SONNA – As Sudan’s civil war enters its second month, ethnic killings are terrorising civilians in the troubled West Darfur region.
Residents told Al Jazeera that no place is safe and that Sudanese Arab fighters stormed a hospital to execute 12 wounded non-Arab civilians on May 14. Government buildings, food markets, schools and internally displaced camps have also been attacked, looted and burned.
“They are killing all residents … and committing crimes against humanity,” said Jamal Khamis, a human rights monitor in el-Geneina, the capital of West Darfur.
“The militants especially know who the political and human rights activists are,” he added, suggesting that he could be targeted.
Since a conflict erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on April 15, the two sides have redeployed thousands of fighters from across the country to try to consolidate control over Khartoum, Sudan’s capital.
That has left a power vacuum in West Darfur where Arab militias have reportedly killed hundreds of people in el-Geneina.
The region has long been a source of tension between Arab and non-Arab communities because of disputes over land and water resources. The grievances date back to 2003, when non-Arab armed groups rebelled against the central government for neglecting and exploiting Darfur.
Sudan’s former president, Omar al-Bashir, responded by outsourcing suppression efforts to Arab tribal militias who were later repackaged into the RSF. Between 2003 and 2008, up to 300,000 people died in the violence as well as from diseases and famine brought on by the conflict, according to United Nations officials.
Now, residents in West Darfur are afraid of living through another civil war.
“It’s the Arabs who are attacking,” Fadil Barus, a member of the Arab Rizeigat tribe, told Al Jazeera from el-Geneina. “But war isn’t good … and I am not fighting. I’m a citizen that has humanity.”
Source: Al Jazeera
