Sudan at risk of second genocide in two decades

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The ongoing conflict in Darfur is an attack on the Masalit and other non-Arab groups by Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group, and the successor group of the Janjaweed militia that carried out genocidal attacks two decades ago.

Sudan has been embroiled in conflict for decades. But 20 years ago, it was the site of the first genocide of the 21st century, when perhaps 300,000 people were killed between 2003 and 2005 while the world, largely, looked on.

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But the fighting has flared up again. The last decade has seen Sudan embroiled in a civil war since 2011, which saw South Sudan break away from the country. There have also been violence “counter-insurgency” campaigns and atrocities between 2015 and 2016.

The country further descended into chaos in 2019 when President Omar al-Bashir was overthrown. al-Bashir was president during the earlier genocide and has been indicted for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court.

The two feuding factions are now members of what was, as of 2021, the governing military junta.

The militias are targeting the same non-Arab ethnic groups that were targeted in the earlier genocide.

When did the conflict begin?

The fighting between Arab and non-Arab populations in Sudan has been going on for decades.

But, the latest iteration of the conflict began on April 15, 2023 when the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacked Sudanese Armed Forces bases during Ramadan.

The conflict is being fought between two factions of the Sudanese government. The first is the Rapid Support Forces, which is a direct descendant of the Janjaweed militias that carried out the earlier Darfur genocide. It is controlled by Mohamed Hamdan Daglo (who goes by the alias Hemedti). The second faction is the Sudanese Armed Forces, controlled by Abdul Fattah al-Burhan.

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The conflict, the report says, is often portrayed as a power struggle between Hemedti and al-Burhan.

Some non-Arab rebel groups have backed the SAF while others have joined the RSF.

The report also notes that both factions have been accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Before fighting broke out but after al-Bashir was deposed, forces from the SAF and RSF massacred dozens of protesters in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital.

The fighting is happening against the backdrop of what the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights says is “the world’s largest humanitarian catastrophe.”

At the moment, 17.7 million people are facing food insecurity and another 25 million are in need of humanitarian assistance.

As of October 2023, the United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide raised concern on the threat of genocide.

What’s the background?

There are 80 different tribes and ethnic groups in Darfur. For decades, there have been tensions between non-Arab farming communities and Arab herders, but for the most part, these were resolved by tribal councils.

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This began to change in the mid-1980s when the Sudanese government replaced tribal councils with government bodies that tended to look more favourably on the Arab communities. By the late-1980s, Arab herders were attacking non-Arab farming communities.

The attacks became increasingly violent. By 1998, more than 100,000 Masalit people fled to Chad.

The non-Arab groups — the Masalit, Fur and Zaghawa — began forming their own militias, the Sudan Liberation Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement. Those were considered rebel groups by the Sudanese government.

What happened in the last genocide?

By 2003, the Sudanese government in Khartoum was using the Janjaweed militia as a counter-insurgency force to fight against the rebels.

Government forces and Janjaweed militias began attacking non-Arab villages, particularly Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa communities. The troops burned entire villages, and there were systematic killings and extensive rape and sexual violence.

“All under the false pretext of targeting rebels,” the report from the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights says.

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“These attacks were also designed to destroy these groups’ means of survival and essential infrastructure,” the report says.

Between 2003 and 2008, perhaps 300,000 people were killed, from violence, disease and starvation. In the early 2000s, the Janjaweed were basically absorbed into the Sudanese Armed Forces and became the Rapid Security Force, “given institutional legitimacy as an independent security force,” the report says.

Since 2013, RSF has attacked non-Arab communities in Darfur. RSF’s capabilities are even more destructive than those of the Janjaweed, having sophisticated weaponry and technology, as well as long-standing government support.

Who is being targeted?

The primary groups targeted are the Masalit, Fur, Zaghawa, Bargo, Tunjor, and other non-Arab tribes. This is happening in the West, South, North, East, and Central Darfur States. There is a particular focus on the Masalit in West Darfur State, according to the report.

In El Geneina, a city in West Darfur, for example, the RSF rounded up Masalit men for execution or detention, where they were held without food or water.

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“According to survivors, the militias interrogated Masalit members to identify the men and boys for execution,” the report says. “Dozens of women reported that infants were shot at a close range. Some watched as infants as young as six months old were beaten to death.”

Between 10,000 and 15,000 people were killed in that attack, according to the UN Security Council Panel of Experts on the Sudan.

By June 20, 2023, the Darfur Bar Association (DBA) described the situation in El Geneina as a “full-scale genocide.”

There have been multiple other attacks, too.

In April 2023, the SAF withdrew from the city of Misterei. The RSF and its allies subsequently stormed the city on pickup truck, motorcycle, horse and on foot. Nearly 100 people were killed, including dozens who were summarily executed, and others killed while attempting to flee.

In Adamata, which is on the outskirts, of El Geneina, RSF forces rampaged for six days in November 2023, attacking tens of thousands of people, primarily Masalit but also other non-Arab ethnic groups.

“They set homes on fire and went door to door rounding up Masalit men to be tortured, detained, killed and even mutilated,” the report says. “The RSF left some families without any male survivors.”

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At least 66 Masalit men are believed to have been summarily executed, and women and girls were “publicly subjected” to torture, rape and “other forms of sexual violence.”

So far, more than 13,000 people are believed to have been killed in the fighting and millions of people have been internally displaced or moved internationally as refugees.

Some of those killed have been buried in mass graves following massacres in June 2023 and November 2023. There have been 13 mass graves found near El Geneina alone.

What about refugees?

Thousands of people from Sudan have fled to neighbouring Chad. For example, about 70 per cent of the population of El Geneina fled the city. And 98 per cent of refugees registered in Chad are Masalit, according to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported.

The refugees have, at times, been subjected to attacks while they flee.

What is the evidence for genocide?

The report stresses the genocidal intent of these crimes. The report notes dehumanizing and genocidal language, such as Arab militiamen killing boys as young as six months old and saying: “The boys will grow up and they will kill us … so we must destroy them now.”

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One rape victim who fled to Chad later received a voice note: “We will find you in Chad. You are a slut. Whenever you come back to Sudan, we will do what we want with you.”

The verbal statements alone do not indicate intent to commit genocide, the report notes. The actions committed, such as killings, severe mental and bodily harm, sexual violence and the razing of villages and homes are also examples of potentially genocidal conduct.

“The sheer enormity of scale and the systematic nature of the sexual violence directed at non-Arab women and girls in RSF ethnically motivated attacks is further evidence of genocidal intent to destroy the groups’ reproductive capacity and intimate bonds,” the report says.

Additional evidence of genocidal intent includes the targeting of health-care facilities and warehouses. With a minimum of 284 attacks on Sudan’s health-care system recorded as of March 2024. There have also been attempts to destroy civilian infrastructure, and measures to prevent births.

“State parties to the Genocide Convention are obligated to end complicity in and employ all means reasonably available to prevent and halt the genocide,” the report says.

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What does the report call on the world to do?

The report calls on the 153 states that have signed the Genocide Convention to “take immediate action to end any complicity in the form of support for the RSF and to use all means reasonably available to prevent and halt the genocide.”

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