607 are receiving treatment. The disease has caused 2,300 deaths. Minister Dr. Haitham Mohamed Ibrahim warned that the numbers could increase further due to violations by the RSF, including sexual assaults.

Source: Abdallah Hussain, LinkedIn

Bilingual Journalist | News Anchor | TV Host | News Correspondent | Content Creator


End