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A Massacre Threatens Darfur — AgainDarfur SUDAN El FasherA civil war is ripping apart Sudan, one of Africa’s largest countries. Yet a New York Times examination of satellite imagery and video from El Fasher make one thing clear:The assault is intensifying. DARFUR R.S.F. Whole neighborhoods were razed, similar to the destruction in parts of southern and eastern El Fasher in recent months. “The videos from El Fasher could become critical evidence in future trials for crimes in Darfur.”

Persons: Sudan’s, Al Salam, Abu Shoak, El Fasher Al Salam, Abu, Mohamed Zakaria, Thomas van Linge, —, Mellit, El Fasher, ”, El, El Geneina, Janjaweed, Linda Thomas, Greenfield, Ali Yagoub Gibril, Al Zeer Salem, Fasher, Matthew Gillett, “, ” Mr, Gillett Organizations: Fighters, Rapid Support Forces, . Security, New York, El, Sudanese, Al Salam Camp, Camp, Reuters Fighters, Yale, Research, —, Times, Centre, Information Resilience, Mellit El, Support Forces, Google, ”, Islamic Relief, United Nations, The Times, U.S . Treasury, Broadcasting, University of Essex Locations: Darfur, SUDAN El Fasher, Sudan, El, DARFUR, El Fasher, East Darfur, Sudan’s, Chad, El Geneina, American, Spain, Central Darfur

☆ North Darfur’s only hospital closes after paramilitary attack
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-10 | by ( Eve Brennan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Sudanese paramilitary forces stormed the main hospital in North Darfur, opening fire and looting vital medical supplies, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) have reported. Fighters from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) plundered the facility on Saturday stealing an ambulance among other supplies, the aid agency said. “On Saturday, MSF and the Ministry of Health suspended all activities in South Hospital, El Fasher, North Darfur, after RSF soldiers stormed the facility, opened fire, and looted it, including stealing an MSF ambulance,” MSF Sudan said on social media Saturday. As a result, patients are being moved to Paediatric and Saudi hospitals “which were unprepared for such an influx,” it added. The NGO added on X, formerly known as Twitter, there were only ten patients and a reduced medical team at the hospital at the time.

Persons: “, ”, Emergencies Michel Lacharite, Lacharite, Massrali, RSF Organizations: CNN, Sudanese, Fighters, Rapid Support Forces, MSF, Ministry of Health, South Hospital, Twitter, Emergencies, MSF Sudan, Foreign Affairs, Security, EU, El, Humanitarian, United Nations, UN, UN’s, Organization for Migration, Sudanese Armed Forces, SAF, UN Office, Humanitarian Affairs Locations: North Darfur, South, El Fasher, MSF Sudan, El, Darfur, Sudan

☆ The R.S.F. Stole Sudan’s Future - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-03 | by ( Dena Ibrahim | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

I sang along to songs made popular by the 2019 revolution and then floated home, my spirits high. The next day I watched fighter jets fire rockets into the neighborhoods where I grew up. Now it is at war with its former partners in government, and the Sudanese people have become collateral damage. A report from Human Rights Watch in May detailed the R.S.F.’s ethnic-cleansing campaign against the Masalit and other non-Arab people in West Darfur. is intent on destroying any evidence that another Sudan could ever exist or ever did.

Persons: Mohamed Hamdan Organizations: Sudanese Army, Rapid Support Forces, Human Rights Watch, Museums Locations: Khartoum, Darfur, West Darfur, Sudan

A key part of that lofty aspiration was the drafting of a convention that codified and committed nations to prevent and punish a new crime, sometimes called the crime of crimes: genocide. Now, in response to Israel's devastating military offensive in Gaza that was triggered by murders and atrocities perpetrated by Hamas militants on Oct. 7, South Africa has gone to the International Court of Justice and accused Israel of genocide. The ICC prosecutes individuals and is separate to the International Court of Justice, which rules in disputes between nations. At public hearings earlier this month and in its detailed written submission to the ICJ, South Africa cited comments by Israeli officials that it claimed demonstrate intent. Both Gambia and South Africa have filed ICJ cases in conflicts they are not directly involved in.

