Sudan: West Darfur Governor Khamis Abakar killed

Report at BBC News - bbc.co.uk/news/world/africa
By Mercy Juma, BBC News
Dated Thursday 15 June 2023 - full copy:

Sudan conflict: West Darfur governor killed after genocide claim

West Darfur Governor Khamis Abakar said people from his 

Massalit ethnic group were being targeted in El Geneina

A governor from Sudan's Darfur region has been killed hours after accusing the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of committing genocide.

In a TV interview, Khamis Abakar had asked for international intervention to stop violence in West Darfur he blamed on the RSF and its Arab militia allies.

The conflict that erupted two months ago between the RSF and army has inflamed ethnic tensions in Darfur.

The army said the RSF abducted Abakar and executed him, which it denies.

He is the most senior official known to have been killed since the conflict began in April.

Video footage circulating on social media appears to show a group of armed men, some wearing RSF uniforms, detaining the governor of West Darfur state on Wednesday. 

But the RSF blamed "outlaws" for his death, saying its fighters had tried to protect Abakar by taking him to their headquarters in El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur.

It was then overrun and the governor kidnapped and "assassinated in cold blood", the RSF said.

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Black African and Arab communities in Darfur have long been at loggerheads - with the worst violence erupting two decades ago when non-Arabs took up arms accusing the government of discrimination.

In response the government armed Arab militias, known as the Janjaweed. They were accused of widespread atrocities and ethnic killings, described as the first genocide of the 21st Century. 

The RSF was born out of these Janjaweed fighters - and now they and other Arab militias have again been accused of targeting African communities, going on the rampage in El Geneina.

The city is a symbol of black African power in Darfur and many people from the Massalit ethnic group live there.

"Civilians are being killed randomly and in large numbers," Governor Abakar told Saudi-owned Al-Hadath TV on Wednesday, saying the army was doing nothing to help those under attack.

Last week he told BBC Arabic's emergency pop-up Sudan radio service that the killings were especially targeting his Massalit group: "El Geneina city has been attacked from three directions: east, south and west.

"These people have been attacked in their homes and displacement camps. People are targeted… on a daily basis, based on their ethnicity."

In a statement condemning his killing, the army said Governor Abakar had been one of the leaders of former rebel groups that signed the historic peace agreement in 2020 that brought rebels into the then-transitional government. 

In his BBC Sudan Lifeline interview, the governor said that the whole of West Darfur - one of five states in the gold-rich Darfur region - faced a "tragic" situation.

"All the vital facilities in the state have been totally destroyed. Hospitals are not operating. Water sources have been utterly destroyed.

"I am calling on the international and regional community to interfere immediately in West Darfur to save those who are remaining alive in the state," he said - a plea he repeated in his last interview.

On Tuesday, the UN's envoy to Sudan, Volker Perthes, said most of these attacks did appear to have been committed by Arab militias and the RSF which "could amount to crimes against humanity".

Last week, medical aid charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said estimates suggested that at least 500 people had been killed in El Geneina alone. 

Abakar told the BBC more than 2,000 people had also been wounded, trapped in the city and unable to get treatment.

According to the UN, more than 100,000 people have now fled the fighting in Darfur across the border into neighbouring Chad.

View original: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-65914569

[Ends]

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Could an old tribal foe undercut Sudan’s Hemedti?

See Aljazeera report 03 May 2023 - excerpt:

“If [Hemedti and Hilal] get along, there will be consequences for the African tribes and the internally displaced people. [Hilal and Hemedti] remember the displaced people as being in opposition to them [in previous wars],” warned Zakaria.

“The consequence would make the [Arab] forces much bigger than the [armed non-Arab groups] in [West Darfur].”

View original: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/5/3/could-an-old-tribal-foe-undercut-sudans-hemedti

[Ends]

Statement on the Situation in Sudan by the SRSG for Sudan and Head of UNITAMS, Dr Volker Perthes

NOTE, the following statement makes it easy to see why Sudan's junta wants the SRSG and Head of UNITAMS, Dr Volker Perthes, to be replaced and expelled from Sudan for honestly assessing the situation in Sudan. Ethnic cleansing and the Arabisation of Sudan for its riches continues.

