A prominent international human rights group is calling for the deployment of a protection force in Sudan following a recent wave of attacks on civilians in Al Jazirah state, widely blamed on the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), one of the warring sides in the country's ongoing conflict. Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement on Sunday that the situation has become so grim that a mission is needed to protect the Sudanese population.
The RSF armed group has killed, injured, and unlawfully detained scores of civilians and raped women and girls in attacks across Sudan's Al Jazirah state, the rights group said. The RSF has been fighting the SAF for nearly 19 months since their leaders turned on each other in a power struggle that has plunged the country into a humanitarian catastrophe.
Since the defection of a leading RSF ally in eastern Al Jazirah, tens of thousands of civilians have fled a wave of armed violence and RSF attacks on reportedly more than 65 villages and towns in parts of Al Jazirah State since October 20.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), some 135,400 people have been displaced by the attacks, which have reportedly killed more than a hundred civilians. A horrific campaign of destruction and killing of civilians by the Rapid Support Forces is reportedly underway.
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in Sudan said in a recent statement that the escalation of hostilities in eastern Al Jazirah has been marked by some of the most extreme violence in the past 18 months.
âThis recent massive uptick in the Rapid Support Forcesâ heinous attacks against civilians should end any lingering hopes that these crimes will stop without a strong global response,â said Mohamed Osman, Sudan researcher at Human Rights Watch.
âThe UN Security Councilâs minimal action is clearly failing to protect civilians. It urgently needs to authorize the deployment of a civilian protection mission.â
The RSF, in the midst of an ongoing conflict with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), took control of Wad Madani, the state capital of Al Jazirah, in December 2023, and have since committed serious human rights violations, including sexual violence and killings, in the state, according to rights groups and independent UN experts.
The most recent attacks began after a commander of the Rapid Support Forces defected and joined the Sudanese army. On October 20, Abu Agla Keikel, the commander of an allied RSF force in the state, crossed over to the SAF, triggering a wave of reprisal attacks against civilians, including those from Keikel's tribe.
Rights groups report that in response, RSF forces entered villages and towns in the area where the commander was from and carried out targeted killings and abuses. According to a local pro-democracy group, the Wad Madani Resistance Committee, 169 people have been killed in the southeastern Jazirah State since the violence began on October 20.
Laetitia Bader, deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Africa division, said the human rights violations have created more problems for a population already reeling from more than 18 months of war.
"Sudanese women's rights groups have been documenting cases of sexual violence against women and girls in these towns and villages. And we're talking here about over 30 towns and villages which have been attacked in recent weeks, and these attacks are ongoing,â Bader said.
âIt led to massive displacement of the civilian population in an area where people had already fled to and from. So, it's just adding to the layers of suffering."
The RSF has denied attacking communities in Jazirah State, accusing Sudanese forces of arming local communities. The RSF and the Sudanese military have been at war since April last year.
Human Rights Watch and other observers are calling for the deployment of peacekeepers to Al Jazira and other parts of Sudan to protect civilians.
âGiven the scale and severity of the threat to civilians, it is critical for the United Kingdom to use its November United Nations Security Council presidency to push for UN action to deploy a mission to protect civilians in Sudan,â the rights group said.
The UK is the penholder on Sudan in the UN Security Council and holds the presidency for November, when the council will discuss how to better protect civilians in Sudan.
A presence on the ground could deter further attacks and help monitor humanitarian obstructions, Bader said, and also play a role in supporting local ceasefire efforts and efforts by emergency response teams to provide assistance.
âThe United Kingdom, as penholder on Sudan, needs to step up at this moment of crisis and ensure that the calls of those desperately in need of protection in Sudan are not ignored,â Osman said.
âGlobal and regional leaders cannot afford to be missing in action given the alarming trends.â
HRW said UN member states should also boost support for the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan.
Ahmed Hashi, a political and security commentator on the Horn of Africa, said troops were needed and strong action must be taken against the leaders of the warring factions.
