Despite international law, these weapons are used in the middle of cities and next to essential infrastructure for civilians, denounces the NGO in a report.
After twenty days of war, fierce fighting continues in Sudan. The army and the paramilitaries who are vying for power use deadly explosive weapons, warns the NGO Human Rights Watch in a report (in English) posted Friday, May 4. “Rockets, bombs dropped from planes and other types of explosive weapons kill and injure civilians”summarizes Mohamed Osman, author of the report, at franceinfo.
According to Human Rights Watch, these weapons are permitted under international law, but the way they are used by Sudanese belligerents is prohibited. A fundamental principle of the law of war is that the parties “must at all times distinguish between combatants and civilians”, recalls the NGO in its report. However, both residents and civilian buildings are subject to strikes indiscriminately, she notes.
Between April 15 and 30, during the first two weeks of the conflict, Human Rights Watch collected testimonies by telephone from 23 residents in Khartoum, Nyala (in the Darfur region) and El Obeid.
“We analyzed videos, satellite images, remains of projectiles, which allowed us to identify the nature of the weapons and their impact.”
Mohamed Osman, researcher at Human Rights Watchat franceinfo
The NGO also analyzed 10 videos posted on social networks showing the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo use explosive weapons in densely populated areas of the Sudanese capital.
Civilian victims and witnesses of the strikes
A video posted online on April 15, for example, shows an SAF MiG-29 fighter jet launching a missile near the international airport. On other pictures, a SAF MiG-29 drops two bombs north of Omdurman. A document dated April 21 also shows a helicopter fire several rockets at the facade of a four-storey building in Omdurman. In another video, Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) fighters led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan fire rocket launchers on a central street in Khartoum. Other videos verified by the NGO show tanks firing directly into the capital’s inhabited streets.
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The civilian populations are the direct witnesses and victims of these strikes. In Nyala, Darfur, the fighting has left hundreds of gunshot wounds, reports Human Rights Watch. A resident of Khartoum said soldiers fromes FSR were deployed in front of his house, which is a 5-10 minute drive from the international airport. She describes fights “incessant”. “There was a [canon antiaérien] just outside my building. (…) Every time there was a plane, they fired”she says.
A resident of a neighborhood in Omdurman also told the NGO that his house had been hit three times by “heavy bombs and small arms fire”.
“There is shelling between the army and the FSRs because the military post is not far. Both are firing. The heavy bombs are from the army. They are the only ones that have them. The FSRs use more weapons. small.”
A resident of Omdurmanat Human Rights Watch
In Khartoum, a woman said ammunition hit her family’s house in Burri neighborhood and killed her 2-year-old niece. The projectile “passed through the building and penetrated the walls”she described. “The walls and the roof collapsed on everyone. (…) My niece was taken to hospital, where she died.” “I heard something like a whistle and then a ‘boom’. (…) Nobody was injured, except one of my dogs. It was a huge object that hit the building and went through the concrete.”depicts a man residing in the El-Riyad district of Khartoum.
Sixteen hospitals targeted by bombings
According to the United Nations, as of May 2, at least 528 people have been killed and 4,599 others have been injured. But these official figures are largely underestimated because “hospitals only register those who die in hospitals or whose bodies are brought in”noted doctors interviewed by Human Rights Watch.
According to the NGO, attacks have also been carried out against the water network in Khartoum, depriving entire sections of the city of this essential resource. Infrastructure officials said the fighters blocked them from accessing the plant for security reasons, preventing any repairs. According to the Sudanese Doctors’ Union, cited in the report, 16 hospitals have been hit by strikes, 57 are not functioning due to lack of medical supplies, electricity and staff, and 19 have been forced to evacuate.
“Whenever we have water or electricity, we have to decide quickly how to use it, because you never know when it’s going to be cut again.”
A resident of Khartoumat Human Rights Watch
And to continue: “You can hear the children crying, [mais je ne sais pas si c’est] because of the sound of gunfire or explosions, or because they are hungry and thirsty.”
A call to respect international law
On April 18, two bombs hit one of the largest public hospitals in Khartoum, El Shaab Hospital. “This hospital had to evacuate all its patients. Sudanese come from all over the country to consult. There are very important services, such as cardiology”, says Mohamed Osman. The strike was broadcast live on television. Based on images and satellite images, the NGO believes it was caused by the dropping of bombs from an airplane
Faced with this situation, Human Rights Watch calls on the UN and international organizations to take significant measures to prevent these “violations” of international law. The NGO asks the United Nations to urge belligerents to put an end to unlawful attacks against civilians and infrastructure. It calls on countries to respect the arms embargo in Darfur and to impose an embargo on arms delivered to the Sudanese army and the RSF rebels.
Human Rights Watch also calls on the UN Human Rights Council to hold an emergency special session on Sudan and establish a mechanism to collect and preserve evidence of “crimes under international law”.