Arabs Massacre non-Arab Masalits in Darfur: US Denounces War Crimes
Sawako Utsumi and Michiyo Tanabe
Modern Tokyo Times
America denounced the cycle of massacres committed by warring parties to the ongoing conflict in Sudan.
The United States Secretary of State (Antony Blinken) notably denounced the massacres of non-Arab Masalits killed by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and their allies.
Reuters reports, “Washington also determined that the RSF and allied militias committed crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing, Blinken said in a statement.”
The estimated number of deaths since the conflict broke out in mid-April is at least 10,000.
America and regional African nations seek an end to the conflict. Accordingly, with 6.5 million people internally displaced or fleeing to regional nations including Chad, the humanitarian crisis is spiraling and leading to premature deaths of ordinary civilians.
Blinken – highlighting the ethnic dimensions of the crisis in Darfur – said: “Masalit civilians have been hunted down and left for dead in the streets, their homes set on fire, and told that there is no place in Sudan for them.”
Historically, Arabs in Sudan enslaved several black African ethnic groups. Hence, before Sudan split up between Sudan and South Sudan, Arabs were enslaving the Dinka and other black African ethnic groups.
In Darfur, the situation for non-Arab Masalits was equally grim. This concerns endless massacres by Arab militias.
Andrew Mitchell (the UK Minister for Africa) – concerning events in West Darfur – said, “What is happening in Darfur is that innocent people are being attacked by militias, particularly by the RSF. They are being hounded from their homes and murdered, women are being raped and attacked, houses are being burnt, crops and cattle destroyed.”
He continued, “This has all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing. And it’s going on just as it was back from 2003 onwards. It’s going on in the same way today, if anything with even more ferocity.”
Hobeldin Hassen (a Masalit activist in Chad after fleeing El Geneina) told Reuters, “…ethnic cleansing, occupying land and demographic change” by Arab militias and the RSF is a two-decade campaign to alter the ethnic demographics of the region.
UN experts said, “It is alleged that men identified as members of the RSF are using rape and sexual violence of women and girls as tools to punish and terrorize communities. Some of the reported rapes appear to be ethnically and racially motivated.”
Lee Jay Walker says, “The crisis in Sudan and notably Darfur – is similar to other conflicts including Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia (Amhara persecuted), Mali, and Myanmar – where international attention is fixated on the crisis between Ukraine and Russia and the ongoing crisis in Gaza concerning Hamas and Israel. However, other conflicts need equal international attention concerning humanitarian assistance, political interaction with warring parties, and other essential areas to assist ‘the abandoned’ in these nations.”
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