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

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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/

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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"

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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

ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan KC appeals for information on international crimes in Darfur, Sudan

THE International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor Mr Karim Khan KC issued an urgent appeal today (Tuesday, 11 June 2024) in The Hague for information and evidence of atrocities in Darfur, Sudan, saying his ongoing investigation “seems to disclose an organised, systematic and a profound attack on human dignity.” Mr Khan called on international organisations, partners and national authorities to collect evidence and information and hand it over to him. View the appeal on video and two reports here below. 

Provide evidence and information to the ICC here: https://otplink.icc-cpi.int

Note, Subtitles for this video can be viewed in different languages: click on above video, click on wheel "Settings", click on "Subtitles", click on "Auto translate", scroll "list of languages", click on language, desired Subtitles will appear at bottom of video. Size of font for Subtitles can be adjusted: click on wheel "Settings", click on "Subtitles", click on "Options" in top right corner. Playback speed for audio and Subtitles can be adjusted: click on wheel "Settings", click on "Playback speed", select speed.

Also, follow along using a Transcript here: https://youtu.be/2D2DYptFW8st

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Report from The Washington Post

By MIKE CORDER, AP (The Associated Press)

Dated Tuesday, 11 June 2024 5:08 am EDT. Here is a full copy:

ICC prosecutor appeals for evidence of atrocities in Sudan after rebels attack hospital in Darfur

The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor is appealing for information and evidence of atrocities in Sudan’s western Darfur region

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor appealed Tuesday for information and evidence of atrocities in Sudan, saying his ongoing investigation “seems to disclose an organized, systematic and a profound attack on human dignity.”

ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan released a video statement in the aftermath of an attack Sunday by the notorious Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group that forced the closure of a main hospital in the western Darfur region. The group fired shots and looted the hospital in al-Fasher, aid group Doctors Without Borders reported.

The attack came as the RSF, which has been fighting the Sudanese army for a year, intensified its offensive seeking to wrest control of the city, the military’s last stronghold in the sprawling Darfur region. Two weeks of fighting last month in and around al-Fasher has killed more than 120 people.

“The terrible events in West Darfur, including El-Geneina, in 2023 are among our key investigative priorities,” Khan said. “In addition, I am extremely concerned about allegations of widespread international crimes being committed in al-Fasher and its surrounding areas as I speak.”

A long-running conflict

Sudan’s conflict began in April last year when soaring tensions between the leaders of the military and the RSF erupted into fighting in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere in the country.

The war has killed more than 14,000 people and wounded thousands more, while pushing its population to the brink of famine. The U.N. food agency warned the warring parties last month that there is a serious risk of widespread starvation and death in Darfur and elsewhere in Sudan if they don’t allow humanitarian aid into the region.

The war also created the world’s largest displacement crisis as more than 10 million people have been forced to flee their homes, including over 2 million people who crossed into neighboring countries, the U.N. migration agency told The Associated Press Monday.

Khan said he is urgently investigating in Sudan.

“The evidence my office has collected to date seems to show credible, repeated, expanding, continuous allegations of attacks against the civilian population, in particular, attacks directed against camps for internally displaced persons,” he said.

“It seems to show the widespread, prevalent use of rape and other forms of sexual violence. It seems to disclose consistently the shelling of civilian areas, the looting of properties and attacks against hospitals,” he added, stressing that he was “particularly concerned by the ethnically motivated nature of these attacks against the Masalit and other communities.”

The ICC already has an ongoing investigation in Sudan

The ICC has long been investigating atrocities in Sudan, dating back to a previous devastating conflict in Darfur. The court has issued arrest warrants for former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on charges including genocide allegedly committed in Darfur between 2003-2008.

The RSF was born out of Arab militias, commonly known as Janjaweed, mobilized by al-Bashir against non-Arab tribes in Darfur. At the time, they were accused of mass killings, rapes and other atrocities, and Darfur became synonymous with genocide.

Khan referred back to the previous conflict in his message Tuesday.

“It is an outrage that we are allowing history to repeat itself once again in Darfur,” he said. “We cannot and we must not allow Darfur to become the world’s forgotten atrocity, once again.”

Photo [not shown here] caption: FILE - Sudanese soldiers from the Rapid Support Forces unit, led by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the deputy head of the military council, secure the area where Dagalo attends a military-backed tribe’s rally, in the East Nile province, Sudan, on June 22, 2019. The RSF, attacked the South Hospital in al-Fasher, the capital city of North Darfur province on Sunday, June 9, 2024 opening fire on medical staff and patients, Doctors Without Borders said in a statement. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)

View original: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/06/11/sudan-icc-investigation-khan-rsf-darfur/2e3324a8-27d2-11ef-835a-2a6acac1f8a6_story.html

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Further Reading

From International Organisation for Migration (IOM) 11 June 2024:

DTM Sudan Mobility Update (02). IOM, Sudan

This report provides an overview of the total population of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sudan, including those displaced both before and after the onset of conflict on 15 April 2023.  