Persons: Reich, Mary Ellen O’Connell, Notre Dame University's, Israel, “, Joan E, Donoghue, ”, Marieke de Hoon, Said O’Connell, Malcolm Shaw, Serbia “, —, Radovan Karadzic, Ratko Mladic, Jean Paul Akayesu, Omar al, Bashir, Danica Kirka Organizations: —, United Nations, Nazi, Notre Dame, Notre Dame University's Kroc, International Court of, Criminal, ICC, International Court of Justice, University of Amsterdam, of Islamic Cooperation, Rwanda —, Yugoslav, Bosnian, Associated Locations: HAGUE, Netherlands, Nazi Germany, Germany, Eastern Europe, Russia, Gaza, South Africa, Israel, Pretoria, Africa, ”, Rome, Serbia, Srebrenica, Bosnian, Moscow, Ukraine, Gambia, Myanmar, That's, Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Arusha, Tanzania, Darfur, Cambodia, Khmer Rouge, London

There’s a genocide in the making in Darfur, Sudan — for the second time in 20 years. This time, the violence is happening on President Biden’s watch, and he and his administration have not done enough to stop it. In recent weeks, Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, a mercenary-commercial enterprise, has overrun four of the five main cities in Darfur, a region in western Sudan. After the Rapid Support Forces seized the town of Ardamata on Nov. 4, some 1,500 people were slaughtered, according to a Darfur human rights group. The paramilitaries are mobile and ferocious, and their adversaries in the regular army, the Sudan Armed Forces in Darfur are demoralized and outgunned.

Persons: Sudan —, Biden’s, Biden, El Fasher, Omar al, Bashir, Darfuri Organizations: Kenyan, Sudan’s, Rapid Support Forces, Sudan Armed Forces Locations: Darfur, Sudan, Ardamata, North Darfur, El

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations Security Council voted Friday to end its political mission of a few hundred people dedicated to ending the civil war in Sudan. Russia abstained from the unanimous vote to end UNITAMS, the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan. The conflict has wrecked the country and forced more than 6 million people out of their homes, either to safer areas inside Sudan or to neighboring countries. Political Cartoons View All 1277 ImagesUnited Nations officials say that the U.N. will keep trying to help Sudanese people with the continuing presence of various humanitarian agencies. “What is clear and what should be clear to everyone is that the United Nations is not leaving Sudan,” U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric told reporters on Thursday.

Persons: Robert Wood, ” U.N, Stéphane Dujarric, Cameron Hudson, ” Hudson Organizations: UNITED NATIONS, United Nations Security, United Nations, United, Rapid Support Forces, Sudanese, U.S ., Center for Strategic, International Studies Locations: Sudan, Russia, United States, Khartoum, United, U.S, Africa

Survivors recounted executions and looting in Ardamata, which they said were carried out by RSF and allied Arab militias. The RSF developed from Arab militias known as the Janjaweed that helped Sudan's army crush a rebellion in Darfur in the 2000s. Atta said the UAE had funnelled unspecified supplies to the RSF through Uganda, the Central African Republic (CAR) and Chad. Sudan's army, Chad and the CAR did not immediately respond to requests for comment. While the UAE backed Sudan's aborted political transition after the 2019 overthrow of Omar al-Bashir, it has remained publicly quiet on the war.

Persons: El Tayeb, Yassir al, Atta, RSF, General Abdel Fattah al, Burhan, Omar al, Bashir, Nafisa Eltahir, Khalid Abdelaziz, Maha El, Elias Biryabarema, Aidan Lewis, Alex Richardson Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Sudanese, United, Rapid Support Forces, Army, UAE, General Intelligence Service, Reuters, Central African Republic, Wagner Group, CAR, Thomson Locations: West Darfur, Adre, Chad, Ardamata, Arab, El, Rights CAIRO, United Arab Emirates, UAE, Darfur, Omdurman, Sudan, Chadian, Amdjarass, Uganda, Chad's, Ndjamena, Russia, Khartoum, Maha El Dahan, Dubai, Kampala

A man walks while smoke rises above buildings after aerial bombardment, during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum North, Sudan, May 1, 2023. But analysts and diplomats say it is unclear how the RSF could govern a breakaway territory. "(Governing) means you take on responsibilities for food, health, and security," said Suliman Baldo of the Sudan Transparency and Policy Tracker. From late October the RSF took over army headquarters in Nyala, Zalingei and El Geneina, three of five Darfur state capitals. They say the RSF is seeking legitimacy in the talks, after public anger over looting, rape and detentions blamed on its troops.