"There is a need to send at least 50,000 United Nations soldiers. There is a need to take the criminal generals to the International Criminal Court and issue a warrant for their arrest,â Hashi said.
âIt is important for the United Nations to put its foot down on conflicts because they are going to metastasize into a massive humanitarian catastrophe."
In a report released last month, the office of UN Secretary-General AntĂłnio Guterres expressed shock that human rights abuses frequently witnessed in Sudan's western Darfur region were being repeated in the Al Jazira area. The United Nations Security Council is scheduled to discuss the report on Sudan later this month.
The fresh calls for peacekeepers come at a time of increasing displacement, with nearly a third of Sudan's 51 million people now forced to flee, making it the world's largest displacement crisis. As of November 2024, more than 11.3 million women, men and children are internally displaced, including 2.8 million displaced before April 2023, making Sudan also the largest internal displacement crisis in the world.
The total number of Sudanese refugees is now estimated at over 3.6 million, including at least 500,000 Sudanese who fled to neighboring countries before the war escalated. In total, some 14.9 million people have been displaced by the conflict across Sudan. This makes Sudan by far the largest displacement crisis in the world.
More than 11.6 million people have been newly displaced since clashes between the two warring parties began in April last year. While more than 8.5 million people - Sudanese and refugees already living in the country - have been displaced within Sudan, more than 3.1 million women, men and children have sought refuge in other countries since the start of the war.
Since April last year, Sudan has experienced a massive increase in acute food insecurity, with more than half of the country now suffering from hunger. Sudan is also today the world's largest hunger crisis, with nearly 26 million people facing high levels of acute hunger, including some 755,000 on the brink of famine.
Famine has already been declared in the Zamzam displacement camp in Sudan's Darfur region, home to some 500,000 people, marking only the third time a formal famine has been declared since the creation of the international famine monitoring system 20 years ago.
According to the latest available information, acute malnutrition rates in Zamzam camp remain above the famine threshold. Tens of thousands of others are likely facing similar conditions in other famine-prone areas. The situation is particularly critical for people trapped in conflict-affected areas.
In a related development, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Monday that a convoy of WFP trucks had crossed the border from neighboring Chad through the Adre border crossing to the Zamzam camp in North Darfur state, where famine has been confirmed.
According to the UN agency, the trucks are carrying vital food and nutritional supplies for some 12,500 people. WFP stresses the need for this relief to reach desperate families in Zamzam Camp safely and quickly.
WFP emphasizes that the Adre Corridor is a vital lifeline for getting emergency aid into the hands of desperate families throughout the Darfur region. WFP has now transported more than 5,600 metric tons of food and nutritional supplies through the crossing, enough to feed nearly half a million people.
âIt is crucial that this crossing remains usable and open for humanitarians to ramp up aid and get a steady supply of aid to communities facing extreme hunger,â UN spokesman StĂ©phane Dujarric said in a press conference on Monday.
âWFP also continues to get food into the hands of people facing famine in Zamzam, through a network of local retailers under contract with WFP. With this approach, WFP has so far supported 100,000 people out of the 180,000 men, women and children the agency plans to reach in Zamzam.â
Sudan faces the world's largest humanitarian crisis, yet the emergency receives little or no media attention and the humanitarian response is woefully underfunded. The Sudan Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for 2024 calls for US$2.7 billion to reach 14.7 million people by the end of this year. As of today, the HRP is only 57 percent funded.
This year's Sudan Regional Refugee Response Plan (RRP) requires US$1.5 billion to support 3.3 million refugees, returnees, and host communities in seven countries bordering Sudan. The RRP is currently only 29 percent funded.
Despite humanitarian access constraints and lack of funding, aid agencies continue to expand their response across the country. As of November, they have reached some 12.6 million people with at least one form of humanitarian assistance.
Some information for this report provided by VOA.
Further information
Full text: Sudan: Rapid Support Forces Target Civilians - Widespread Attacks in Central Region Highlight Urgent Need to Protect Civilians, Human Rights Watch, press release, published November 10, 2024
https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/11/10/sudan-rapid-support-forces-target-civilians