At least 213 people have been killed in four days of violence in Darfur, according to the authorities of this region of western Sudan, clashes condemned by the UN, which called on Wednesday for a “rapid” and “independent” investigation.
The violence began Friday in the town of Krink, mainly inhabited by the Massalit tribe, and spread to Al-Genaïna, the capital of West Darfur, some 80 km away.
According to the NGO General Coordination for Refugees and Displaced in Darfur, the violence erupted when armed fighters from Arab tribes attacked villages of the Massalit ethnic minority in retaliation for the death Thursday of two of their members. They continued Wednesday, in particular in Al-Genaïna, where “intense shooting” sowed panic, indicated in a press release the spokesman of the organization, Adam Regal.
Describing the situation as “very dangerous”, he spoke of “a humanitarian disaster with unimaginable consequences”.
The heaviest toll was recorded on Sunday with “201 dead and 13 injured”, West Darfur Governor Khamis Abkar said on Tuesday in a video accusing government forces of having “withdrawn without any justification” from Krink as the fighting intensified. The city “has been completely destroyed, including government institutions”, he lamented, denouncing “a crime against humanity”.
The NGO Doctors Without Borders meanwhile claimed that hospitals had been attacked and that medical personnel had been killed.
Consternation
In Geneva, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, expressed Wednesday her dismay at the violence in Darfur.
The Security Council meanwhile met urgently behind closed doors at the request of the United Kingdom, Albania, France, Ireland, Norway and the United States. However, no text condemning the killings was published at the end of this session. Discussions are continuing, an ambassador told AFP on condition of anonymity.
“I call on the Sudanese authorities to carry out prompt, full, impartial and independent investigations into these attacks and to hold all those responsible to account,” said Mr.me Bachelet.
Witnesses accused the Janjawid militia, a proxy force to the Sudanese government, of orchestrating the violence. In recent years, these militiamen long used by the dictator Omar al-Bashir have joined by the thousands the forces led by General Mohammed Hamdane Daglo, number two in military power in place since the October putsch in Khartoum.
Calls for help
Since the start of the violence, more and more voices have been raised in Darfur to ask the international community to protect civilians.
Massalit dignitaries notably called on the UN Security Council on Wednesday to place their villages under “international protection”. According to a diplomat in New York speaking on condition of anonymity, however, no “discussion bearing specifically on this point” took place.
Dozens of people have been killed and hundreds of homes burned down in several episodes of violence in Darfur in recent months. Clashes between Arab herders and African farmers over disputes over access to water and land have notably caused the death of nearly 250 people between October and December, according to a union of pro-democracy doctors.
The region was ravaged by a civil war that began in 2003 between the Arab-majority regime and insurgents from ethnic minorities who denounce discrimination. Around 300,000 people died and nearly 2.5 million were displaced during the early years of the conflict, according to the UN.
Sudan, which emerged in 2019 from 30 years of dictatorship under Omar al-Bashir, has remained mired in a political and economic slump since the October coup.