Persons: Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, Yasir Arman, Abdelrahim Dagalo, Omar al, Bashir, El Geneina, Kholood Khair, Bashir loyalists, Jonas Horner, Nafisa Eltahir, Khalid Abdelaziz, Aidan Lewis, Gareth Jones Organizations: Rapid Support Forces, REUTERS, Sudan's Rapid Support Forces, Darfur, South, Reuters, Armoured Corps, Confluence Advisory, United Nations, Thomson Locations: Khartoum North, Sudan, Jeddah, CAIRO, Khartoum, South Sudan, Darfur, North Darfur, Port Sudan, Kordofan, Nyala, El Geneina, Jebel Awlia, Confluence, Saudi, West Darfur, Cairo, Dubai

☆ Darfur: UN receives reports "of at least 13 mass graves" in Sudan
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-14 | by ( Nimi Princewill | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —The United Nations’ human rights body (UNJHRO) has received reports of at least 13 mass graves” in the Sudanese city of El Geneina, a special envoy to the war-torn country told the UN Security Council Wednesday. The mass graves are believed to contain civilians from the ethnic Masalit tribe who were killed in attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied Arab militias, according to Sudan Volker Perthes. The Masalit tribe and other non-Arab communities in Sudan are often targeted by Arab militias, with support from the RSF, according to Human Rights Watch. At least 87 people, mostly ethnic Masalit, were discovered in a mass grave in El-Geneina’s Al-Madaress and Al-Jamarek districts in July. Last week, the United States imposed sanctions on RSF’s deputy leader Abdelrahim Dagalo for human rights violations after a series of CNN investigations exposed the group’s brutal war strategies.

Persons: Sudan Volker Perthes, Perthes, Geneina’s, Abdelrahim Dagalo Organizations: CNN, United Nations, UN, Rapid Support Forces, Representative, Sudanese Armed Forces, SAF, Human Rights, UN Human Rights, International Organization for Migration Locations: Sudanese, El, Sudan, El Geneina, Darfur, United States, country’s, Khartoum, Omdurman

☆ Darfur: Hundreds of people fleeing El Geneina were killed in a day-long massacre, body collectors and survivors say
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-16 | by ( Tamara Qiblawi Allegra Goodwin Nima Elbagir Celine Alkhaldi | Tamara Qiblawi | Allegra Goodwin | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +18 min

A picture taken on June 16, 2023, shows bodies strewn outdoors near houses in the West Darfur capital El Geneina. A video shared on Twitter on June 14, 2023, showing hundreds of refugees from El Geneina walking towards Chad. “The fighters had DShK’s (Soviet-era heavy machine guns) and other heavy weaponry,” said Khamiss, the lawyer from El Geneina. Zahra Adam, a women’s rights activist from El Geneina, told CNN she had saved two young boys from drowning. When asked whether the ICRC had alerted third parties to evidence of a mass atrocity in El Geneina, Synenko said they had not.

Persons: El Geneina, ”, “, Masalit, Jamal Khamiss, Khamiss, ” Jamal Khamiss Khamiss, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo —, Gen, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, Hemedti, Abdel Fattah al, Burhan, Omar al, Bashir, Wagner, Zohra Bensemra, Dr, Papi Maloba, Maloba, Mohammad Ghannam, RSF, West, Khamis Abbakar, ” Khamiss, Zahra Adam, Adam, General Abdelrahman Juma —, General Abdelrahman Juma, YouTube Juma, Mujeeb Rahman Muhammad Rezk, Alyona Synenko, Synenko, Chad The, ” Zahwi Idriss, Zahwi Idriss Organizations: CNN, Rapid Support Forces, West Darfur, Getty, Sudanese, International Organization for Migration, Twitter, Hemedti, United Nations, Reuters, Sans, MSF, Chadian, El, Teaching, Crescent, YouTube, Support Forces, Sudanese Red Crescent Society, SRC, International Committee, ICRC, Darfur, UN, Geneina Teaching Locations: West Darfur, El, West, El Geneina, AFP, Chad, Sudan, “, Geneina, Darfur, Chadian, Shukri, Khartoum, Adre, Ardmata, Wadi Kaja, RSF, tarpaulins, Africa, ”

☆ Fighting flares in South Darfur amid fears of new civil war
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Chadian cart owners transport belongings of Sudanese people who fled the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region, while crossing the border between Sudan and Chad in Adre, Chad August 4, 2023. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra/File PhotoAug 13 (Reuters) - Violence flared in the western Sudanese city of Nyala and elsewhere in the state of South Darfur on Sunday, witnesses said, threatening to engulf the region in Sudan's protracted war. The latest flare-up has lasted three days, with both the army and RSF firing artillery into residential neighbourhoods, witnesses told Reuters. At least eight people were killed on Saturday alone, according to the Darfur Bar Association, a national human rights monitor. The fighting killed 24 people, it said.

