Human Rights Watch: Hemedti, Abdul Rahim Dagalo, And Jumaa are Responsible for Ethnic Cleansing in El Geneina.
SudanEvents – Agencies
Human Rights Watch has accused the Rapid Support militia (RSF) of committing what it described as crimes of “ethnic cleansing” and killings that indicate that genocide has occurred or is occurring against the Masalit tribe in the city of El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state.
On Thursday, the organization published a report entitled “The Masalit will not return to their homes: ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity in El Geneina,” in reference to what the most prominent non-Arab ethnic group in West Darfur, which takes the city of El Geneina as its historical capital, is being exposed to.
The report documented, according to the official website of Human Rights Watch, “the targeting by the RSF and Arab militias of El Geneina neighborhoods, inhabited by a majority of Masalit, in continuous waves of attacks in the period from April to June, and violations escalated again in early November.”
The organization said that more than half a million people fled from West Darfur to Chad between April and October 2023, and confirmed that 75% of these displaced people fled from El Geneina.
It stressed that targeting the Masalit tribe and other non-Arab tribes aims to push them to leave the region permanently, which is considered ethnic cleansing.
Human Rights Watch identified the commander of the RSF Militia, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo “Hemedti,” his brother, Abdul Rahim Hamdan Dagalo, and the commander of the RSF in West Darfur, Jumaa, , as those bearing responsibility for leading the forces that carried out these crimes.
The organization added, “The United Nations, in coordination with the African Union, should urgently deploy a new mission to protect civilians at risk in Sudan. The Security Council should also impose targeted sanctions against those responsible for serious crimes in West Darfur, and individuals and companies that have violated or are violating the embargo. It should expand the current arms embargo imposed on Darfur to include all of Sudan.
