Militias destroy more than 120 villages in western Sudan – militias must be disarmed and disbanded

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) demands that a militia set up by the Sudanese Army must be disarmed and disbanded. The goup is responsible for driving off the population of entire regions in South and North Darfur. "More than 215,000 civilians were forced to flee from Darfur since January 2014 because of the so-called 'Rapid Support Forces'," said Ulrich Delius, the STP's Africa-consultant in Göttingen on Tuesday. According to eyewitness reports, they destroyed more than 120 villages in the vicinity of the town of Nyala, South Darfur, during the past week alone. "Many Darfuris fear the new militia more than the infamous Janjaweed group that burned down more than 4,000 villages in western Sudan during the genocide of the years 2003 to 2007." Due to a new wave of violence, about 700,000 civilians were forced to flee from their homes in Darfur since January 2013.

The United Nations (UN) have acknowledged an "alarming escalation of violence" in Darfur. Last Tuesday, Mohamed Ibn Chambas – the UN and African Union special representative for Darfur – warned the Security Council about a new wave of violence caused by the "Rapid Support Forces". Countless villages were burned down. Chambas stated that the consequences of their attacks could not be documented completely yet, but that the ongoing exodus of the civilian population is alarming. Children are especially affected. According to the official Sudanese auxiliary commission, about 70 percent of the refugees in North Darfur are younger than 18 and about a quarter of them is even younger than five.

The "Rapid Support Forces" have been causing havoc in Darfur since the beginning of 2014. Originally, the militia consisted of members of Arab tribes. It had been set up in fall of 2013 to support the Sudanese army in fighting the rebel movement SPLM -North in the disputed region of South Kordofan. In February 2014, the militia was withdrawn from South Kordofan to Darfur due to military setbacks in the region and due to more protests of the civilian population. "Since then, the group has left a trail of violence and blood that reminds us of the worst times of the genocide in Darfur," said Delius. "The militia must be stopped as son as possible to prevent another mass exodus from the rural areas of South and North Darfur."

Ulrich Delius, head of STP's Africa department, is available for further questions: Tel. 0551 49906 27 or afrika@gfbv.de.