Persons: Chad August, Zohra, Meta, Volker Perthes, Khalid Abdelaziz, Nick Macfie Organizations: REUTERS, Rapid Support Forces, Reuters, Darfur Bar Association, International, Court, Thomson Locations: Darfur, Sudan, Chad, Adre, Sudanese, Nyala, South Darfur, Khartoum, West Darfur, Egypt, South Sudan, Dubai, Nafisa, Cairo

CNN —The head of a United Nations agency has called for an investigation into the killing of at least 87 people who were discovered in a mass grave in Sudan’s West Darfur region. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk has demanded a “prompt, thorough and independent investigation” into the grim discovery outside the region’s capital El-Geneina. Inside the mass grave were bodies of ethnic Masalit who along with other non-Arab communities are often targeted by Arab militias, supported by the RSF, according to Human Rights Watch. The deceased were allegedly killed last month by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and their allied militia. West Darfur remains one of the most conflict-ridden areas in the Sudanese Darfur region, with a long history of severe violence.

Persons: Volker Türk, RSF, Geneina’s, Khamis Abbaker, Türk, ” Türk Organizations: CNN, United Nations, Human, Human Rights Watch, Rapid Support Forces Locations: Sudan’s West Darfur, El, West Darfur, Darfur, Sudanese Darfur

The Massalit and other non-Arab communities are often targeted by Arab militias, supported by the RSF, the report said. “Many of these abuses committed in the context of the armed conflict in Sudan amount to war crimes,” HRW’s report said. Satellite imagery and fire detection data shows that six other towns and villages in West Darfur, including Molle, Murnei, and Gokor, were also burned down, according to the report. Since then, West Darfur has seen widespread violence and reports of atrocities committed by RSF fighters and their allied militias. “Since the conflict in Sudan broke out in April, some of the worst atrocities have been in West Darfur,” HRW senior crisis and conflict researcher Jean-Baptiste Gallopin said.

Persons: Massalit, ”, Misterei, Misterei’s, Witnesses, HRW’s, “, RSF, Jean, Baptiste Gallopin, Gallopin, ” Gallopin, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, Chad ”, CNN geolocated, Darfur’s Murnei Organizations: CNN, Human Rights Watch, Rapid Support Forces, HRW, Sudanese Armed Forces, Criminal Court, ICC, United Nations Locations: Sudan’s West Darfur, Sudan, Misterei, West Darfur, Chad, Sudan's Darfur, Darfur, ”, Sudan’s, Darfur’s

☆ Exclusive: Islamists wield hidden hand in Sudan conflict, military sources say
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Khalid Abdelaziz | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Yet the three military sources and an intelligence source said thousands of Islamists were battling alongside the army. Reuters spoke to 10 sources for this article, including military and intelligence sources and several Islamists. The army accused the RSF of promoting Islamists and former regime loyalists in their top ranks, a charge the RSF denied. Nowadays, former NISS officers also help the military by collecting intelligence on its enemies in the latest conflict. The NISS was replaced by the General Intelligence Service (GIS) after Bashir was toppled, and stripped of its armed "operations" unit, according to a constitutional agreement.

Persons: General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, Umit, Bashir, Omar al, Osama bin Laden, Mohammed al, Fadl, Ali Karti, Abdel Fattah Burhan, Burhan, Reuters Graphics BASHIR, Hemedti, Bashir loyalists, Michael Georgy, Aidan Lewis, William Maclean Organizations: Rapid Support Forces, REUTERS, Army, DUBAI, West, Reuters, Sudanese, National Intelligence and Security Service, National, Party, United Arab Emirates, General Intelligence Service, Reuters Graphics, Central Reserve Police, Publicly, Thomson Locations: Aprag, Khartoum, Sudan, Darfur, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahri

