Sudanese who have fled from the Sudanese town of Al Fasher in recent weeks – or attempted to do so – have been shot at, raped and executed. This is evident from a report published on Monday report from human rights organization Amnesty International. In it, Sudanese refugees tell about atrocities committed by the RSF, the paramilitary army that captured Al Fasher at the end of October.
Several survivors say that as they fled they saw hundreds of bodies lying on the streets, and that RSF fighters shot dead unarmed civilians. “They enjoyed it, they laughed,” says a 26-year-old man about the moment fighters shot the elderly and their donkeys with an automatic machine gun.
One of the Sudanese who fled tells that while he was fleeing north with his brother, among others, he was ambushed by RSF fighters. “Are you civilians or soldiers?” they allegedly asked. When the fleeing Sudanese told them they were civilians, the paramilitaries responded that there are no civilians in El Fasher. “Everyone is a soldier.” The brother and three other men were then made to lie on the ground and executed. The man who was interviewed later was allowed to go for reasons that remain unclear.
Mother and daughter raped
A woman tells Amnesty International she was raped while on the run. “One of them forced me to go with them, cut my jalabiya [kledingstuk] and raped me.” She was then reunited with her 14-year-old daughter, who was also raped. “When we reached Tawila, her health deteriorated and she died in the clinic.”
Amnesty International interviewed 28 Sudanese who managed to flee El Fasher after the fall of RSF. They left for Tawila, a town west of El Fasher, and to Tina, on the border with Chad. Amnesty conducted three interviews in Chad, the other conversations were conducted by telephone.
The stories of the Sudanese refugees underline, according to Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International, “the failure of the international community in Sudan.” According to Callamard, it must “do more to ensure accountability, to protect those at risk and to demand that all states that support the RSF immediately change course.”
Ceasefire
The Amnesty publication follows shortly after a proposal from the United States for a ceasefire. RSF and the Sudanese army both rejected that proposal. The Sudanese military is said to have come up with conditions, but Massad Boulos, the US adviser on African and Arab affairs, has called on the parties to accept the original plan. Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan, the Sudanese military leader, has called the US proposal “the worst plan ever.”
Al-Burham argues that the proposal marginalizes the army and legitimizes the RSF. RSF leader Hemedti unilaterally declared a three-month ceasefire on Monday, but it is extremely unclear whether the parties will actually temporarily lay down their weapons. Al-Burhan has not responded to this. Moreover, Hemedti already spoke of an upcoming ceasefire earlier this month, but RSF then continued with drone attacks itself.
Also read
How Hemedti and his RSF militia grew into a political power in Sudan
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