RSF Kills over 2,000 civilians in West Darfur’s Ardamata
November 10, 2023 (EL-GENEINA) – A Sudanese doctor who fled Ardamata, West Darfur, to Chad on Thursday told Sudan Tribune on Friday that over 2,000 civilians were killed by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied militias in the area between November 4 and 9.
The doctor, Ismail Adam Arbab, said that most of the victims were members of the Masalit and other African ethnic groups. He said that some of the victims were able to reach the Chadian town of Adré, while others are still besieged in villages near the border with Chad.
Arbab said that the RSF stormed homes in the neighbourhoods of Al-Izaa, Hilla Jadidah, and Dorti of Ardamata and killed civilians on an ethnic basis. He said that large numbers of civilian prisoners were transferred to the Al-Jabal neighbourhood inside El Geneina, and others were detained at the main headquarters of the Rapid Support Forces in the Aljamark neighbourhood.
He also said that the RSF had set up numerous checkpoints up to the borders with Adré, Chad, and was killing anyone belonging to the Masalit tribe fleeing from Ardamata.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said on Friday that more than 8,000 people have fled into neighbouring Chad in the last week alone. The UNHCR said that they expect more refugees in the coming days.
The Darfur Lawyers Association said that a local leader, Abdel Basit Suleiman Dina, his wife, and his son were killed when the RSF stormed his home in Ardamata on November 6.
A human rights activist, Badr al-Din Tadaq, told Sudan Tribune that the RSF established a blacklist of Masalit leaders and communicated it to the checkpoints and forces deployed across El Geneina. The blacklist included Mohamed Arbab, a prominent Native Administration figure who the Sovereign Council mourned.
In an obituary statement issued on November 6, the Sovereign Council confirmed Arbab’s killing together with his son and eight of his grandchildren in Ardamata by the paramilitary forces.
Tadaq said that after taking control of the 15th Infantry Division, which is located in Ardamata, the RSF carried out retaliatory campaigns against civilians residing in the area.
“Civilians were killed inside their homes on an ethnic basis. Some were accused of working with the army even though they were civilians who had nothing to do with military work.”
El Geneina continued to witness violence on a tribal basis between the Arabs and the Masalit from mid-April until last June, which led to the death of large numbers of civilians and the displacement of more than 200,000 people, most of whom were from the Masalit tribe.
The U.S. Embassy to Sudan condemned the violence in a statement on Thursday, saying that it was “deeply disturbed by eyewitness reports of serious human rights abuses by the RSF and affiliated militias”, including killings in Ardamata.
The statement further underscored the ethnic targeting of the Masalit community leaders and members, and the arbitrary detention of civilians, including human rights defenders and activists.
“These horrifying actions once again highlight the RSF’s pattern of abuses in connection with their military offensives”.
The statement further emphasized that the appointment of a U.S.-sanctioned RSF Commander, Abdel Rahman Juma, as commander of the 15th Infantry Division in El-Geneina, is “a concerning development”.
(ST)