Weeks after the atrocities committed against civilians by Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), where at least 124 people were murdered in a village in El Gezira State, humanitarian organisations have released statements expressing their alarm over the continuing widespread violence.
Last month, following the surrender of high-ranking RSF officer Abuagla Keikal to the army, pro-democracy activists claimed that hundreds of civilians were killed and detained when the RSF carried out revenge attacks in the farming state where Keikal originates.
In one of the deadliest days since the beginning of the war in April 2023, RSF fighters committed rapes and other sexual violence, looted homes and killed more than a hundred people.
Since last December, residents of Gezira have faced looting, kidnapping and killing by RSF fighters. According to the pro-democracy group, Wad Madani Resistance Committee, the atrocities in the key farming region are the worst violence to have been enacted of recent months.
Since October 20, forty-eight cases of rape involving young female victims in the region have been documented by the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa. Testimonials revealed that many young women were gang raped and tortured, causing some to die by suicide after being subjected to sexual violence.
The RSF have seized control of large parts of the country in a conflict with the army that has left millions of people displaced, driving regions to extreme hunger or famine and causing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) Displacement Tracking Matrix reported that over one week in late October, over 9,000 people were displaced to Eastern Sudan though local authorities estimate the number to be much higher — over 30,000.
According to the Wad Madani Resistance Committee, the RSF militia is continuing its raid of the east, west, and central Gezira, “…committing extensive massacres in one village after another.”
Refugees International, a Washington DC-based independent humanitarian group, said it is deeply alarmed by the latest RSF abuses reported out of Gezira.
The group’s president, Jeremy Konyndyk described the latest mass atrocities as “an urgent reminder of the need for redoubled diplomatic efforts to end the war and preparation of a force to protect civilians.”
“While the current political will for such a step is lacking, the reality of escalating atrocities on the ground demands a more robust response,” he said. “The UN Security Council should work with the African Union to establish an international civilian protection mechanism and physical protective presence in Sudan.”
Refugees International is also urging the UN Security Council to stop arms flows into the country — a call made by UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres last month. In the report presented to the UN Security Council, Guterres acknowledged the severity of the violence occurring in the nation of more than 48 million, and warned of famine conditions leaving more than 750,000 people on the brink of starvation.
The Secretary General called for “action on the ground” and highlighted his recommendations on the protection of civilians in Sudan, including calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities, stronger measures to protect civilians, and ceasing arms flows from countries that are providing weapons to RSF fighters.
“Those responsible for war crimes must be held accountable,” he said, adding that “direct or indirect flow” of arms and ammunitions into Sudan “must cease immediately”.
Countries that have been exposed as supplying the RSF with weapons include Egypt, Iran, Russia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
“External actors supporting the RSF and SAF must condemn these latest abuses and cease any further material or diplomatic support to the warring parties,” Refugees International President Jeremy Konyndyk said. “The UAE, in particular, has been supplying weapons to the RSF, weapons likely used in the latest round of atrocities in Gezira.”
Last week, the UN Human Rights Council released a report from a UN Fact-Finding Mission which found that both the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) are committing large-scale human rights abuses that may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“Both the SAF and the RSF have attacked civilians and civilian objects, including through airstrikes and heavy artillery shelling in densely populated areas, notably in Khartoum and Darfur,” the report claimed.
“Both are responsible for violating children’s rights, including through killing and maiming. Both have engaged in a pattern of arbitrary arrest and detention as well as torture and ill-treatment in areas under their control, also amounting to war crimes. Both have imposed broad internet shutdowns and curtailed freedom of information and expression, including through attacks on media, journalists and human rights defenders. Both obstructed access to humanitarian aid for civilians in need.”
In July, Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s Senior Director for Regional Human Rights Impact, spoke out after the release of their report which revealed that weapons entering Sudan have been given to combatants who are accused of international humanitarian and human rights law violations.
“The constant flow of arms into Sudan is continuing to cause civilian death and suffering on an immense scale,” Muchena said. “We have methodically tracked a range of lethal weapons – including handguns, shotguns and rifles – that are being used in Sudan by warring forces.”
“This is a humanitarian crisis that cannot be ignored. As the threat of famine looms large, the world cannot continue to fail civilians in Sudan.”
Amnesty International, Refugees International and several other partner organisations are carrying out campaigns to raise awareness on the situation in Sudan, including #SpeakOutOnSudan, Take Action To Protect Civilians in Sudan, and the Sudan Crisis petition — a Plan International appeal to urge Foreign Minister Penny Wong to provide $50 million to help prevent catastrophic loss of life in Sudan.
In the last 24 hours, a news alert from United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported more than 28,000 cases of cholera and 836 deaths in 11 states in Sudan between 22 July and 28 October. Authorities believe the actual number of people infected with the disease may be higher due to under-reporting.