☆ Sudanese in Israel watch in anguish as Darfur violence unfolds
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Hannah Confino | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/6] Suad Fissa, 40, an asylum seeker and factory worker from Darfur in Sudan cries as she speaks about her children who are missing there, in a playground in southern Tel Aviv, Israel June 24, 2023. "There's no internet there but we still have connections to people who are telling us what is happening in El Geneina now," Usumain Baraka, head of the Masalit tribe in Israel, told Reuters. Going from home to home asking, 'Are you from the Masalit tribe?'" Just over 5,000 Sudanese people live in Israel, mainly in Tel Aviv, dating to when brutal conflict escalated in Darfur from 2003. Baraka said the community in Israel is collecting money to send to refugees in Chad so they can buy food, water and medicine.

Persons: Fissa, Amir Cohen TEL, Sudan's, Usumain Baraka, Masalit, Baraka, Hannah Confino, Aidan Lewis, Mark Heinrich Our Organizations: REUTERS, Rapid Support Forces, Reuters, Nations, Thomson Locations: Darfur, Sudan, Tel Aviv, Israel, Amir Cohen TEL AVIV, Sudan's Darfur, Chad, El, Khartoum, El Geneina

"It was a collective decision of the people of El Geneina to leave", one resident told MSF from Chad. "Most of them fled on foot heading northeast of El Geneina but many of them were killed on this route." RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, said on Tuesday his force would investigate events in El Geneina. Sultan Saad Bahreldin, leader of the Masalit tribe, the largest bloc of El Geneina residents, said there had been "systematic" killing in recent days. Villages on the road from El Geneina to Adre used to be Masalit, but had been settled by Arab tribes since 2003, Ibrahim said.

Persons: El Geneina, Ibrahim, El, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, Sultan Saad Bahreldin, Adre, Al Hadath, Eyewitnesses, Abdel Nasser Abdullah, Black, Nafisa Eltahir, Maggie Michael, Khalid Abdelaziz, Aidan Lewis, Frank Jack Daniel Our Organizations: Rapid Support Forces, Reuters, Medical, MSF, Sunday, Thomson Locations: El Geneina, CAIRO, Darfur, Chad, Khartoum, Adre, El, West Darfur, Saudi Arabia, U.S, Cairo, Dubai

The Dar Masalit report accuses the RSF and allied Janjaweed militias of the killings and other crimes, as published by the sultanate. The Darfur Bar Association (DBA) said Monday that two more members of the organization have been killed in West Darfur by the RSF and their militias, without specifying the day of the reported killings. The report cited the neighborhoods that came under the most fire, including Al Jamarek, Al Buhaira, Al Thawrah, Al Tadamon, Al Madaris, Al Mansoura, and Al Jabal among others. CNN cannot independently verify all incidents as outlined in the Dar Masalit report. But CNN has confirmed and reported on thousands of civilians fleeing Geneina and West Darfur.

Persons: CNN —, El, Dar, ”, –, Masalit, Health Haitham Ibrahim, Ibrahim, Khamis Abbaker, Tariq Hassan Yaqoub Al, Malik, Sadiq Muhammad Ahmed Haroun, El Geneina, Abdel, Rahman Gumma, “, Gumma, General Antonio Guterres, Al Jamarek, Al Buhaira, Al Thawrah, Al Tadamon, Al Madaris, Al Mansoura, Jabal, CNN geolocated, El Geneina “, …, Geneina, haven’t Organizations: CNN, Rapid Support Forces, Sudanese Armed Forces, SAF, Darfur Victims Solidarity Association, Strategic Initiative, Women, Health, West Darfur, Darfur Bar Association, Al, United Nations Mission, Twitter, UN Human Rights, Dar, US Locations: Darfur, Sudan, North Darfur, North Darfur’s, West Darfur’s, El Geneina, West Darfur, Chad, “, Horn of Africa, Saudi, Khartoum, West, El, Geneina, ”, Dar, Chadian, Adré, Saudi Arabia

☆ Sudan: Testimonies detail atrocities by Wagner-backed militia
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( Nima Elbagir Tamara Qiblawi Barbara Arvanitidis Gianluca Mezzofiore Pallabi Munsi Ingrid Formanek Saskya Vandoorne | Nima Elbagir | Tamara Qiblawi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +17 min

“I sat next to her in the car,” said Butheina Nourin, describing her perilous escape from Sudan’s Darfur region alongside the dead woman. A months-long CNN investigation uncovered an increase in Wagner supplies to the RSF that began in the run-up to Sudan’s conflict. Reports of atrocities committed by RSF fighters and their allied militias, clearly identified by their uniforms, are consistent across dozens of testimonies. Then-President Bashir was charged by the International Criminal Court in 2010 with crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide in relation to the Darfur conflict. “Nobody in Sudan has more blood on their hands than Hemedti,” said Sudan analyst Eric Reeves.

Persons: wailed, “, ”, Butheina Nourin, Fatima, I, Nourin, Zohra Bensemra, Abdul Fattah al, Burhan, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, Wagner, General Burhan, entrenching, –, Omar al, Bashir, Hemedti, Sergey Lavrov, Hussein Haran, ” Haran, Khamis Abbakar, Kholood Khair, ” Khair, Gen, Mahmoud Hjaj, Hala, SIHA, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalos, Hussein Malla, ” “, Gueipeur Denis Sassou, Eric Reeves, Al Jazeera, Karib, “ It’s, RSF –, Wagner –, Yeveny Prigozhin, Sudan ”, Hussein Organizations: CNN, ” Fighters, Sudanese, Rapid Support Forces, Reuters, Central African, Russian, Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service, UN, Strategic Initiative, Women, International Criminal Court, ICC, United Arab, United Nations, SIHA, Getty, European, US State Department, State Department Locations: Chad, Sudan, Sudan’s Darfur, Darfur, Borota, Latakia, Libya, Bangui, Central African Republic, Moscow, Ukraine, Khartoum, el, Geneina, Horn of Africa, State, Sudan’s, Yemen, Saudi, Iran, United Arab Emirates, Russia, Daman, AFP, Cairo, Abu Dhabi, Europe, EU, ”, Africa

Summary Fighting, which has plunged millions into hunger, expands westwardAssassination of West Darfur governor threatens further fightingDiplomatic peace efforts face pushbackCAIRO/DUBAI, June 15 (Reuters) - The conflict in Sudan hit the two-month mark on Thursday with no sign of a resolution as diplomatic peace efforts hit roadblocks and the risk of a broader ethnic war rises. It has shut down the economy, plunging millions of Sudanese into hunger and dependence on foreign aid, and shattered the health system. EL GENEINA ASSASSINATIONOn Wednesday, the governor of West Darfur, Khamis Abbakar, accused the RSF and allied Arab militias of carrying out a genocidal attack in El Geneina. Hours later, Abbakar was killed, and the Sudanese Alliance armed group he led blamed the RSF for killing him while in their custody. The RSF has denied responsibility and says that criminals and Bashir loyalists have been known to steal uniforms.

Persons: pushback, autocrat Omar al, Bashir, Khamis Abbakar, Abbakar, Hamit, Saboura Ahmed, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, Abdel Fattah al, Burhan, Waleed Adam, RSF, Khalid Abdelaziz, Nafisa Eltahir, Maggie Michael, Adam Makary, Dawit, Nick Macfie Organizations: Darfur, Rapid Support Forces, Sudanese Alliance, Sudanese Transparency, Unit, Thomson Locations: pushback CAIRO, DUBAI, Sudan, U.S, El Geneina, West Darfur, Chad, Darfur, Kordofan, El, Chadian, sudanese, Sudan's Darfur, Sudanese, Khartoum, Omdurman, Bahri, Jeddah, East, Kenya, Ethiopia, East Khartoum, Dubai, Nafisa, Cairo, Addis Ababa

☆ Sudan's western cities under fire as war spreads
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

CAIRO, June 14 (Reuters) - Fighting rocked several vulnerable cities in western Sudan on Wednesday in an expansion of the country's almost two-month-old war as the number of people who have fled their homes rose above two million. The conflict between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has caused a humanitarian crisis in Khartoum, as well as major cities in the Kordofan and Darfur regions. In a statement, the RSF called the fighting in El Geneina a tribal conflict, blaming the country's former regime for fanning the flames. The city of El Fashir, capital of North Darfur, has been quieter but has seen a wave of displacement from RSF-controlled Kutum. Meanwhile in El Obeid, a hub between Khartoum and Darfur in North Kordofan, residents said the army had begun launching air and artillery strikes against RSF positions.

