Paramilitary forces vying for power in Sudan and its allied militias have carried out widespread genocide and rape while controlling much of western Darfur, which could amount to war crimes and rape, UN experts said in a new report. Crimes against humanity.
A report to the U.N. Security Council obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday paints a picture of brutality against Africans in Darfur by the Arab-dominated Rapid Support Forces. It also details how MSF has managed to control four of Darfur’s five states, including through a complex financial network involving dozens of companies.
Sudan descended into chaos in April, with long-standing tensions between the army led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary forces commanded by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo in the capital Khartoum. Street fighting broke out in Mu.
The fighting spread to other parts of the country, but in Sudan’s Darfur region it took on a different form: Médecins Sans Frontières carried out brutal attacks on African civilians, especially the Masalit ethnic group.
Twenty years ago, Darfur became synonymous with genocide and war crimes, particularly the massacres of Central or East African populations by the notorious Janjaweed Arab militia. That legacy appears to have returned when ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said in late January that there were reasons to believe both sides may have committed war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide in Darfur.
The expert panel said Darfur is experiencing “the worst violence since 2005”.
Experts say the ongoing conflict has created a massive humanitarian crisis, resulting in the displacement of about 6.8 million people, 5.4 million of whom are within Sudan, and 1.4 million who have fled to other countries, including about 555,000 to neighboring Chad.
Both Médecins Sans Frontières and rival Sudanese government forces have used heavy artillery and shelling in densely populated areas, causing widespread damage to vital water, sanitation, education and medical facilities.
Experts said in the 47-page report that Médecins Sans Frontières and its militias have attacked sites hosting shelters for displaced persons, civilian communities and medical facilities in Darfur.
The group said between 10,000 and 15,000 people were killed in one city alone – Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state near the border with Chad – between 10,000 and 15,000 people, according to intelligence sources.
Experts say sexual violence by Doctors Without Borders and its allied militias is widespread.
The panel said that, according to reliable sources in El Geneina, women and girls as young as 14 years old were being attacked by Doctors Without Borders at a U.N. World Food Program storage facility controlled by paramilitary forces or while returning home to collect supplies. Rape of members. Property after being displaced by violence. Additionally, 16 girls were reportedly abducted by MSF soldiers and raped in MSF houses.
“Racial slurs directed at Masalit and non-Arab communities are part of the attacks,” the group said. “Communities and homes are constantly being attacked, looted, burned and destroyed,” particularly by Masalit and other African communities. Where they live, their people are harassed, attacked, sexually abused, and sometimes even executed.
Experts say prominent members of the Masalit community were singled out by Doctors Without Borders, which maintains a list, and its leaders were harassed and some executed. At least two lawyers, three prominent doctors and seven staff members were also killed, as well as human rights activists monitoring and reporting on the incident, they said.
The team said Médecins Sans Frontières and its allied militias looted and destroyed all hospitals and medical storage facilities, leading to the collapse of health services and the deaths of 37 women suffering from complications during childbirth and 200 patients requiring kidney dialysis.
After the killing of the governor of West Darfur in June, Masalit and African communities decided to seek protection in Adamata, outside El Geneina, the report said. They said a convoy of thousands of people set out at midnight, but when they reached a bridge, Médecins Sans Frontières and allied militias opened fire indiscriminately, and survivors reported an estimated 1,000 people were killed.
The panel stressed that excessive and indiscriminate attacks against civilians – including torture, rape and killings as well as damage to critical civilian infrastructure – constitute war crimes under the 1949 Geneva Conventions.
The RSF was formed by Janjaweed fighters under former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who ruled the country for 30 years before being ousted in a popular uprising in 2019. Omar al-Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court for genocide and other crimes. The conflict in Darfur in the 2000s.
According to the group, “Medecins Sans Frontières’ takeover of Darfur relies on three lines of support: the Arab League community, dynamic and complex financial networks, and new military supply lines running through Chad, Libya and South Sudan.”
Experts say that while the Sudanese military and Médecins Sans Frontières launched an extensive recruitment campaign across Darfur starting in late 2022, Médecins Sans Frontières has been more successful. The company “invested substantial proceeds from its pre-war gold business in a variety of industries, creating a network of as many as 50 companies.”
Experts say Médecins Sans Frontières’ complex financial network “enables it to acquire weapons, pay salaries, fund media campaigns, lobby and buy support from other political and armed groups”.
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who visited Chad in September, called the report’s findings “shocking” and expressed “deep disappointment” that the U.N. Security Council and the international community had taken the allegations so lightly.
“The Sudanese people feel they have been forgotten,” she said.
In light of the humanitarian disaster in Sudan and the wider region, Thomas-Greenfield asked the Sudanese military to lift the ban on cross-border aid to Chad and facilitate cross-border aid from the east. She also asked Doctors Without Borders in a statement on Wednesday to stop looting humanitarian warehouses and for both sides to stop harassing humanitarian aid workers.
“The Security Council must act urgently to alleviate human suffering, hold perpetrators accountable, and end the conflict in Sudan,” the U.S. ambassador said. “Time is running out.”
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