Zimbabwe News Update
africanews
2 min read
SudanThere is growing international concern as more reports emerge of atrocities committed against non-Arab ethnic groups in al-Fashir, the capital of Sudan’s Darfur region.The city was captured by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Sunday after an 18-month siege marked by bombardments and famine.It was the last of Darfur’s five state capitals to fall to the paramilitary group, led by General Mohammad Hamdan Daglo, that has been at war with the army for more than two years.Local rights groups and aid organisations said the RSF has detained over 1,000 civilians and killed dozens.
Graphic videos on social media show mass arrests and gruesome killings as people attempt to flee the city on foot.Over 25,000 people reportedly managed to escape al-Fashir in the past few days, travelling mostly to Tawila, a town around 60 kilometres west of the city that is already hosting around 650,000 displaced people.Senior UN refugee agency (UNHCR) official in Sudan, Jacqueline Wilma Parlevliet, said new arrivals have recounted stories of widespread ethnically and politically motivated killings.She said this included reports of people with disabilities being executed because they were unable to flee, and others being shot as they tried to escape.The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said it has received credible reports of numerous atrocities, including summary executions, and sexual violence, particularly against women and girls.The UN and other human rights organisations say people in al-Fashir are at risk of further large-scale ethnically motivated violations, and are calling for humanitarian access to the city.The army said it withdrew from the Darfur capital, hoping to save civilians from further violence after more than a year of RSF attacks.Military chief Gen.
Abdel-Fattah Burhan said the army retreated because of “the systemic destruction, and the systemic killing of civilians” by the RSF.The European Union, Arab countries, the United Nations, a
