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Sudan Tribune

Plural news and views on Sudan

Sudan accuses RSF of massacres in Al-Hilaliya

November 7, 2024 (PORT SUDAN) – Sudan accused the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Thursday of killing 120 people in the town of Al-Hilaliya, in the eastern Al Jazirah state, through a combination of shootings and deliberate food poisoning.

In a statement, the foreign ministry said Al-Hilaliya has been under siege by the RSF for about ten days and is facing a severe humanitarian crisis. Hundreds of civilians, including many children, women, and the elderly, are suffering from a lack of healthcare and a cholera outbreak.

The ministry condemned the “heinous crime” in Al-Hilaliya, stating it follows a pattern of RSF violence against civilians in recent weeks. It cited massacres in the village of Al-Sariha and 58 other villages, as well as six towns in eastern Al Jazira state. These attacks, the ministry said, are retaliation for the defection of several RSF commanders and fighters to the army.

The defection of Abu Aqla Kikl, the RSF commander in  Al-Jazirah state, in October, triggered a wave of violence. The RSF attacked the cities of Rufaa and Tambul and surrounding villages, killing dozens and displacing tens of thousands.

The ministry accused the RSF of deliberately escalating atrocities against civilians to provoke international military intervention in Sudan. It argued the RSF was attempting to frame the situation as a need to protect civilians, thereby avoiding military defeat and maintaining control of captured territory, including hundreds of thousands of homes in the capital and other cities.

“Instead of international intervention, the international community should designate the RSF as a terrorist organization and prosecute its leaders and members,” the ministry said. “Anyone who supports the militia or harbours its leaders should be considered a sponsor of terrorism and complicit in its crimes.”

Resistance committees in Al-Hasahisa, Al-Jazirah state, also condemned the situation in Al-Hilaliya, calling it a humanitarian disaster that threatens the lives of more than 300,000 people.

In a statement, the committees said the death toll exceeds 100, with about 15 killed by RSF gunfire. The remaining deaths resulted from food poisoning caused by a lack of food and medicine. The committees accused the RSF of distributing chemically treated wheat intended for agricultural use, leading to mass poisoning.

The committees also accused the RSF of extorting money from families of those trapped in Al-Hilaliya, demanding ransoms for their release. They called on local and international humanitarian organizations to urgently provide aid to the besieged town.