Sudan: At least 87 buried in mass grave in Darfur as Rapid Support Forces deny victims decent burials (13.07.2023)

GENEVA (13 July 2023) – The bodies of at least 87 ethnic Masalit and others allegedly killed last month by Rapid Support Forces and their allied militia in West Darfur have been buried in a mass grave outside the region’s capital El-Geneina on the orders of the Rapid Support Forces, according to credible information obtained by the UN Human Rights Office.

Local people were forced to dispose of the bodies in a mass grave, denying those killed a decent burial in one of the city’s cemeteries. At least 37 bodies were buried on 20 June in the approximately one-metre-deep mass grave in an open area called Al-Turab Al Ahmar (Red Soil), in the Ranga area, about two to four kilometres northwest of the headquarters of the Central Reserve Police in western El-Geneina, sources said. Another 50 bodies were buried at the same site on 21 June. The bodies of seven women and seven children were among those buried.

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 in El-Geneina’s Al-Madaress and Al-Jamarek districts and include many victims of the violence that followed the killing of Khamis Abbaker, the Governor of West Darfur, on 14 June, shortly after he was taken into custody by the RSF. They also include individuals who died from untreated injuries.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk today called on the RSF and other parties to the conflict to allow and facilitate prompt searches for the dead, their collection and evacuation without distinction, including based on ethnic background – as they are obliged to do under international law.

“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,” Türk said. “There must be a prompt, thorough and independent investigation into the killings, and those responsible must be held to account.”

Witnesses said that local mediation efforts for access to and burial of the dead have generally taken long, leaving many bodies lying in the streets for days on end. One family said it had to wait 13 days before being allowed to collect the body of a family member, a Masalit dignitary killed on or around 9 June by the RSF and their allied militia.

Witnesses told the UN Human Rights Office that in the instances where the RSF have allowed the collection of the dead – following mediation with Arab and other community leaders – they have refused to allow the removal of the injured to hospitals for medical treatment.

“The RSF’s leadership and their allied militia as well as all parties to an armed conflict are required to ensure that the dead are properly handled, and their dignity protected,” Türk said.

The RSF must record, or allow relief workers to record, all available information related to the dead, including taking proper photos of the bodies and marking the location of the graves, with a view to identification to facilitate the return of the remains of the deceased to the families upon their request.

Under international humanitarian law and international human rights law, all parties to the conflict must ensure the injured receive medical care.

The High Commissioner called on the RSF leadership immediately and unequivocally to condemn and stop the killing of people, and to end violence and hate speech against people on the basis of their ethnicity.

Sudan crisis: You don’t dare ask refugees where the men have gone, say United Nations (UN) aid teams (12.07.2023)

From the World Food Programme (WFP), Chad Country Director Pierre Honnorat said that 20,000 people crossed into Chad just last week.

NEW YORK, United States of America, July 12, 2023 – As conflict continues to rage in Sudan, UN humanitarians expressed alarm on Tuesday at a surge in the number of people fleeing across the border to Chad.

From the World Food Programme (WFP), Chad Country Director Pierre Honnorat said that 20,000 people crossed into Chad just last week.

Speaking to journalists via Zoom from the Zabout refugee camp in Goz Beida, Mr. Honnorat described desperate scenes: “We can see that they have suffered, many lost family members, and we don’t even dare ask them, ‘Where are the men?’ The answer from the mothers is often that they were killed. So, you just see many women, many children.”

The new arrivals are among the more than 230,000 refugees and 38,000 returnees who’ve been uprooted by deadly clashes in west Sudan’s Darfur states.

‘We need support, not hope’

Many are seriously wounded and have harrowing stories of the violence they have experienced, Mr. Honnorat said, as he appealed for financial support to help the victims of Sudan’s conflict, which began on 15 April and has been marked by the use of heavy weaponry and airstrikes involving rival military forces.

“This is not over at all,” the WFP official said. “We really need support. It’s no longer about hope. We give them hope, safety, but they really need to eat every day. The situation is really critical.”

In order to scale up WFP’s response on the Chad-Sudan border, the UN agency needs a minimum of $13 million every month.

Dying at nutrition centres

Urgent priorities include treating the wounded and helping dangerously malnourished children crossing from Darfur into Chad. According to WFP, one in 10 displaced youngsters from Sudan is malnourished.

“Every week children are dying at the nutrition centres; this is a reality,” Mr. Honnorat said. “The malnutrition rate for children now is just too high, and we need to be extremely quick in prevention to make sure that those who are under what we call moderate to acute malnutrition can urgently get what they need so they don’t fall into the severe malnutrition.”