Report at UNITAMS - unitams.unmissions.org

Dated Tuesday 13 June 2023 - full copy:

STATEMENT BY THE SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR SUDAN AND HEAD OF THE UNITED NATIONS INTEGRATED TRANSITION ASSISTANCE MISSION IN SUDAN (UNITAMS), MR. VOLKER PERTHES, ON THE SITUATION IN SUDAN

Since the eruption of conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces on 15 April 2023, the security, human rights and humanitarian situation continue to rapidly deteriorate across the country, particularly in the greater Khartoum, Darfur and Kordofan areas. 

 

While the United Nations is at this stage unable to verify all alleged violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, information received from multiple civil society entities and human rights defenders’ networks, paint a clear picture of the devastating scale of impact on the civilian population.

 

In addition to the killing and injury of thousands of civilians, communities continue to grapple with severe shortages of food, access to medical supplies and restricted movement out of conflict areas. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced, including populations that had already been displaced following decades of conflict. Allegations of sexual violence against women and girls are deeply alarming.

 

As the situation in Darfur continues to deteriorate, I am particularly alarmed by the situation in El Geneina (West Darfur) following various waves of violence since late April which took on ethnic dimensions. While the United Nations continues to gather additional details regarding these reports, there is an emerging pattern of large-scale targeted attacks against civilians based on their ethnic identities, allegedly committed by Arab militias and some armed men in Rapid Support Force (RSF)’s uniform. These reports are deeply worrying and, if verified, could amount to crimes against humanity.

 

The United Nations condemns in the strongest terms all attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, whatever the form and whoever the alleged perpetrators are. It is imperative that security forces and non-state armed actors uphold their duty under international humanitarian law to respect the right to life and refrain from attacks against civilians.

 

While I am encouraged that in some areas, local communities and state authorities have taken proactive measures to help de-escalate and mediate, it is important to ensure that all violations are documented and protected for accountability purposes. UNITAMS will continue its efforts to monitor the situation and avail its resources to engage with all parties to reach a peaceful resolution to the conflict, in coordination with regional and international partners.

View original: 

https://unitams.unmissions.org/en/statement-special-representative-secretary-general-sudan-and-head-united-nations-integrated

[Ends] 

We're all Africans, we're all black - JEM wants Darfur as their own country - Hemeti its paramilitary leader

Note from Sudan Watch Editor:  In some news reports journalists are referring to Sudan as an Arab country.  In 2007 Reuters reported that Sudan’s President Bashir dismissed claims of ethnic cleansing in Darfur.  It quoted him as saying:

"Talk of Arabs killing blacks is a lie. The government of Sudan is a government of blacks, with all different ethnic backgrounds ... We're all Africans, we're all black." 

[ see Sudan Watch archive https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2007/02/sudans-bashir-were-all-africans-were.html ]

I still maintain the view that the aim of the Darfur rebel leaders is to topple the Sudanese government - they've admitted it themselves, noted here in the archive of Sudan Watch.  JEM has talked of making Darfur their own country. I wonder whether the financing behind the insurgents is that of black Africans, Arabs, Russians, Chinese, French or investors such as Friedhelm Eronat and Philippe Heilberg aiming to exploit Sudan's natural resources.

It wouldn't be far fetched to speculate that Hemeti could spend the next few years creating income for Sudan by hiring out Chadian and Sudanese soldiers,  His end reward could be to rule Darfur militarily. 

The purpose of many kidnappings of male youths in Darfur and elsewhere is, presumably, to use them as soldiers to fight in Sudan, South Sudan, Chad, Libya, Yemen and other places.  To my mind it is slavery.  

Reportedly, Russians are involved in some of the training. What other gainful employment is there for many of Sudan’s increasing number of uneducated males? The alternative is to escape to another country.

Meanwhile the elderly, infirm, poor females and children are left to live on foreign aid, UN, NGOs etc. Now with climate change and desertification, too many people are living in the wrong places.  God help them.