CAIRO (AP) 鈥 A leading rights group said on Thursday that attacks by Sudanese paramilitary forces and their allied militias, which killed thousands in the western region of Darfur last year, constituted a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the area鈥檚 non-Arab population.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which has been fighting Sudan's military for over a year, allied with armed militias to carry out attacks against the in El Geneina, the capital city of West Darfur state, Human Rights Watch said in a new report.
since mid-April 2023, when tensions between the military and the rival paramilitary erupted into open fighting. Clashes quickly spread to other parts of the country, and Darfur was engulfed in brutal attacks on African civilians, .
According to the New York-based watchdog, the paramilitary forces and their allied militiamen targeted predominantly Masalit neighborhoods in El Geneina from April to June 2023, with attacks intensifying also last November.
At least thousands of people were killed and hundreds of thousands were displaced during the attacks, according to the report, entitled Ethnic Cleansing and Crimes Against Humanity in El Geneina, West Darfur, Sudan.鈥
Masalit who were captured were tortured, women and girls were raped and entire neighborhoods were looted and destroyed, the report says. HRW said it interviewed more than 220 people who fled Darfur into neighboring countries and analyzed photos, videos and satellite imagery connected to the attacks.
United Nations experts have estimated that at least 10,000 people were killed in the city of El Geneina in 2023. More than 570,000 people, mostly Masalit, were displaced and sought .
Human Rights Watch said the campaign of attacks on the non-Arab people in Darfur, including the Masalit, with the 鈥渁pparent objective鈥 of pushing them out, 鈥渃onstitutes ethnic cleansing.鈥
鈥淕overnments, the African Union, and the United Nations need to act now to protect civilians,鈥 Tirana Hassan, HRW's executive director, said Thursday.
鈥淭he global inaction in the face of atrocities of this magnitude is inexcusable,鈥 Hassan said. 鈥淕overnment should ensure those responsible are held to account.鈥
The group called for the United Nations, African Union and states from the International Criminal Court to investigate whether the atrocities documented in the report reveal a specific intent by the RSF paramilitary and armed allies 鈥渢o commit genocide鈥 by destroying the Masalit and other non-Arab groups in West Darfur.
The media office of the Rapid Support Forces did not immediately respond to a request for comment by The Associated Press.
In late January, the International Criminal Court鈥檚 prosecutor, Karim Khan, said there are grounds to believe , crimes against humanity or genocide in Darfur.
Two decades ago, Darfur became synonymous with genocide and war crimes, particularly by the notorious Janjaweed Arab militias, against populations that identify as Central or East African.
The Rapid Support Forces were formed from Janjaweed fighters by former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who ruled the country for three decades before being . He is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide and other crimes during the conflict in Darfur in the 2000s.
