About 1500 people recently killed in West Darfur: rights group
November 21, 2023 (EL GENEINA) – A human rights body reported on Tuesday that at least 1,500 people were killed in the town of Ardamata in West Darfur State, following the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) seizure of control of the Sudanese army’s 15th Infantry Division on November 4.
A representative of the Darfur Lawyers Association, Mohamed Abdallah Al-Douma, told Sudan Tribune, “According to the Association’s initial assessment, the death toll has reached 1,500, with approximately 750 individuals detained, including military prisoners.”
Al-Douma confirmed that RSF members demanded a financial ransom that could reach about one million Sudanese pounds in exchange for the release of the prisoners, a demand that was rejected by most of the detainees’ families.
He reported that the number of refugees in camps in eastern Chad has reached 450,000, with a daily increase of more than 2,000 people crossing into Chad.
The lawyer added that the Association knew that there were many cases of rape and that it appointed a committee to follow up on the matter and verify the cases.
He further acknowledged the existence of problems in the camps, represented by an acute food shortage, which led to the refugees suffering from hunger, saying that they wait for long days that may extend to three weeks to obtain a food ration.
He pointed out that drinking water is a concern for refugees, as anyone has to wait for several hours to get a few litres.
From April 15 to last June, El Geneina witnessed violent incidents of a tribal nature between the Arab tribes and the Masalit, which left more than four thousand dead among civilians and displaced more than 200 thousand others towards Chad, according to the United Nations.
After the seizure of the Sudanese army garrison in El Geneina, Doctor Ismail Adam Arbab told Sudan Tribune that the deaths among the Masalit and other African ethnic groups residing in Ardamata amounted to at least about two thousand dead and more than three thousand wounded, some of whom managed to reach the Chadian town Adré, during the period from 3-9 of this November.
Arbab said the RSF elements stormed all the homes in several neighbourhoods in Ardamata and assassinated their residents on an ethnic basis.
WFP warns of aid suspension in Chad
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Chad on Tuesday issued a dire warning that its food and nutrition assistance to 1.4 million crisis-affected populations including Sudanese is at risk of being suspended due to severe funding shortages.
“This forgotten crisis has exploded while the world’s attention is focused on other emergencies. It is shocking that more Darfuris have fled to Chad in the last six months than in the previous 20 years. We cannot allow the world to stand by and watch as our life-saving operations in Chad grind to a halt,” said Pierre Honnorat, WFP’s Country Director in Chad.
In August, WFP was only able to assist one million out of the 2.3 million people it had targeted, leaving 1.3 million without assistance at the peak of the lean season when hunger is at its worst.
Malnutrition is also a major concern, with 1.36 million children under five, or 8.6 per cent, suffering from malnutrition. The situation is even direr among refugee communities, with 90 per cent of new arrivals, 77 per cent of pre-existing refugees, and 67 per cent of local communities reporting poor or borderline food consumption, according to the latest Emergency Food Security Assessment conducted in Eastern Chad by the UN agency.