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Threat of 'large-scale massacre' in Sudan's Darfur is imminent, US official says
 
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Africa


THREAT OF 'LARGE-SCALE MASSACRE' IN SUDAN'S DARFUR IS IMMINENT, US OFFICIAL SAYS
 

April 29, 2024 6:13 PM
 * By Margaret Besheer

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


FILE - A Doctors Without Borders handout photo from January 2024 shows a woman
and baby at the Zamzam displacement camp, close to El Fasher in North Darfur,
Sudan. Fighting between RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces appears ready to
engulf the area.
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new york — 

A senior U.S. official warned Monday that more than 2 million people in El
Fasher, in Sudan’s North Darfur region, are under imminent threat of a
“large-scale massacre” from a paramilitary group’s attack and urged the
international community to pressure the warring parties to de-escalate.

“There are already credible reports that the RSF and its allied militias have
razed multiple villages west of El Fasher,” U.N. Ambassador Linda
Thomas-Greenfield told reporters at the United Nations. “And as we speak, the
RSF is planning an imminent attack on El Fasher.”

The RSF is the Arab-dominated Rapid Support Forces, the paramilitary group that
is made up of elements of the Janjaweed fighters who carried out a genocide in
Darfur in the early 2000s.

The head of the RSF has been locked in an armed power struggle with the head of
the Sudanese Armed Forces for just over a year. The fighting has spread from
Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, to other parts of the country, and now looks ready to
engulf North Darfur and the civilians trapped there.

The U.N. Security Council met behind closed doors to discuss the situation
Monday and was briefed by U.N. political and humanitarian officials.

“A crisis of epic proportions is brewing, and to avoid further death,
destruction and suffering, five things need to happen, immediately,”
Thomas-Greenfield said. “First, the RSF must end its siege and buildup of
military forces in El Fasher and swear off any attack on the city. All parties
to the conflict must take urgent steps to de-escalate.”

She also called for protection of civilians and respect for international law;
for external actors to stop providing the combatants with weapons; and for safe
and unimpeded aid access. She also demanded the parties return to the
negotiating table.

"Because this conflict will not be solved on the battlefield, it will be solved
at the negotiating table," Thomas-Greenfield said.

“The last thing that Sudan needs is a further escalation on top of this conflict
that's been going on for a whole year,” British Deputy U.N. Ambassador James
Kariuki told reporters after the meeting. “The council is concerned about the
humanitarian crisis — about the scale of the famine risk — and it is concerned
about the displacement of people.”

In a statement Saturday, the 15-members of the U.N. Security Council repeated
their call for an immediate cessation of hostilities, leading to a sustainable
cease-fire. They also reminded countries of their obligations to comply with a
U.N. arms embargo on Sudan.

Alarm bells

The U.N. began raising the alarm on the situation in El Fasher earlier this
month, warning that fighting there could “unleash bloody intercommunal strife
throughout Darfur."

El Fasher is also a long-established humanitarian hub, and fighting there would
further complicate aid deliveries.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Monday that
the security situation has already effectively cut off humanitarian access to El
Fasher.

In a statement, OCHA said more than a dozen aid trucks with supplies for 122,000
people are stranded in neighboring Northern State. The trucks cannot continue to
El Fasher because of the insecurity and lack of guarantees for safe passage.

The U.N. says 330,000 people are dealing with acute food insecurity in El Fasher
— many of them displaced persons who moved there seeking safety. The World Food
Program reached 40,000 of them in the past month.

On Friday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ office said his special
envoy for Sudan, Ramtane Lamamra, is engaging with the parties to try to
de-escalate tensions in El Fasher.

Analysts at the Yale University Humanitarian Research Lab have also been
tracking the situation and warned in a report on April 19 that the RSF likely
already control the north, east and west roads into the city and have
essentially trapped the Sudanese Armed Forces in El Fasher with no resupply or
escape route.

That means civilians are also trapped, including tens of thousands of African
Zaghawa, Masalit, Fur and other non-Arab ethnic groups, whose communities were
victims of the genocide two decades ago.

The United Nations has called on the parties to allow civilians safe passage out
of the city.

Since the war began last April, more than 8 million people have been forced from
their homes in search of safety. Nearly 2 million of them have fled Sudan to
neighboring countries. Of those who remain, 18 million are facing acute hunger,
with 5 million a step away from famine.


RELATED

 * UN WARNS OF FIGHTING AROUND MAJOR DARFUR CITY

 * UN: CONFLICT, CLIMATE CHANGE DRIVING HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS INTO HUNGER

 * UN: GUNS FUELING RAPE OF CHILDREN, WOMEN IN WAR ZONES


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 * MALIAN FORCES KILL ISLAMIC STATE COMMANDER

 * THREAT OF 'LARGE-SCALE MASSACRE' IN SUDAN'S DARFUR IS IMMINENT, US OFFICIAL
   SAYS  


SPECIAL REPORT

 * BY THE NUMBERS: COUPS IN AFRICA


THE DAY IN PHOTOS

 * APRIL 30, 2024



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