Amnesty International has been informed by survivors and witnesses of ethnically motivated atrocities in Darfur by the Rapid Support Forces (FSR) and its affiliated Arab militias of a sequence of unimaginable horrors perpetrated by armed factions vying for control of the region.
Sudan is in a state of upheaval following the removal of tyrant Omar al Bashir in 2019 and the subsequent military coup in 2021.
A battle between two military commanders has ripped the nation apart since April 15: Mohamed Hamdan Dogolo's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and General Abdel Fattah Al-Burnham's army, which is the president of the Transitional Sovereignty Council.
The latter are notorious for their brutality and killings of civilians. They are the descendants of Hemedti's notorious Janjaweed militias. Despite this, the regular army itself is as dedicated to using indiscriminate force.
Nobody is spared: the elderly, women, and children are the first groups targeted in massacres. The idea is to incite the populace to escape to the adjacent Sahara desert and Libya. From there, if the fugitives are not apprehended by the Libyans first, they will pay the smugglers to cross the Mediterranean and arrive in Europe, specifically Italy.
Hemedti's 'RSF' militias are now assuming control. Only 40 kilometers from Khartoum, the capital, they have already taken control of the important city of Jebel Aulia and its airport.
Additionally, a dam that is close by has already been harmed by the battle. The collapse would render Sudan's capital uninhabitable and flood Khartoum itself.
Regretfully, there appears to be no indication of a compromise between Burhan and Hemedti, and the conflict rages on despite the existence of more than 6 million internal refugees and 1.4 million individuals seeking safety in neighboring, albeit impoverished, nations.
The Organization of African Unity, which is in decline, is unable to put an end to the civil conflict. Darfur was already in danger of total collapse, and now it could be beyond save. Eighty percent of the area's hospitals are closed, and there is a growing risk of malnutrition and famine, with the majority of cases being children.
Without the international world being able to put an end to the carnage, not only is Darfur essentially decimated, but the entire country of Sudan is on the verge of collapsing.
