Sudanese refugees in Darfur are reporting a rise in ethnic cleansing incidents

According to a UN official, the world is still “scandalously silent” about the crimes occurring throughout conflict-torn Sudan.

According to Reuters on Wednesday, Sudanese citizens fleeing the conflict in the West Darfur region have accused the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which is battling the country’s army, of ethnic massacres.

The publication further said, citing the statements of three witnesses, that the RSF and its affiliated Arab militias have targeted the Masalit ethnic community in Ardamata, which is home to an internally displaced people camp. The RSF has taken control of the main army facility in the region’s capital, El Geneina.

According to Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the witnesses are among the 7,000 refugees—including women and children—who entered the Chadian city of Adre, around 17 miles west of El Geneina, from Darfur during the first three days of this month.

After months of hostilities between SAF leader General Abdel-Fattah Burhan and the commander of the RSF, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the fighting broke out in Sudan’s capital city of Khartoum in mid-April. Since then, it has expanded to other Sahelian regions, including the already unstable western Darfur area. Khamis Abdullah Abakar, the governor of the state, was slain in June after he was said to have accused the RSF of racial cleansing.

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The UN reported last month that the violence had resulted in up to 9,000 deaths and more than 5.6 million forced home evacuations during the previous six months. Martin Griffiths, the head of UN humanitarian affairs, voiced alarm about ‘horrific’ tales of sexual abuse and growing ethnic conflict, especially in Darfur.

In the West Darfur state, where a brutal civil war between the Arab-dominated Sudanese government and rebel groups ended two decades ago, the medical organisation MSF said on Tuesday that violence between the RSF and opposing SAF has increased.

According to MSF project coordinator in El Geneina, Alkassoum Abdourahamane, “El Geneina experienced a nightmarish escalation of violence last June, and it pushed a large proportion of the city’s inhabitants to flee to Chad, despite the many dangers and attacks that awaited them on the road.”

After that, the city had a slight downturn and even took in displaced persons from neighbouring areas. Now, dread and explosions have taken control once more, said Abdourahamane.

During his visit to the North African nation last week, Dominique Hyde, the UN Human Rights Council’s (UNHRC) director of external relations, claimed that the violence had turned homes into “graveyards.”

According to the UN official, hundreds of people have been displaced as a result of the fighting in the Darfur region; many of them are sleeping under trees by the side of the road.

“It is disheartening that the crimes carried out in Darfur two decades ago can still occur today with so little awareness,” she remarked.

In the meantime, the UN reported that mass graves holding the remains of 87 ethnic Masalit people who were reportedly slaughtered by the RSF and affiliated militia had been found, prompting the International Criminal Court to launch an inquiry into claims of war crimes and genocide in Darfur in July.