Evidence of Ethnic Cleansing and Genocide in Sudan's Darfur region was revealed by a Human Rights Organization

A Human Rights Watch report finds evidence of ethnic cleansing and possible genocide against Massalit and non-Arab groups in Sudan's Darfur region, committed by paramilitary forces and Arab militias, with thousands killed and displaced.

A recent publication by Human Rights Watch (HRW) has brought to the fore the use of ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity that may be a step towards genocide committed against the Massalit and non-Arab groups in the West Darfur city of El Geneina during the Sudanese civil war. 

The 218-page report brings to light a systematic campaign by RSF-dressed paramilitaries and their Arab allies for the total eviction of the Massalit residents of El Geneina through killings, sexual violence, forced displacement, and destruction of property.

"The incidents are among the worst civilian massacres in the entire conflict in Sudan since the beginning of the current crisis in April-November 2023," the report says, concluding that thousands were killed and hundreds of thousands were displaced.

Witnesses testified that RSF aimed at the men, women, and children who were escaping the ethnic clashes in the volatile city. Human Rights Watch investigators interviewed approximately two hundred Sudanese refugees in the neighboring countries and the corroborating evidence was found in photos, videos, satellite imagery, and humanitarian documents.

"The facts show that there was an agenda of ethnic persecution and what may be considered crimes against humanity," said Mohamed Lotfy of HRW. "The persons that are at the top of command, including RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo 'Hemedti,' should be sanctioned and should be accountable. "

Gen.  Hemedti has rejected the deliberate targeting of civilians and suggested the conflict was tribal.  However, the governor of West Darfur accused the RSF of genocide before he was killed in July.

HRW demands that the UN Security Council launch a further investigation into the aim of the war crime - whether the intention was to eliminate the Massalit ethnicity or the legal criteria for genocide. UN and ICC prosecutors have evidence of war crimes in Darfur but have not yet concluded whether genocide took place there.

Also Read: Human Rights Crisis In Sudan: UN Calls On Influential Nations To Step Up

Report results spell out the dire human rights condition in the ongoing civil war between the Sudanese army and the RSF who were previously allied with the military but turned against it.