RSF Paramilitaries Kill Over 400 Civilians in Sudan
Kanako Mita, Sawako Utsumi, and Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have killed over 433 civilians – including many women and children – in the White Nile State in Sudan. Sadly, even this devastating death toll is likely to increase.
Emergency Lawyers (a human rights group that supports Sudanese civilians) said, “The attacks included executions, kidnapping, forced disappearance, looting, and shooting those trying to escape.”
AP News reports, “Sudan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the paramilitary group targeted civilians in the past few days in villages in the al-Gitaina area after they were ‘overwhelmed by its devastating defeat’ by the Sudanese army. The statement put the death toll at 433, while the Preliminary Committee of Sudan Doctors’ Trade Union put that figure at 300.”
The Foreign Ministry of Sudan said: “Anyone who participates in or supports the militia in its planned propaganda movement, under the guise of signing a political charter sponsored by its regional sponsors and those who follow their orders in the region, is complicit in its crimes and atrocities against the Sudanese people.”
Outside meddling is making the crisis even worse. For example, the United Arab Emirates is accused of providing the RSF with ample drones in this brutal war – and other essential military supplies.
Relief Web says, “White Nile State is situated in the southern part of Sudan. It borders South Kordofan, North Kordofan, Khartoum, Aj Jazirah, and Sennar states and shares an international border with South Sudan. Its state capital is Rabak town. The main tribes in the state are the Hassanyia, Ajimi, Al Selaim, Al Ahamdaa and Kenana.”
Other parts of Sudan are blighted by war – hence, millions of people have been uprooted. On top of this, many reports of sexual slavery and countless massacres have been reported.
Amnesty International reports (North Darfur and Zamam Camp), “The attacks on Zamzam camp, amid the RSF’s continued siege of El Fasher, underscores the urgent need for real international pressure on the parties to the conflict to stop targeting civilians. Real pressure means instituting and enforcing a UN arms embargo across all of Sudan to stem the flow of weapons to all parties, and holding individuals responsible for crimes under international law accountable. The Sudan conflict has been ignored enough.”
Human Rights Watch said: “Rapid Support Forces fighters and allied militias have raped scores of women and girls, including in the context of sexual slavery, in Sudan’s South Kordofan state since September 2023.”
Slavery only ended in the land of Mecca in the 1960s. Accordingly, Arab Muslim slavery in Sudan persisted after this date – for example, before South Sudan split from Sudan, many Dinka were enslaved and other ethnic groups.
Al Jazeera reports, “Last week, Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced plans for a transitional government to pave the way for elections and end the war, as it also made strategic advances against RSF forces in the states of Sennar, Gezira and the key city of Umm Ruwaba in North Kordofan.”
Fresh massacres await the people of Sudan, given the nature of this brutal war. Accordingly, external nations involved in the conflict need to be made accountable.
The Independent reports, “Millions of refugees have fled to neighboring countries like Chad, Ethiopia and South Sudan. More than 24 million people – half of Sudan’s population – are facing ‘acute food insecurity’, according to the latest UN figures.”
Sadly, the people of Sudan have witnessed war for decades – when will peace finally come to this nation?
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