Fear of ethnic cleansing in West Darfur

Three months after the clashes between Sudan’s regular army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Khartoum, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) warns of a wildfire in the country: “Meanwhile, the conflict has reached at least six other states of the country. The situation of the civilian population of Khartoum is disastrous. Medical care has collapsed, drinking water is scarce, and electricity is only available by the hour,” stated Sarah Reinke, Head of the human rights department of the Society for Threatened Peoples, in Göttingen on Friday. “Since May, El Geneina has been a center of the clashes between the army and the RSF, who are allied with armed Arab militias,” Reinke explained. “There have been outbreaks of violence for weeks. Refugees who tried to get to the border to Chad were shot at. Their bodies are lying on the road between El Geneina and Adri.” A representative of the organization Doctors Without Borders described El Geneina as “the worst place on earth”.  

Due to fear of ethnic cleansing that could lead to a genocide, the STP – together with other human rights organizations such as “Jews against Genocide” – addressed an open letter to EU institutions and the European heads of state: “The reports suggest that the RSF and their allies are carrying out targeted attack on civilians, hospitals, residential buildings, and distribution facilities,” Reinke stated. “In the face of these crimes, the international community must not remain idle. The perpetrators must be called out, and concise measures will have to be taken to prevent further ethnic cleansing and a genocide.” The RSF have their roots in the Janjaweed militias, which were mainly responsible for the genocide in Darfur, with up to 400,000 dead. 

So far, more than 1,200 people are said to have been killed in West Darfur – and thousands were injured. The hospitals are not in working order. More than 100,000 people managed to escape to Chad, many of them suffered gunshot wounds. Survivors reported that there are targeted attacks against non-Arabs, especially against members of the population group of the Massalit. 

In their letter, the international human rights organizations acknowledge that Volker Perthes, Head of the UNITAMS Mission, and Alice Wairimu Nderitu, UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, have condemned the violence – but they have so far not explicitly called out the RSF. Thus, the addressees of the appeal should strongly condemn the crimes of the militias, ensure that the perpetrators are held accountable, and finally agree on measures to protect the civilian population. The Sudanese army is not able to ensure this. 

The open letter was addressed to the United Nations, the African Union, the EU, and its member states. It was initiated by the organization “Jews against Genocide”.