{"id":20042,"date":"2024-04-27T20:24:21","date_gmt":"2024-04-27T17:24:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/?p=20042"},"modified":"2024-04-27T20:24:21","modified_gmt":"2024-04-27T17:24:21","slug":"el-fasher-fears-of-bloody-fighting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/27\/el-fasher-fears-of-bloody-fighting\/","title":{"rendered":"El Fasher.. Fears of Bloody Fighting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Agencies<\/strong>
\nInternational voices are growing louder warning of an expected \u201cattack\u201d on the city of El Fasher in the Darfur region of Sudan, which has been witnessing war for more than a year. The US State Department, through its spokesman, Matthew Miller, called in a statement for an immediate halt to the attacks on El Fasher in North Darfur. He added that Washington is \u201cvery concerned about reliable reports of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and its affiliated militias destroying several villages west of El Fasher, while the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ant\u00f3nio Guterres, expressed in statements his concern about a possible imminent attack on El Fasher.\u201d
\nDisplacement and famine
\nWithin one year, the war in Sudan led to thousands of deaths, including up to 15,000 people in El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state, according to United Nations experts.
\nThe war also pushed the country, with a population of 48 million, to the brink of famine, destroyed the already dilapidated infrastructure, and displaced more than 8.5 million people, according to the United Nations.
\nEl Fasher is a humanitarian center for the Darfur region, where about a quarter of Sudan’s 48 million people live. Although it hosted many displaced people, the city remained relatively untouched by the fighting, according to Agence France-Presse.
\nThe Darfur region was already exposed to destruction about 20 years ago. Due to the scorched landl policy pursued by the \u201cJanjaweed\u201d militias, whose members were integrated into the RSF during the era of former President Omar Al-Bashir.
\nEl Fasher is the only capital of the five states of Darfur that is not controlled by the RSF. It was devastated by a civil war that claimed hundreds of thousands of victims and which began in 2003.
\nEl Fasher’s population includes an estimated half a million people who were displaced during this previous conflict, and about half a million additional people were displaced to the city during the war that broke out a year ago.
\nThe armed movements that signed the historic peace agreement concluded in 2020 in Juba with the transitional civilian government that took power following the overthrow of former President Omar Al-Bashir are based in El Fasher.
\nAs a result of the deteriorating situation in the capital of North Darfur state, the armed movements that signed the Juba Agreement announced in a statement in mid-April that \u201cthere is no longer neutrality,\u201d stressing that they \u201cwill fight with their allies, patriots, and armed forces against the RSF militias and their hired helpers.\u201d
\nResidents, aid agencies and analysts told Reuters that the fight for control of El Fasher, a historic center of power, could be prolonged, and inflame the ethnic tensions that emerged in the conflict in the early 2000s in the region, which extends across Sudan\u2019s border with Chad.
\nWhy is the militia targeting El Fasher?
\nSince the beginning of April, there have been reports of explosions and clashes in the villages surrounding El Fasher.
\nThe RSF militia, led by Mohammad Hamdan Dagalo, known as \u201cHemedti,\u201d currently controls four of the capitals of the five states of Darfur, except for El Fasher, which includes armed groups that had pledged until recently to stand at the same distance from both sides of the war. This prevented it from sliding into fighting, according to Agence France-Presse.
\nBut this position changed weeks ago with armed movements announcing that they had decided to fight against the RSF . Because of the \u201cprovocations and violations\u201d these forces are accused of committing in El Fasher.
\nSince the beginning of April, North Darfur state has witnessed clashes on two fronts: the first between the RSF and the armed movements west of El Fasher, and in the city of Melit, which is located 100 kilometers north of it, and the second between the RSF militia and the army in El Fasher.
\nThe El Fasher clashes led to escalation of international concern over the fate of the city, which was a major center for the distribution of relief and aid.<\/p>\n

Guterres said on April 10, \u201cA few days ago, militias affiliated with the RSF attacked and burned villages west of the city, leading to a new large-scale displacement and fears of controlling the only water source near El Fasher,\u201d a city inhabited by hundreds of thousands of residents.