See full report here: https://dtm.iom.int/reports/sudan-mobility-update-02

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UPDATE by Sudan Watch Editor 

On Wednesday, 12 June 2024 at 15:26 GMT:

The above video can be viewed at X in post by ICC 8:45AM June 11, 2024.

#ICC Prosecutor @KarimKhanQC announces campaign calling for information and cooperation in relation to allegations of international crimes being committed in #Darfur, Sudan, including in Al Fasher.

Info can be sent to #OTPLink:https://t.co/IYVUCvyWCA

Watch 👇 pic.twitter.com/H1sMPGB8jP

— Int'l Criminal Court (@IntlCrimCourt) June 11, 2024

END

Arab supremacy is ravaging Sudan like an unchecked cancer. These Janjaweed psychopaths will never stop.

THESE two insightful posts by @skynews Africa correspondent @YousraElbagirat, published at microblogging platform X on Dec 26, say: 

 

"Janjaweed was an Arab supremacy project, it should’ve never existed. ...

Arab supremacy is ravaging our country like an unchecked cancer. We didn't treat the illness during the war with South Sudan and then again in the early 2000s conflict in Darfur - and now it's terminal."

"The history lesson my dad just gave me about Sudan just made me spiral even more about this war. I’ll see if I can find references & share. If what he said is true which typically is when I fact check him, then the international community needs to send troops in immediately because these psychopaths are actually never going to stop."

100% https://t.co/WXzj5CIMj1

— Yousra Elbagir (@YousraElbagir) December 26, 2023

Get harassed whenever I broach this topic but who actually gives af:

Arab supremacy is ravaging our country like an unchecked cancer.

We didn't treat the illness during the war with South Sudan and then again in the early 2000s conflict in Darfur - and now it's terminal. https://t.co/63RwLBLoNZ

— Yousra Elbagir (@YousraElbagir) December 26, 2023

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Further Reading

Sudan Watch - May 21, 2006

Fears Janjaweed will turn on Sudanese government if they try to take their arms by force

The Janjaweed is not an army,' said Eltayeb Hag Ateya, director of the Peace Research Institute at Khartoum University. 'It's more dangerous than that. It's a concept, a blanket. Some are pro-government, some are bandits, and some are mercenaries. 'The peace agreement says the government should disarm them all, but that's impossible. Not all are under its control - some are even against it.' ...

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2006/05/fears-janjaweed-will-turn-on-sudanese.html

ENDS

Sudan: RSF eradicating the Masalit from West Darfur

The EU stressed that Sudan's warring sides "have a duty to protect citizens". It said it was working with the International Criminal Court to document violations "to ensure accountability". Read more.

From The Barron's Daily
By AFP - Agence France Presse
Dated Sunday, 12 November 2023 - here is a copy in full:

EU 'Appalled' By Reports 1,000 Killed In Darfur

The EU said Sunday it was "appalled" by reports of  more than 1,000 people killed this month in Sudan's West Darfur in an apparent "ethnic cleansing campaign"by the paramilitary  Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

"These latest atrocities are seemingly part of a wider ethnic cleansing campaign conducted by the RSF with the aim to eradicate the non-Arab Masalit community from West Darfur, and comes on top of the first wave of large violence in June," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement.

Since April, forces loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan -- Sudan's de facto head of state -- have been at war with the RSF commanded by his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

The European Union statement said there were "credible eyewitness reports (that) more than a thousand members of the Masalit community were killed in Ardamta, West Darfur, in just over two days, during major attacks carried out by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and its affiliated militias".

The toll was higher than a previous one of 800 given by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), which said 100 shelters in a displaced persons' camp in Ardamta had been razed.

"What is happening is verging on pure evil," the UN humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, Clementine Nkweta-Salami, said Friday, citing reports of young girls being raped in front of their mothers.

She voiced fears of a repeat of the genocide campaign that gripped Darfur in the early 2000s.

The EU stressed that Sudan's warring sides "have a duty to protect citizens". It said it was working with the International Criminal Court to document violations "to ensure accountability".

"The international community cannot turn a blind eye on what is happening in Darfur and allow another genocide to happen in this region," it said.

More than 10,000 people have been killed in the Sudan conflict so far, according to a conservative estimate by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data project.

The war has displaced more than 4.8 million people within Sudan and has forced a further 1.2 million to flee into neighbouring countries, according to UN figures. rmb/bp 

The Barron's news department was not involved in the creation of the content above. This story was produced by AFP. For more information go to AFP.com. © Agence France-Presse

Source: https://www.barrons.com/news/eu-appalled-by-reports-1-000-killed-in-darfur-3b306234

[Ends]