Fighters from a paramilitary force and their allied Arab militias rampaged through a town in Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region, allegedly killing more than 800 people in a multi-day attack, doctors and the UN said.
The attack on Ardamata in West Darfur province earlier this month was the latest in a series of atrocities in Darfur that marked the months-long war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, RSF.
Sudan has been in chaos since mid-April, when simmering tensions between military chief General Abdel-Fattah Burhan and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces commander General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo exploded into open war.
The war came 18 months after both generals overthrew a transitional government in a military coup.
The military takeover ended Sudan’s brief and fragile transition to democracy following a popular uprising that forced the overthrow of former strongman Omar al-Bashir in April 2019.
More than 800 people in Darfur, Sudan, were killed in a multi-day attack by paramilitary forces and their allied Arab militias, according to the United Nations. REUTERS
In recent weeks, the RSF has advanced into Darfur, taking entire cities and towns across the sprawling region, despite the warring parties’ return to the negotiating table in Saudi Arabia late last month.
The first round of talks, brokered by the United States and Saudi Arabia, failed to establish a ceasefire.
The daylong attack in Ardamata came after the RSF took control of a military base in the town after a brief battle on Nov. 4 with troops there, said Salah Tour, head of the Sudanese Doctors Union in West Darfur. .
Women from Western Darfur cried after receiving news of their relatives’ deaths while waiting for them in Chad on November 7, 2023. REUTERS Sudan erupted into chaos in mid-April as tensions between military chief General Abdel-Fattah Burhan (pictured) and the commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, were blown up. AP
He said the military withdrew from the base, adding that about two dozen wounded soldiers fled to Chad.
Spokesmen for the army and RSF did not respond to phone calls seeking comment.
After taking the military base, the RSF and its allied Arab militias rampaged through the city, killing non-Arabs inside their homes and burning shelters housing displaced people, Tour said.
“They violently attacked the city,” he said, adding that the RSF and its militias were targeting the African Masalit tribe. “They went from house to house, killing and arresting people.”
The Darfur Bar Association, an advocacy group, accused RSF fighters of committing “all kinds of grave violations against defenseless civilians” in Ardamata.
He cited an attack on November 6 during which the RSF killed more than 50 people, including a tribal leader and his family.
The UNHCR said more than 800 people have reportedly been killed and another 8,000 have fled to neighboring Chad.
The agency, however, said the number of people who fled was likely an underestimate due to problems registering new arrivals in Chad.
The agency said around 100 shelters in the city were razed and extensive looting occurred there, including humanitarian aid belonging to the agency.
“Twenty years ago, the world was shocked by the terrible atrocities and human rights violations in Darfur. We fear that a similar dynamic is developing,” said United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.
The war came 18 months after both generals overthrew a transitional government in a military coup. SAUDI PRESS AGENCY/AFP via Getty Images The UNHCR said more than 800 people have reportedly been killed and another 8,000 have fled to neighboring Chad. REUTERS
The US State Department said it was “deeply concerned by eyewitness reports of serious human rights abuses committed by RSF and affiliated militias, including murders in Ardamata and ethnic attacks against leaders and members of the Masalit community.
“These horrific actions highlight once again the pattern of abuses by the RSF in relation to its military offensives,” he said in a statement.
Ardamata is located a few kilometers (miles) north of Geneina, the provincial capital of West Darfur.
The RSF and Arab militias launched attacks on Geneina, including a major attack in June that drove more non-Arab populations into Chad and other areas of Sudan.
The paramilitary group and its allied Arab militias were also accused by the UN and international rights groups of atrocities in Darfur, which was the scene of a genocidal campaign in the early 2000s.
Those atrocities included rape and gang rape in Darfur, but also in the capital, Khartoum. Almost all of the reported cases were attributed to RSF.
The U.N. Human Rights Office said in July that a mass grave outside Geneina was found with at least 87 bodies, citing credible information.
Such atrocities led the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to declare that he was investigating alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the latest fighting in Darfur.
The conflict killed some 9,000 people and created “one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in recent history,” according to UN Under-Secretary-General Martin Griffiths.
More than 6 million people were also forced to leave their homes, including 1.2 million who sought refuge in neighboring countries, according to UN figures.
Aid provided by the World Food Program is seen above at the Adre camp in Adre, Chad. REUTERS More than 6 million people have been forced to leave their homes and sought refuge in neighboring countries such as Chad, according to UN figures. REUTERS
The fighting was initially centered in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, but quickly spread to other areas of the East African nation, including Darfur.
It turned the capital into a battlefield, destroying most of the civilian infrastructure, most recently the collapse of a bridge over the Nile River connecting the northern part of Khartoum to the capital’s sister city, Omdurman. Both sides exchanged accusations of blowing up the Shambat Bridge.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn