Thousands flee murders and rapes in El Fasher, Sudan - Bundlezy

Thousands flee murders and rapes in El Fasher, Sudan

WARNING: STRONG IMAGES

The violence in El Fasher, in Sudan, has left 400 thousand people dead, according to estimates The New York Times. Thousands have fled that city since last weekend.

Mexico City, October 31 (However).- The Rapid Support Forces (RSFfor its acronym in English), a paramilitary group of Sudanthey took control last weekend of The Fasherthe capital of North Darfur state, unleashing a wave of violence including executions, mass killings and rape that have forced thousands of civilians to flee their homes.

The area of The Fasher was besieged since May 10, 2024, so it is difficult to quantify the number of massacres that have been registered. However, satellite images from companies such as Planet Labs and the Humanitarian Research Laboratory at Yale University, as well as through videos spread on social networks, show military vehicles near groups of corpses.

The leader of the RSF himself, Lieutenant General Mohamed Hamdan, acknowledged on social media that he had committed some abuses against the population, in addition to pledging to hold accountable “any soldier or officer who has committed a crime.” However, the paramilitary group “categorically” denied an accusation by the World Health Organization, which stated that 460 people died in a hospital in the city of Sudan, and described this accusation as an “intense propaganda campaign” with “no connection with reality.”

“We estimate that the death toll among civilians and others not involved in combat during the RSF attack on the city and its exit routes, as well as in the days following the takeover (of El Fasher control), could run into the hundreds,” the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights reported on the killing of the sick and wounded inside the Al Saudi Maternity Hospital and other health centers in the city.

In this sense, the spokesperson of said organization, Seif Magango, said this Friday during a press conference in Geneva that among the atrocities of the RSF there are “summary executions, mass murders, rapes, attacks against humanitarian workers, looting, kidnappings and forced displacements.”

“It is estimated that 50 civilians died on or around October 26, some during the clashes and others summarily executed under the accusation of supporting the Armed Forces. The number of victims is likely to be higher. We continue to monitor the very serious situation,” he said, in addition to noting that, according to witnesses, “RSF personnel selected women and girls and raped them at gunpoint, forcing the remaining displaced people, about 100 families, to leave the place amid shootings and intimidation of elderly residents.

For his part, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator of the United Nations (UN), Tom Fletcher, criticized the member states of said organization for allowing the crisis to escalate to this point in Sudan, which has forced 12 million people to abandon their homes, in addition to spreading famine throughout the country and leaving 400 thousand people dead, according to estimates cited by The New York Times.

“I have reached the limit of my capabilities and the authority of the UN,” Fletcher declared at an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, in which he urged member states to “stop weaponizing” the RSF campaign, but did not name the country responsible for his accusations.

However, videos recorded by the paramilitary armed forces themselves, which have been verified by the New York newspaper and the Center for Information Resilience (a non-profit organization that documents possible war crimes), show that the crisis in Sudan has intensified in recent days, while communications with the city remain practically interrupted.

One of the videos captured RSF elements stepping over a group of bodies scattered in a room at El Fasher university, at the same time as one of the survivors raises an arm, apparently to call for help, before a fighter shoots and kills him.

The New York Times It is estimated that at least 260,000 civilians were trapped in the city of Sudan, after RSF troops captured the city’s main military base last Sunday, a situation that has forced thousands of people to flee their homes, but only a tiny group has managed to escape from the paramilitary forces, as many of them reported finding bodies on the road they traveled on.

“Those who arrived speak of bodies on the road and of having been detained several times before arriving,” said Mathilde Vu, of the Norwegian Refugee Council, who provides aid in Tawila, an area located about 65 kilometers west of El Fasher, where barely five thousand people have arrived.

In this sense, he noted that the journey of people fleeing is plagued by “extortion, arbitrary arrests, looting, sexual violence and harassment.” However, their torment does not end there, as when they are moved to overcrowded camps housing thousands of people, they encounter outbreaks of disease, shortages of food, water and shelter.

“They are safe from bombings and attacks, but not from suffering,” Mathilde Vu told the media.

Source link

The post Thousands flee murders and rapes in El Fasher, Sudan appeared first on Veritas News.

About admin