According to the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, the conflict has displaced more than 2.5 million people inside Sudan and across borders into neighbouring countries. Before the crisis erupted, there were 1.1 million refugees in Sudan, mainly from South Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Syria.

The latest data from UNHCR indicates that Chad has opened its borders to more than 190,000 refugees, second only to Egypt, which shelters more than 250,000.

‘So little funding’

In recent weeks, WFP has constructed six temporary health units, including two now used as a makeshift hospital and for medical logistics, and four as transit points for new refugees crossing into Chad.

“I’ve rarely seen such an important crisis with so little funding,” said the WFP country director. “I was also at the border, on the bridge, what’s left as a bridge. It’s a constant flow and the ones that are coming now are in much worse situations than those who arrived in the first days.”

Many of those arriving in Chad from Darfur are seriously wounded amid reports that fleeing civilians have been deliberated targeted with an increasing ethnic dimension to the violence.

Opinion: IGAD forgot one key component of the conflict…

“Also in attendance was Mr. Yousif Izzat representing the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)” (…) “Notes the regrettable absence of the delegation of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) in spite of the invitation and confirmation of attendance” (IGAD Communique, 10.07.2023).

The IGAD Quartet Group of Countries meeting in Addis Ababa on the 10th July 2023 was a positive engagement, but it has little substance for the conflict of Sudan when only one of the stakeholders showed up and the other boycotted it.

It doesn’t matter if IGAD has all the well-meaning ideals and policies for the conflict. The IGAD can have the best mechanisms and oversight for the conflict in Sudan. However, it is pointless and meaningless… when the SAF isn’t participating or even being there. It doesn’t help the cause that only the RSF was there.

This is a conflict and a war between the SAF and Rapid Support Forces (Janjaweed/RSF). That is the gist of things. A conflict between Al-Burhan and Hemeti. These two generals are fighting for supremacy and overcome the other. This was the supposed third coup d’etat after Al-Bashir, but it went south, which is why the conflict and war persist in Sudan.

These two are fighting for their own future and control of the state. Hemeti wanted to overthrow and conquer the SAF. He wanted to trick and takeover from Al-Burhan. While Al-Burhan and his henchmen wanted to continue to be in office. These unelected and unselected military commanders wanted to ensure longevity of the junta government in Khartoum.

That’s what is happening now, and the civilian transition has been stalled and with perfection. While the International Community has looked idly by or ushered it in. They have accepted the military and militia involvement in the Transitional Sovereign Council. These entities has given way and trusted in the army commanders to ensure positive change. We can see that is futile now, but warlords are lords of war for a reason. They are not puppets of peace or peacekeepers, no they are warriors who thrives in conflict. That’s why they are continuing the bloodshed and earning fortunes on the demise of others.

With this knowledge and knowhow, the IGAD should have been worried that one party of the conflict didn’t show up. Nobody from the Transitional Sovereign Council showed up or the SAF. They had one member of the RSF (Janjaweed) at the meeting. However, that isn’t the whole picture and makes the meeting less useful. It is more a busy body than something making substantial change.

If the IGAD wanted to be sincere. They should have listened to the SAF and their wants. The SAF doesn’t trust Ruto and thinks his connected to the Janjaweed. However, there is no proof of this, but until its dismissed with proof. It is hard to tell if it is so… Ruto must address this and so has his government. Because it doesn’t help to bushwhack yourself into something and one party don’t want to see you. That’s not how you create better atmosphere or ability to mediate in a conflict. No, that a way to undermine the efforts and stop any sort of progress. That’s why the South Sudanese sent a random person as a delegate too.

The SAF wanted the South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardit to mediate. That would be a friendly face and also someone who knows the regime, and stakeholders in the conflict. He would be useful and he has used the regime in Khartoum to lay down the arms himself. Therefore, that would make sense, but Ruto’s ego won’t allow that.

IGAD could have been useful, and it could have created mechanisms that could make sense. However, it is a waste of time, and they didn’t listen to the ones with grievances. Peace.

Sudan: Top UN officials sound alarm at spike in violence against women and girls (05.07.2023)

Sudan: End-Impunity Organization (EIO) – Letter to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) – From Sudanese Civil Society Organizations – Call on the Prosecutor of the ICC to investigate and Deter Crimes in Sudan (28.06.2023)

Sudan: Al-Burhan asks the youth to die for his cause…

“Therefore, we ask all the youth of my country and all those who are capable of defending themselves not to hesitate or delay in fulfilling this national duty in their respective communities or by joining the military units. By doing so, they will gain the honour of safeguarding the survival of the Sudanese state, which has been targeted by internal and external conspiracies.” – President Al-Burhan (Sudan Tribune – ‘Burhan calls on Sudanese youth to join the army’ 27.06.2023).

