Report
UN: The conflict in Darfur has killed hundreds of civilians
Since May, paramilitaries have increased their forces in an attempt to seize control of all of Darfur – a region rich in gold deposits and a key hub for receiving military supplies from Chad – and have besieged the city.
According to a U.N. report on Sudan released on Friday, December 20, at least 782 civilians have been killed and over 1,143 others injured in the ongoing hostilities in El Fasher, which has become the epicenter of the conflict pitting the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), led by General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), paramilitaries led by General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo.
With more than two million inhabitants – including 800,000 refugees – El Fasher is the only capital of Darfur's five states that is not controlled by the RSF paramilitaries, and in recent months it has become the main refugee shelter and humanitarian aid collection center in an area hard hit by famine.
Since May, the RSF have increased their forces in an attempt to seize control of all of Darfur – a region rich in gold deposits and a key hub for receiving military supplies from Chad – and have besieged the city, razing villages in the area and killing all non-Arab civilians, particularly the Massalit and Zaghawa. “Ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity” have been confirmed by Human Rights Watch (HRW), which raised the possibility that there is an ongoing genocide.
This is why some of the local armed groups in the area have joined forces to repel the assaults by Dagalo's men: the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) led by local governor Minni Minnawi and the Justice and equality movement (JEM) led by Gibril Ibrahim, who have renounced their neutrality and joined the fight alongside the SAF.
“This alarming situation cannot continue. The Rapid Support Forces must end this horrible siege. And I urge all parties to the conflict to stop attacks on civilians and civilian objects. I call on them to comply with their obligations and commitments under international law,” said Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, on the occasion of the publication of the UN report.
The last resolution adopted by the Security Council on June 13, 2024 called for an end to the siege of El Fasher in order to “ensure the protection of civilians.” In response, RSF militiamen have not only intensified their attacks on the Saudi hospital – the only one still operational, hit several times by shelling – and residential areas in the eastern and southern parts of the city, but also on the nearby Zamzam refugee camp, causing over 60 casualties last week, according to the Sudan Tribune newspaper.
The violence is affecting not only civilians, but also aid workers. On Thursday, one of the World Food Program's (WFP) offices was targeted by an air strike in Yabus, Blue Nile state, resulting in the deaths of three U.N. aid workers working to provide humanitarian aid for one of the world's “most serious food crises,” which has put more than 25 million people, half the population of Sudan, “at risk of severe malnutrition.”
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said through a spokesman that he was “outraged” about the attack and continuing reports of violence from Sudan, renewing his call on the parties to the conflict – who have both been accused of blocking and looting humanitarian aid – to “adhere to their obligations to protect civilians, including aid personnel, as well as humanitarian premises and supplies.”
Guterres once again urged the international community to find a solution for an immediate ceasefire, in a conflict that has been described as “catastrophic” and which to date has claimed more than 150,000 lives and caused 12 million to become internally displaced or refugees in neighboring countries.
Originally published at https://ilmanifesto.it/onu-conflitto-in-darfur-catastrofico-colpiti-civili-e-operatori-umanitari on 2024-12-22