Rights body urges AU to deploy protection mission in El Fasher
June 19, 2024 (NAIROBI) – A rights group has urged the United Nations Secretary-General to act on Security Council resolution 2736 and urgently work with the African Union (AU) to deploy a civilian protection mission in El Fasher, North Darfur.
The call from Human Rights Watch comes in the wake of Sudan’s warring parties’ recent unlawful attacks in El Fasher, where hundreds of civilians have been killed, tens of thousands forced to flee and many in and around the city face starvation.
There have been several reports of attacks by Sudan’s warring parties on populated areas of El Fasher, with burning of residential areas and deliberate attacks on hospitals blamed on the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
“The UN and AU urgently need to act to protect civilians”, said Mohamed Osman, a researcher for the Africa division at Human Rights Watch.
Clashes between rival forces in Sudan escalated in mid-May. On June 8, RSF forces reportedly entered South Hospital shooting as patients, their relatives and medical staff to flee. The hospital had reportedly been hit at least 14 times.
According to the international medical charity, MSF, a June 3 shelling of the hospital killed one patient, wounded another and damaged the hospital’s water tank.
Human Right Watch highlights the thousands of houses destroyed by fire, notably by arson, since the fighting began in April. This is mainly in the eastern part of the city in residential areas. Most of the fire incidents have been blamed on the RSF, with their arson reportedly consistent with attacks in West Darfur state in 2023.
As of June 12, 43 villages near El Fasher have reportedly been affected by fire.
There are also reports of both warring parties getting involved in heavy fighting in and around Abu Shouk internally displaced people’s camp in northwestern El Fasher.
A witness told Human Rights Watch that on June 8, following fighting in its vicinity, at least one mortar projectile and two other explosive weapons hit an emergency clinic run by volunteers in the southern part of Abu Shouk.
The attack injured four or five people inside, including volunteer health workers and a child of one volunteer. Three people said the projectiles came from the east, where the RSF are based, Human Rights Watch was not able to confirm the direction.
Human Rights Watch said it received reports that civilians fleeing toward Mellit, 60 kilometers north, through an area under RSF and its allies’ control, were stopped, searched, and on June 3, killed at the last checkpoint before Mellit town.
On June 11, a United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) official was quoted saying violence had displaced 150,000 people in and around El Fasher in two months.
The fighting has reportedly added to an already catastrophic situation in El Fasher, particularly for those already displaced. A recent preliminary analysis by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) projected that 15 percent of the population of El Fasher and Zamzam camp would face catastrophic food shortages by September, and that many could die of hunger.
Meanwhile Human Rights Watch said the UN Security Council should act on findings of the UN Panel of Experts on Darfur, including on violations of the UN arms embargo by other counties, notably the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The group also urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) member countries to provide the court with timely information, support arrest efforts, and ensure the court has the budget to deliver justice in Darfur and other situations on the court’s docket.
(ST)