The war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) continues in Sudan. The conflict hasn’t ceased after RSF or the Janjaweed tried to overthrow the Transitional Sovereign Council. It has been over 70 days and the spiralling violence persist.

It is striking that after so long time. That the General and Head of State, Al-Burhan turns to the Youth and the Civilians to save him. That’s what his doing with the general mobilization. This is because, his not in control and needs and advantage. He needs new recruits, because his not able to silence or strategically get rid of the Janjaweed.

Hemeti and his allies with the brutal force it uses is clearly in an advantage. They are not using ordinary military methods, but instead acts like a militia. The militia can suddenly ambush and strike at a conventional army. Which is what Al-Burhan, and his allies are feeling right now.

Al-Burhan wants to win and wants to succeed. The RSF or Janjaweed became too powerful and to big. Hemeti might thought he would have the last say and topple the last man in his way. Since, he only needed to takeout Al-Burhan, and he would be crowned King.

Al-Burhan is asking the same people he has killed, slaughtered and oppressed to fight on his side. It wouldn’t be any difference if Hemeti asked for the same. They are both bloodthirsty villains and warlords. I cannot spot a real difference, its only titles and what banner they operate under, which is different. Al-Burhan and Hemeti is two sides of the same coin.

Hemeti is in-charge and has been running a genocidal affair in Darfur. He has escalated the same means to other states. Al-Burhan has been a military commander under Al-Bashir and served his interests. While later silence the Sudanese Revolution, cause massacres and use dictatorial means to stop the civilian transition of power. Therefore, Al-Burhan or Hemeti isn’t anyone’s hero. No, his just another man of war and of arms.

We are now seeing a stalemate and Al-Burhan trying to get more manpower and troops. His asking for the people to save him. The same people he thought he could rule over without any accountability or transparency. Al-Burhan together with Hemeti has hijacked the revolution and tried to silence the civilian organizations fighting for a civilian government.

When Al-Burhan goes out publicly with this. We should expect forced conscriptions of youth in Sudan. It is a way of warning about it and that he will take every able man to fight in his war. This conflict is a battle between two warlords and one trying to use the civilians as his pool of manpower. That’s deliberate and Al-Burhan wants to be a legitimate statesman.

However, no one should be shocked or in awe. Al-Burhan and Hemeti are blinded by power and hunger for it. This is why they are enforcing violence and open warfare in the Republic as we speak. There is nothing noble about it… and the ones joining the SAF is fighting for one man instead of another man.

There will be nothing good coming out of this and the bloodshed will continue. The pursuit to gain power by any means continues. Peace.

South Sudan: Ministry of Foreign Affairs & International Cooperation – Press Release (23.06.2023)

Sudan: The Revolutionary Charter for People’s Power – A report on the humanitarian and security situation in West Darfur state (14.06.2023)

 

Unfortunately, we inform you that the city of El Geneina and its countryside in the state of West Darfur are still besieged and occupied by the Janjaweed militia, the “Rapid Support Militia”, and are committing massacres, violations and crimes therein. War against civilians and defenseless citizens.

So far, there are no accurate statistics on the number of victims, but reports and observations indicate that hundreds of dead and wounded have fallen since the escalation of the war and the ethnic targeting of citizens by the Janjaweed militia.

In addition to killing citizens; It’s still being looted and the burning of homes and property by the Janjaweed militia, especially in the southern direction of the city of El Geneina.

Also, all communication networks are still cut off, and all organizations that provide humanitarian services flee and exit, which means the absence of humanitarian and health services and the absence of any medical care or aid provided to citizens.

The displacement of citizens to the border region of Adre of the State of Chad, and the surrounding areas inside and outside the state of West Darfur, for some families who managed to survive and get out of the heart of these massacres and genocide practiced by the Janjaweed militia against civilians.

As we have now received the news of the killing of the governor of West Darfur state, after he was captured today by before the rapid support militia “Janjaweed militia” and liquidated him after captivity.

The sluggish and steadfast position remains the role of the security and regular services, as the army continued to take shelter within its command and military garrisons and abandoned the protection of the citizens, while continuing to bomb the Danat towards residential areas whenever it sensed the militia approaching towards it. To defend his generals who are hidden inside his military garrisons.