\nHe continued, \u201cLet me say clearly: any attack on El Fasher would be devastating for civilians, and could lead to comprehensive societal conflict throughout Darfur. It would also turn relief operations upside down in a region that is already on the brink of famine.\u201d
\nIn mid-April, the El Fasher Resistance Committees, which are informal volunteer groups, accused the RSF Militia of \u201cburning six villages in the west of the city.\u201d
\nTwo movements, the Sudan Liberation Army, led by Minni Minawi, and the Justice and Equality Movement, led by Jibril Ibrahim, said they would also confront the RSF
\nClashes and fighting
\nAnalysts say that clashes have erupted for a long time between Arab and non-Arab tribes such as the Zaghawa over valuable lands and resources in Darfur.
\nA spokesman for the Revolutionary Awakening Council confirmed a video recording of Hilal addressing forces in North Darfur a few days ago, but said it was too early to say whether the forces would join the fighting in El Fasher or elsewhere.
\n\u201cEven if there is a ceasefire between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF, the matter is more than that,\u201d Jonas Horner, an independent Sudanese analyst, told Reuters. There are scores being settled and tensions being renewed.\u201d
\nSince the beginning of the month, at least 11 villages on the outskirts of El Fasher have been destroyed, according to satellite images obtained by the Yale University Humanitarian Research Laboratory. United Nations estimates indicate that at least 36,000 people have been displaced.
\nSenior United Nations officials warned the UN Security Council last Friday that about 800,000 people in the Sudanese city of El Fasher are exposed to \u201csevere and immediate danger.\u201d
\n\u201cThe fighting in El Fasher could unleash a bloody tribal conflict across Darfur,\u201d Rosemary DiCarlo, the UN\u2019s political affairs chief, told the 15-member Security Council.
\nRSF and Sanctions
\nA few days ago, a group of US senators called for direct sanctions to be imposed on the RSF and its leader, Hemedti.
\nIn a letter in which they called on US President Joe Biden to impose sanctions on the RSF under the Magnitsky Act, the lawmakers noted that Hemedti \u201ccommitted violations deserving of sanctions,\u201d referring to accusations that these forces committed mass rapes, kidnappings, human rights violations, and carried out politically assassinations, according to a report published by Foreign Policy magazine.
\nLawmakers gave the Biden administration 120 days to determine whether or not to impose sanctions on the RSF .
\nLast September, Washington announced the imposition of sanctions on the deputy commander of the Sudanese RSF , Abdul Rahim Dagalo, for his leadership role in the forces that participated in \u201cacts of violence and human rights violations.\u201d
\nAbdul Rahim is the brother of the commander of the RSF, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as \u201cHemedti,\u201d and he was included in the US sanctions list \u201cpursuant to Executive Order No. 14098 because he was a commander, official, senior executive, or member of the leadership of the RSF, in which he participated.\u201d Its members engage in actions or policies that threaten peace, security or stability in Sudan.\u201d
\nThe ministry said in a statement at the time that those forces participated in \u201ca massacre against civilians, ethnic killing, and the use of sexual violence.\u201d
\nFood crisis
\nAwadallah Hamed, director of Practical Action in Darfur, speaking to Reuters from the city, which has only a small number of international humanitarian workers, said that El Fasher itself has no longer had running water or working electricity lines for a year.
\nHe added that only one public hospital is functioning, while displaced people are crowding schools and public buildings.
\nJerome Tubiana, a Darfur expert and advisor to the charity Doctors Without Borders, told Reuters that the all-out fighting \u201calready threatens to complicate humanitarian access, at a time when available data shows that El Fasher is suffering from a very serious food crisis.\u201d
\nSince the war began, only small amounts of aid have entered El Fasher, the only channel approved by the military for shipments to other parts of Darfur. Residents say that although markets are functioning, the RSF’s control of the main road has caused prices for fuel, water and other goods to rise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Agencies International voices are growing louder warning of an expected \u201cattack\u201d on the city of El Fasher in the Darfur region of Sudan, which has been witnessing war for more than a year. The US State Department, through its spokesman, Matthew Miller, called in a statement for an immediate halt to the attacks on El …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":20049,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20042"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20051,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20042\/revisions\/20051"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}