A United Nations investigation has concluded that Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) committed genocide in the western city of el-Fasher, carrying out mass killings, gang rapes, and deliberate starvation as part of an intentional policy.
The UN Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan released its findings on Wednesday, determining that the RSF's systematic campaign of violence against civilians during and after its siege of the capital of North Darfur state amounted to genocide, building on a February report that had already identified hallmarks of the crime.
The mission's chairman warned that the findings have urgent implications for el-Obeid, another major city now encircled by RSF forces, where the UN human rights chief has warned a “catastrophe” is unfolding. Survivors in el-Fasher described being raped in rooms where bodies of recently killed civilians, including their own family members, were still lying on the ground.
The report found that the RSF and its allies committed the war crime of starvation by imposing a prolonged siege on the city, impeding relief supplies, and shelling food production systems. The RSF has denied such abuses in more than three years of war with the Sudanese military, claiming the accounts are fabricated by its enemies.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk warned last week that a “catastrophe” was unfolding around el-Obeid, with his office documenting patterns of summary executions, abductions, torture, and sexual violence. International attention, long focused on Khartoum and Darfur, has increasingly shifted to el-Obeid as fighting intensifies in central Sudan's Kordofan region.
Members of the UN Human Rights Council condemned the violence on Monday and launched an urgent inquiry into reported abuses. The UK and other states have warned of a risk of large-scale atrocities as the RSF masses forces around el-Obeid, now home to about half a million people, including over 83,000 internally displaced.
The fact-finding mission had already concluded in February that mass killings of non-Arab communities in el-Fasher bore hallmarks of genocide. Its new report found additional evidence that the widespread and systematic pattern of RSF conduct—including large-scale killings, mass rapes, and deliberate starvation—was part of an intended policy.
“The patterns we documented in el-Fasher – including encirclement, attacks on civilian infrastructure, restrictions on humanitarian access, and widespread abuses against civilians – serve as a stark warning,” said Mohamed Chande Othman, the mission's chairman. “The international community must heed these lessons and act to prevent further catastrophe.”
Source: www.aljazeera.com