Paramilitaries deny Darfur killings as air strikes rage in Khartoum

Paramilitaries in Sudan have denied the raging war crimes in Darfur as air strikes are still experienced in the country’s capital (Image by flickr.com)

Air strikes pummelled Khartoum on Sunday 16 July 2023, and fighting raged in Sudan’s western Darfur region, witnesses said, as a three-month war between the army and rival paramilitaries showed no signs of abating.

In the capital’s east and northwest, army fighter jets “targeted bases” belonging to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) who “responded with anti-aircraft weapons”, witnesses told AFP.

ALSO READ: Sudanese refugees in Egypt’s capital face unaffordable rent prices^[1]

A local neighbourhood group said at least five people were killed and 17 others injured in a blast in Ombada, in Khartoum’s northwest, but the toll was likely to increase as “more casualties are pulled from the rubble”.

RSF drones targeted Khartoum’s largest military hospital, according to witnesses. A similar attack Saturday on the same facility left five dead and 22 injured, the army said.

ALSO READ: Sudan war summit urges peace as Darfur reports mass killings^[2]

The war between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, has killed around 3,000 people, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project, but the actual death toll is believed to be much higher.

A further three million people have been displaced internally or fled across borders, according to the International Organization for Migration. Diplomatic efforts to end the violence continue but have failed to bear fruit and numerous ceasefires have been broken.

ALSO READ: War-torn Sudan’s capital plunges into communications blackout^[3]

Did army delegation return?

As the war entered its fourth month on Saturday, a government source told AFP an army delegation had returned to the Saudi city of Jeddah to resume truce talks.

The Saudi- and US-brokered talks were adjourned last month after several truces were systematically violated. There was no comment from either the RSF or the mediators on the reported resumption of the negotiations in Jeddah.

ALSO READ: Sudan sides to be held to account as war rages: UN^[4]

In Darfur, a vast region which has seen some of the worst of the fighting, witnesses on Sunday reported “heavy clashes using various types of weapons” in the town of Kas.

Residents of Kas, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) northwest of the South Darfur state capital of Nyala, said houses were broken into and looted by RSF fighters. The paramilitaries, in a statement, hailed their “major victory” in the town.

ALSO READ: Egypt hosts regional summit to halt bloodshed in war-torn Sudan^[5]

They also said on Sunday they “welcome” the decision of a police force in East Darfur to “integrate with the RSF” after heads of local tribes in South Darfur also pledged allegiance to the paramilitaries.

A statement by the interior ministry said the police remains “the armed forces’ strongest supporter” in Khartoum and also praised its “efforts” in the rest of the country.

ALSO READ: Sudan’s warring sides must face accountability for crimes^[6]

Home of a quarter of Sudan’s population

Darfur, home to around a quarter of Sudan’s 48 million people, has seen entire towns razed to the ground, with reports of mass civilian deaths and ethnically charged assassinations blamed on the RSF and allied Arab militias.

On Saturday, the RSF said it “categorically refutes” a recent report by Human Rights Watch that detailed the summary execution of “at least 28 ethnic Massalit” — a non-Arab minority group — and the “total destruction of the town of Misterei” in West Darfur state.

ALSO READ: Sudanese troops ignore regional peace meeting in Ethiopia^[7]

The RSF blamed the violence on “longstanding tribal conflict” and said it “strictly adheres” to “international humanitarian law.” The paramilitary force stemmed from the Janjaweed militia, which was armed and unleashed against ethnic minority rebels in Darfur in the early 2000s.

That conflict killed more than 300,000 people and displaced 2.5 million, the UN estimates. Atrocities committed at the time led the International Criminal Court to charge former dictator Omar al-Bashir with offences including genocide.^[8]

ALSO READ: Sudan civil servants die of hunger, others killed by bullets^[9]

The court’s chief prosecutor has launched a new investigation into suspected war crimes in the current fighting, including sexual violence and civilians being targeted for their ethnicity.

© Agence France-Presse

References

1. ^{^} Sudanese refugees in Egypt’s capital face unaffordable rent prices (www.thesouthafrican.com)
2. ^{^} Sudan war summit urges peace as Darfur reports mass killings (www.thesouthafrican.com)
3. ^{^} War-torn Sudan’s capital plunges into communications blackout (www.thesouthafrican.com)
4. ^{^} Sudan sides to be held to account as war rages: UN (www.thesouthafrican.com)
5. ^{^} Egypt hosts regional summit to halt bloodshed in war-torn Sudan (www.thesouthafrican.com)
6. ^{^} Sudan’s warring sides must face accountability for crimes (www.thesouthafrican.com)
7. ^{^} Sudanese troops ignore regional peace meeting in Ethiopia (www.thesouthafrican.com)
8. ^{^} genocide. (en.wikipedia.org)
9. ^{^} Sudan civil servants die of hunger, others killed by bullets (www.thesouthafrican.com)