- Muhannad Hashem
- BBC News
The Rapid Support Forces have expanded to include the Janjaweed, and some of their members have participated in the recent violence
A major city in Sudan’s Darfur region has come under violent attack, days after thousands of people arrived there in search of a safe haven, after their town was set on fire by Arab horse-riding militia known as Janjaweed.
The Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors said on Twitter: “For the first time in the history of El Geneina, the hospital was completely evacuated, and all health institutions in the city were closed. Knowing that El Geneina Hospital, located in West Darfur, was operating even at the height of the conflict that began in the country in 2003, Which left about 300,000 people dead and left more than two million people homeless.
An aid worker in El Geneina told the BBC that he and his colleagues were staying in a safe house, where they were able to hear gunfire across the city.
Many displaced families who fled some time ago to escape the Janjaweed, and are actually living in camps in the south of the city, are now panicking and leaving their makeshift shelters.
The latest violence began 80 km east of El Geneina in Krenik on Friday and more than 200 people were killed in the clashes.
Darfur: BBC visits refugee camp turned city
What is the cause of the clashes?
The fighting resulted from decades of feud between Arab Bedouins and members of the Masalit tribe.
It started after the killing of two Arab nomads near Krinik – a town that has become home to several ethnic Masalit communities that have been displaced over the past two decades after being driven from their villages by Janjaweed raids.
picture released, Getty Images
Many people have been expelled from their settlements over the past two decades
In response to the killing of the two Arab men, in the early hours of Friday morning, Arab fighters launched an attack on Krenik, killing nine people and wounding 16 others.
On Sunday, another, more coordinated and organized attack was launched, this time with the support of the Sudanese Rapid Support Force, a paramilitary force out of the Janjaweed.
A statement issued by the Krenik Youth Volunteer Group stated that the attackers arrived in four-wheel drive vehicles loaded with machine guns known as “technicals”, motorcycles, camels and horses.
An unverified video posted on social media shows a large group of Arab fighters in pick-up trucks and motorbikes on their way to the attack, as well as men dressed in RSF uniforms.
The town was set on fire, and local sources said that schools and clinics were not spared from the attack, as six teachers were killed in that raid.
A hospital supported by the charity Doctors Without Borders was targeted.
“Three people were killed, including two medical workers, and the hospital pharmacy was looted,” Doctors Without Borders said in a statement.
Why did the security forces not stop the attack?
picture released, France Press agency
The violence erupted less than three weeks after Khartoum took over security duties from the peacekeepers of the United Nations and the African Union
For many years, UN peacekeepers have been trying to keep the peace, but they withdrew at the end of 2020 after their mandate expired – all divisions resented their presence – but even if they were still there, they wouldn’t have been able to stop an attack so fiercely.
Peace and security in Darfur is now supposed to be maintained by a joint force made up of the police, the army, the Rapid Support Forces and the rebel groups that signed a peace agreement in 2020.
But behind the scenes, everyone has competing ambitions among themselves and by no means represents a united front.
For example, the police have many non-Arab Masalit members, and the Rapid Support Forces have many former Janjaweed members; Some of those who were trapped and joined them in the last fighting.
According to local activists, the local unit in charge of protecting Krenik withdrew from its positions before the attack.
Why did the fight extend to El Geneina?
The Janjaweed and the Rapid Support Forces were chasing a group of fighters from Krenik to Geneina, and the situation in the hospital erupted into chaos as ethnic tensions flared.
El Geneina is the traditional capital of the Masalit kingdom; A symbol of black power in Darfur, it is therefore viewed with contempt by the Janjaweed, who have been accused of ethnic cleansing in Darfur.
Conflict first erupted in Darfur in 2003 when most of them, non-Arabs, took up arms against the government and complained of discrimination and underdevelopment.
The government responded by mobilizing the Janjawid to fight the rebels, leading to violence that caused global outrage that led to the deployment of peacekeepers and the issuance of international arrest warrants.
This is the third time that Geneina has been attacked since 2019, the year of changes in the country, after Omar al-Bashir, who had been president of Sudan for nearly thirty years, was overthrown.
The violent clashes that took place in March of this year left dozens of dead and wounded, as well as burning several villages in the Jabal Moon area, north of Geneina.
Darfur is rich in gold, and there are accusations that the Janjaweed’s incursion is part of attempts to seize more land to excavate.
Adam Ragal, a spokesperson for the Displaced Coordination Committee – a group that coordinates all camps for those who have fled their homes since 2003 – points out that it is an attempt to dismantle the camps.
He hinted that the perpetrators of alleged war crimes in Darfur are concerned about the fate of the former Janjaweed leader whose trial has just begun at the International Criminal Court.
He is the first person to be tried by the International Criminal Court over the conflict – and Bashir is also wanted by the court for war crimes and genocide, which he denies.
“The goal is to depopulate the cities and dismantle the camps for the internally displaced, which are the most visible evidence of the crimes of genocide, ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed by the former regime against them,” says Rajal.
What is the secret of the strength of the rapid support forces?
picture released, Getty Images
Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo “Hemeti”
Darfur Regional Government Governor Minni Minawi – a former rebel leader – accused the authorities in Khartoum of not doing enough to rein in the Rapid Support Forces.
But the paramilitary force wields significant influence in the military council, and its leader, Lieutenant-General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo “Hemedti,” is the vice president of Sudan, of Chadian Arab origin, who grew up in Darfur and has expanded the membership of the Rapid Support Forces to include fighters from all over the country.
Observers say he is using sectarian violence in Darfur to advance his political ambitions.
The Janjaweed have long been accused of recruiting Arab fighters from Chad and other Sahel countries – and of encouraging them to bring their families as part of attempts to change the political circuit in Darfur.
General Hemedti has never commented on the allegations or on the recent violence in West Darfur, but in his public statements he has called on the diverse Darfurian communities to live in peace.