Chilling footage of ethnic cleansing carried out by paramilitary forces in Sudan has emerged

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) confirmed that at least 16 people had died this Sunday in fresh fighting in the state’s capital Al Bashar on Monday. North Darfur The last bastion of the Sudanese army in the region is largely under control Paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (FAR).

“On Sunday, there was a new fight: we received another 130 wounded patients in the southern hospital, 16 of whom died. In total, from Friday to Sunday night, we received a total of 290 wounded patients in the southern hospital, of which 41 died,” MSF said in a statement.

At least last Saturday Two children and a caretaker died in the military blast It struck about 50 meters from the MSF-supported Babikar Nahar Children’s Hospital. The roof of the intensive care unit collapsed due to the explosion (ICU).

The attack put the hospital out of service, and although it remains operational more than a year after the war, it is one of the few active pediatric centers in Al Fashar, the only major city in the five-state Darfur state in military hands. The paramilitaries are trying to take over.

The UN says a paramilitary offensive to take over the strategic city threatens more than 1.5 million people, including some 800,000 displaced people.

Currently, Sudan is experiencing the worst wave of displacement in the world Due to war between Army and FAR More than 8 million people have fled their homes.

Continued FAR attacks in West Darfur raise a possibility “genocide” against non-Arab ethnic communities; said Thursday Human Rights Watch.

Paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, along with their allied militias, have been widely blamed. Genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes In its conflict with the regular army that began in April 2023.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the war, including up to 15,000 in the city El-GeninaIn West Darfur, according to UN experts.

The region is the focus of a 186-page Human Rights Watch (HRW) report “‘Masalid Will Not Return Home’: Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity in El-Jenina, Western Darfur, Sudan.”

It describes a “campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Masalid ethnic group and other non-Arab populations”. According to HRW, from late April to early November last year, the FAR and allied militias “conducted a systematic campaign of murderous, eviction of ethnic Masalid residents”.

The violence, which included atrocities such as mass torture, rape and looting, peaked in mid-June – killing thousands of people in a few days – and escalated again in November.

Local human rights lawyers say they have discovered a pattern Militants targeted “key members of the Masalid community,” including doctors, human rights defenders, local leaders and government officials.

HRW added that the attackers “Critical Civilian Infrastructure Systematically Destroyed” Mainly in displaced Masalid communities.

Since June, mainly Masalid neighborhoods in El-Jenina have been “systematically cleared, with many bulldozers, preventing fleeing civilians from returning to their homes,” satellite images show.

HRW called the attacks “ethnic cleansing”. They aimed to “at least make them leave the region permanently”.

The context of the killings is that “the FAR and its allies intend to destroy Masalid in whole or in part, at least in West Darfur, which would indicate that genocide has occurred and/or is being committed there”. he added.

HRW called for an investigation into the genocidal motive, specific sanctions on those responsible, and It urged the United Nations to “expand the existing arms embargo in Darfur to cover all of Sudan.”

The International Criminal CourtIt is currently investigating ethnically motivated killings in Darfur and says it has reason to “believe” that both the paramilitary and the army are committing “crimes under the Rome Statute”, including war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

And in December, The US said Sudan’s rival forces had committed war crimes in their brutal conflictThe FAR alleges genocide and crimes against humanity.

The latest UN According to statistics, more than half a million Sudanese have fled the violence in Darfur to Chad. At the end of October, HRW reported that 75 percent of those who crossed the border were from El-Jenina. About 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of El-Jenina, all eyes are now on Al Fasher.

The US has warned of a catastrophe of “epic proportions” if the FAR continues with its planned offensive, with residents fearing a similar fate for El Jenina.

“As the UN Security Council and governments wake up to the catastrophe unfolding in Al Bashar, the large-scale atrocities in El Jenina should be seen as a reminder of the atrocities that can occur in the absence of a coordinated response,” said Drana. Hassan, Executive Director of HRW. With information from EFE and AFP.