There is no mention of any form of police forces, as all the security and executive agencies have abandoned their duties to protect citizens and left them defenseless in the face of the violence of the Janjaweed militia.

What is happening and what is practiced by the Janjaweed militia, the Rapid Support Militia, in all from El Geneina, Zalingei, and some cities and villages in the Darfur region, it rises to describe it as a process of ethnic cleansing and genocide to bring about demographic change against the Sudanese population and citizens who live in these areas and an occupation of land and resources that should not be tolerated or ignored, for the whole country is Sudan.

We are in the revolutionary pact to establish the power of the people; We see the failure to condemn these crimes, violations and massacres as a disgrace to the face and history of all humanity, and it is a condemnation of all the international, regional and local community that did not lift a finger to save these lives and condemn the crimes of the Janjaweed militia.

And the failure of the security and executive agencies of the de facto government. All this should not be tolerated despite the media blackout.

June 14, 2023 AD

Sudan: United Nations Special Adviser Alice Wairimu Nderitu – Protect civilians and respect international humanitarian law, says UN Special Adviser as she raises alarm on Sudan conflict (13.06.2023)

Sudan: IGAD has a dreamy Roadmap to end the conflict…

I don’t know about you but the IGAD Summit on the 12th June 2023 had high hopes and earth-shattering dreams in concern to the conflict in Sudan. It is within reason why the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs called them out. Earlier I thought it was something said in the official release from the Executive Director of IGAD.

However, I might think they were not agreeing on the timeline or the roadmap that was discussed at the IGAD Summit. The warlords are not even able to convene or adjust their warfare in accordance with several of cease-fires or the Jeddah Declaration. Therefore, the IGAD has dreams that will turn into nightmares.

Just read this one here…. Its hard to believe they are serious after two months of war.

“Adopted the IGAD Roadmap for the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of Sudan with the following action points:

Include the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia as the fourth member of the IGAD High-Level Delegation for the Peace Process in the Republic of Sudan; and for H.E. William Ruto, President of the Republic of Kenya, to Chair the Quartet Countries of the Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and South Sudan and for the Quartet to work in close coordination with the African Union Commission;

Within ten (10) days, the Quartet to arrange face-to-face meeting between H.E. Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, the Chairperson of the Transitional Sovereignty Council of the Republic of Sudan, and Gen. Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo in one of the regional capitals;

Within two (2) weeks secure a commitment from the leadership of SAF and RSF to establish a humanitarian corridor;

Within three (3) weeks initiate an inclusive political process towards a political settlement of the conflict in the Republic of Sudan” (IGAD – ‘FINAL COMMUNIQUÉ of the 14th Ordinary Session of the IGAD Assembly of Heads of State and Government – June 12, 2023 Djibouti, Republic of Djibouti, 14.06.2023).

There is nothing wrong with allies, neighbours and stakeholders to negotiate, talk or even try to hold dialogue between the parties of the war. That is a necessity and especially after the United Nations Envoy have been deemed “person non-grata” by the Sudanese authorities. There are less eyes and ears on the ground. Therefore, an initiative by IGAD is welcomed.

Nevertheless, they should make this roadmap in accordance with the grieving parties in Khartoum. Not make it with heads of state and their delegates in Djibouti. That’s why IGAD is at the cross-roads. Yes, this communique and summit seems like it was successful. However, the truth is more sinister.

The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF – Janjaweed) where not invited or at the table. This was a made up timeline and a roadmap with no justification. IGAD already know how these two are operating and should keep their heads cool. Yes, the Presidents and the leaders of IGAD wants to look golden. It still doesn’t change the facts on the ground.

Al-Burhan and Hemeti wasn’t involved in this and they are the ones that needs to be listened too. In this regard, the IGAD has failed and only looking stupid. Because, IGAD can easily access or be in communication with the parties. Nevertheless, they didn’t do so in advance and didn’t inform the Sudanese delegation in advance either. Meaning they where bamboozled with this and didn’t know how to navigate.

The SAF and RSF needs to sit down by a table and iron things out. However, right now they are busying trying to control and weaken the other party. That’s what they are doing and hoping to find a way to be supreme. This is why the cease-fires aren’t working or being implemented either. It is all in the hope of overcoming the enemy….

IGAD can come with wishes, hopes and dreams. They can write a roadmap but doing so without consultation or planned meetings with the Sudanese is flabbergasting. Especially, if IGAD thought they would achieve anything here. IGAD is maybe looking better for the donors and the ones supporting the organization. However, they are not listening too or trying to understand the parties at war in Sudan. Peace.