Thousands more flee as conflict in famine-stricken Sudan grinds eastwards

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has sent thousands more people fleeing in Sudan as it prepares a new offensive after atrocities committed during its assault on el-Fasher in the western region of Darfur.

The United Nations warned in a report released late on Sunday of the humanitarian consequences as the paramilitary onslaught continues to forcibly displace thousands of people.

The RSF, led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti, released a video on the same day, saying it is “amassing a large force, heralding the imminent liberation of el-Obeid”.

The state capital of North Kordofan in central Sudan lies east of Darfur, where the RSF killed and displaced thousands of people over the past week after seizing control of el-Fasher from government forces.

The Sudanese armed forces currently control el-Obeid. However, both sides have been gearing up for a major fight over the city.

In the RSF video, a soldier holding a weapon boasted that “all our forces have converged” on Bara, 50km (30 miles) northeast of el-Obeid.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM), in a report released on Sunday, estimated that on Friday alone, more than 1,200 people were displaced from Bara and Um Rawaba in North Kordofan.

This follows the displacement of 36,825 people from several localities in North Kordofan since last week.

In South Kordofan, IOM said field teams estimated 360 people were displaced from Abassiya and Delami towns on Saturday. Further displacement is expected as the situation remains “tense and highly fluid”, the UN agency said.

As the RSF and the army prepare for combat in el-Obeid, the humanitarian situation remains catastrophic across Sudan, especially in and around el-Fasher.

UN teams estimated an additional 8,631 people were displaced from el-Fasher, the state capital of North Darfur, over the weekend. This means that more than 70,000 people have been displaced from the area since the RSF took over the last major city in Darfur on October 26, pushing out the Sudanese armed forces after an 18-month siege.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told reporters in New York on Friday that reports of “serious violations” including summary executions of several Red Crescent volunteers have emerged since the RSF’s takeover of Bara last week.

Tens of thousands of starving and desperate people are still trapped inside el-Fasher while the fate of several thousand who fled but have not arrived in Tawila or other nearby towns remains unknown.

A video circulating online on Monday showed dozens of bodies strewn across roads surrounding el-Fasher.

The UN and international aid agencies have verified numerous accounts by survivors who said RSF fighters have engaged in mass executions, torture, rape and sexual abuse and holding people for ransom.

“We have been hearing horror stories from many people arriving here, and those who were here weeks before the RSF took over el-Fasher. Some of them said they were stopped as they tried to leave the city under siege, and their relatives, especially males, were abducted and imprisoned by the RSF. Many here are mothers and children,” media’s Hiba Morgan said in a report from al-Dabbah city in northern Sudan.

“Others say they have seen their relatives being killed on social media by the RSF. Some saw artillery strikes leaving headless and mutilated bodies.”

Famine confirmed in two regions

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, announced on Monday that famine has been detected in el-Fasher and Kadugli, located in South Kordofan.

The UN-backed global hunger monitor, which in August confirmed famine spreading in Gaza, said 20 other areas in Darfur and Kordofan are also at serious risk of sliding into famine conditions.

It is estimated that 375,000 people were already living in famine conditions across Darfur and Kordofan as of September, while an additional 6.3 million people across the country are considered as suffering from extreme hunger and at risk of sliding into famine.

More Sudanese people will likely die of starvation and malnutrition without a ceasefire and safe humanitarian access, the IPC said.

In the Northern State, a large number of Sudanese have turned to al-Dabbah. Many of the people there have already been displaced several times, but some are packing up to leave once again for another refugee camp on the outskirts of the city because they fear the conflict may catch up with them in al-Dabbah.

“The streets were full of dead bodies,” Yahya Abdullah, who barely escaped from el-Fasher along with his four children, told media from al-Dabbah. He had earlier lost his wife to an RSF drone strike.

He said RSF fighters shot at people, including children, in the streets of el-Fasher with machineguns. “I heard one of them say, ‘Kill them all.’”

ICC investigates war crimes

The RSF is now actively under investigation for war crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC), prosecutors of the court announced on Monday.

They said in a statement from The Hague that they are taking “immediate steps” in order to “preserve and collect relevant evidence for its use in future prosecutions” concerning crimes in el-Fasher following the capture of the city by the RSF.

The court described the atrocities as “part of a broader pattern of violence that has afflicted the entire Darfur region” and said that they “may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity”.

The specific types of crimes under investigation are ethnic-targeted attacks, sexual violence including use of rape as a weapon, abductions, indiscriminate attacks on civilians, and attacks on medical facilities.

In a briefing in June, ICC Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan said there are “reasonable grounds to believe that war crimes and crimes against humanity have been and are continuing to be committed in Darfur”.