UN officials and rights groups warn that hundreds of thousands of civilians are at risk amid heavy fighting in El-Fasher.
The United States has imposed sanctions against two commanders of Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), as human rights groups and the United Nations warn that deadly violence in the North Darfur region intensifies.
The U.S. Treasury Department said Wednesday that the sanctions targeted the RSF’s commander in Central Darfur, Ali Yagoub Gibril, and Osman Mohamed Hamid Mohamed, a major general who leads the group’s operational planning.
“As the Sudanese people continue to demand an end to this conflict, these commanders have focused on expanding to new fronts and fighting for control of greater territory,” said Brian Nelson, head of the Trésor, in a press release. statement.
The RSF have surrounded El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, in recent weeks and fighting between the paramilitary group and the Sudanese armed forces has intensified.
Earlier this week, a spokesperson for the UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres warned that the violence in El Fasher puts more than 800,000 civilians in danger.
Guterres, the spokesperson said, “is alarmed by reports of the use of heavy weapons in densely populated areas, resulting in dozens of civilian casualties, significant displacement and destruction of civilian infrastructure.”
“It reminds us that civilians in the region are already facing imminent famine and the consequences of more than a year of war. »
THE UN estimates that at least 15,500 people have been killed across Sudan since the outbreak of war in mid-April 2023 between the RSF and the Sudanese armed forces. More than 8.8 million people have been forced to flee their homes.
Rights groups have accused the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces of war crimes, including the killing of civilians during deliberate and indiscriminate attacks.
The RSF has been particularly in the spotlight, having been accused of killing “at least thousands of people” in West Darfur, Human Rights Watch said. earlier this month. Attacks on the West Darfur capital, el-Geneina, saw the RSF and allied militias destroy entire neighborhoods housing residents of the non-Arab Masalit community, HRW said.
Residents, humanitarian agencies and analysts having warned that the fight for El-Fasher, a historic center of power, could prolong and inflame long-standing ethnic tensions.
The RSF emerged from the Popular Defense Forces, a government-backed Arab militia called “Janjaweed” by rebels who targeted non-Arab groups in Darfur throughout the country’s nearly two-decade war. western region of Sudan, and which only ended in 2020. .
Many Darfur groups that fought against the “Janjaweed” initially remained neutral during the current conflict, but some have increasingly aligned themselves with the Sudanese armed forces, viewing the RSF as a greater threat due to their history. in the region and their animosity. towards non-Arab groups.
On Wednesday, the medical charity Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, said it had received 454 injured people at the South hospital it supports in El-Fasher, amid an escalation of violence since the 10 may.
Among them, 56 people died from their injuries, said Dr Prince Djuma Safari, MSF deputy medical coordinator in El-Fasher, in a statement. a dispatch shared on the group’s website.
“But the number of injured and dead is likely much higher, as the fighting continues to be so intense that many people cannot reach the hospital,” Safari said.
“Until now, North Darfur has been a relatively safe haven compared to other parts of Darfur. Today there are snipers in the streets, intense shelling is taking place and nowhere in the city is safe. »
The U.S. sanctions imposed Wednesday freeze the assets of targeted individuals in the country and prevent any U.S. citizen or entity from doing business with them.