Persons: Khamis Abbakar, General Antonio Guterres, Volker Perthes, Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah, Salah Alamin, Abdelaziz al, Nafisa Eltahir, Khalid Abdelaziz, Adam Makary, Maggie Michael, William Maclean Organizations: Rapid Support Forces, UN, U.S . State Department, REUTERS, Darfur Bar Association, Sudanese Doctors Union, Thomson Locations: CAIRO, Sudan, Khartoum, Kordofan, Darfur, El, West Darfur, El Geneina, United States, Saudi Arabia, Khartoum North, DARFUR, Nyala, South Darfur, Zalingei, Central Darfur, El Fashir, North Darfur, El Obeid, North Kordofan, Kadugli, South Kordofan, Omdurman, Port Sudan, Mecca, Cairo, Dubai

☆ Fleeing Generals at War and Violent Militias, Many Say ‘We’re Not Coming Back’
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Elian Peltier | Yagazie Emezi | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Militias, made up mostly of Arab fighters, have exploited the power vacuum to rampage through cities, loot households and kill an unknown number of civilians, according to aid workers, doctors and local activists. In response, some civilians have begun arming themselves, and non-Arab groups have also retaliated against militias at a small scale. But while Khartoum had been a peaceful city before April, Darfur has been torn by decades of violence. More than 300,000 people were killed in Darfur in the 2000s when Sudan’s former dictator, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, ordered militias, widely known as the Janjaweed, to crush a rebellion among non-Arab groups. Its eastern region, semiarid and isolated, already has more than 400,000 refugees from Darfur living in 13 camps, which are now filling with new arrivals helped by the U.N. refugee agency.

☆ How Sudan's paramilitary forces took parts of Khartoum, stormed army chief's quarters
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Khalid Abdelaziz | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

[1/2] Satellite image shows burned and damaged General Command of the Sudanese Armed Forces headquarters building in Khartoum, Sudan April 16, 2023, in this handout image. More than 30 of his guards died in the ensuing battle, before the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) fighters retreated from the residence in the capital, said the bodyguard, who asked not to be named. "Why did the army let Hemedti become a parallel army and threatening the normal people. RSF fighters open mobile phones to look for army contacts, residents say. Reuters could not establish where Hemedti is currently operating from, or whether Burhan was still using army headquarters as his base of operations.

☆ Factbox: Sudan's history of coups, wars and instability
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The commanders of the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, who shared power as part of an internationally backed transition to democratic rule, have shown no sign of compromise. Here are some major episodes of political turmoil and conflict in Africa's third largest country:* 1985. President Jaafar Nimeiri, who seized power in a coup in 1969, is ousted after a popular uprising. A conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region flares, pitting rebels against government forces backed by a militia known as "Janjaweed", which roughly means "devils on horseback". This is followed by a period of rising tension between the army and civilian politicians over the transition to democratic rule.

☆ A Sudanese woman's race to the border after giving birth
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Mahamat Ramadane | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] Sudanese refugees who have fled the violence in their country gather to receive food supplements from World Food Programme (WFP), near the border between Sudan and Chad, in Koufroun, Chad April 28, 2023. Residents and sources in the western Darfur region have reported looting, ethnic reprisal attacks and clashes between the army and the RSF which evolved from the janjaweed militias. "In our village, armed people came and burned and looted houses and we were forced to flee," said Adam. I cut the child's umbilical cord and we cleaned her up," Adam's sister Souraya Adam, 27, told Reuters. The wave of arrivals places an additional burden on Chad's meagre resources, which were already strained by hosting 400,000 refugees who fled earlier conflict in Sudan.

Al-Jamil Al-Fadil, a resident of Tuti in Khartoum, told CNN that projectiles fell on the neighborhood. And in the Kafouri area north of Khartoum, warplanes overhead came under fire from anti-aircraft missiles, eyewitnesses told CNN journalists in Sudan. Food and water shortagesAndou Dieng, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator in Sudan, said looting as well as fighting is continuing across the country despite attempted ceasefires. In the capital Khartoum, eyewitnesses and CNN journalists in the north of the city told CNN that RSF paramilitary soldiers are occupying at least one water station, causing shortages to vital water supplies. More than 2,700 people from around 76 countries have arrived in Saudi Arabia in recent days after being evacuated from Sudan, the Saudi ambassador to the UK told CNN on Thursday.

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