Sudan army withdraws from Darfur’s el-Fasher as UN warns of RSF atrocities

Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the army chief of Sudan, has announced the withdrawal of his soldiers from their final stronghold in Darfur following the UN’s harsh warning over “atrocities” committed by the paramilitary group that is now in charge of the city of el-Fasher.

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) seized control of the main Sudanese army base in El-Fasher on Monday night, making an announcement late in the day.

More than a quarter-million people, including half of the children, are now under the control of the RSF as a result of the army’s withdrawal from El-Fasher. On Monday, aid organizations reported chaotic scenes there, including fighting between RSF members and their departed allies.

According to al-Burhan, military officers completely withdrawn from the city in an effort to protect the country’s citizens from further violence in his statement.

He claimed that the army retreated because of the RSF’s “systemic destruction” and “systemic killing of civilians.” He added that the army hoped to “spare the citizens and the rest of the city from destruction.”

He declared, “We are determined to avenge what occurred to our people in El-Fasher.” The Sudanese people will hold these criminals accountable, the people promise.

El-Fasher’s departure from the RSF could signal yet another Sudan’s division, more than a decade after its creation.

The most recent conflict started in April 2023 when fighting between the military and RSF erupted in Khartoum and other cities, causing tens of thousands of casualties and displacement of nearly 12 million people.

RSF fighters have been celebrating at the former army base in El-Fasher since Sunday according to footage that has been posted on social media since then. RSF fighters also record other people fleeing and being shot and beaten. Many were depicted as being in custody.

El-Fasher’s atrocities are unacceptable.

The development, according to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, “is a terrible escalation in the conflict” and “the level of suffering that we are witnessing in Sudan is intolerable.”

Meanwhile, according to the UN Human Rights Office, RSF fighters reportedly carried out atrocities in El-Fasher, including “summary executions” of civilians trying to flee their attacks, “with indications of ethnic motivations for killings.”

The “risk of further large-scale, ethnically motivated violations and atrocities in el-Fasher is increasing by the day,” according to Volker Turk, the UN’s high commissioner for human rights.

The RSF attack was described as a “heinous massacre” by the Sudan Doctor Network, a medical organization monitoring the war, and there were reports of dozens of fatalities. The network said in a statement that RSF fighters “zeroped what was left of essential life-supporting and health care infrastructure” by rampaging through parts of El-Fasher, looting hospitals and other medical facilities.

More than 1, 000 civilians were detained by the RSF, according to the Darfur Network for Human Rights, who described it as “systematic targeting of civilians, arbitrary detentions, and potential acts eliciting war crimes.”

According to the Sudanese Journalists’ Union, one of the few remaining local journalists was among those detained. Similar to what transpired in another Darfur city, Geneina, in 2023, when RSF fighters killed hundreds, the group issued a warning about potential “mass violations” in el-Fasher.

The RSF has turned El-Fasher into a “brutal killing field,” according to the Sudan Doctors Union, which is the professional umbrella of Sudanese doctors. The organization urged the international community to recognize the RSF as a terrorist organization.

In addition, the reports of civilian casualties and forced displacement in El-Fasher, according to UNHCR’s Tom Fletcher, “deep alarm.”

He stated in a statement that “hundreds of thousands of civilians are trapped and terrified, shelled, starving, and without access to food, health care, or safety.” He demanded “unrestricted, quick, and unhinged humanitarian access” to the remaining population.

alleged war crimes

According to the UN Children’s Fund, 260, 000 civilians were trapped in El-Fasher prior to Sunday’s attack, half of them children.

More than 26, 000 people were fleeing their homes as of Monday, according to the UN’s International Organization for Migration, and they were relocating to rural areas and Tawila, a frantic town nearby.

At least 47 people were killed in the town of Bara over the weekend, according to the Sudan Doctors Network, including nine women.

The Janjaweed, a infamous government-linked militia, brutalized the Sudanese during the Darfur conflict in the 2000s, and the RSF emerged as a result.

More than 40, 000 people have been killed in the most recent war, leading to the worst humanitarian crisis in history, with famine sweeping over the el-Fasher region of the nation.

According to the UN and other human rights organizations, the conflict has been marred by blatant atrocities, including rape and killings for ethnic reasons.

Source: Aljazeera