Humanitarian pause agreed in Sudan, survivors of El-Fasher recall sexual violence and warcrimes

A humanitarian ceasefire has been agreed between the Rapid Support Force (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). The two factions of the Sudanese military elite had been engaged in a war for power and control for over 500 days, backed by transnational corporations of the Western powers, and some Arab and East African countries and their agenda of resource exploitation.

The RSF have agreed to a three-month pause in the fighting. However, humanitarian analysts argue that these three-month solutions are far from ideal. They call the conflict a “genocidal conflict between factions of the militarised elite”. Humanitarian groups like The International Peoples’ Assembly (IPA) and Pan Africanism Today (PAT) condemned the RSF’s atrocities: executions, mass killings, and starvation financed by the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and sustained by European complicity in migration control.

The death toll had been hard to monitor for international organisations due to limited physical access and subsequent communication blackouts. The UN watchdog had reported earlier that approximately 260,000 civilians were trapped before the El-Fasher city was overrun by the SAF. The WHO estimates that 40,000 have been killed and 12 million have been displaced. The Sudan War Monitor have recorded deaths of 3,000 or more people as of October 30. However, these numbers might not represent a fraction of the real casualty; recently, satellite images have emerged where several areas of its “land with a reddish discolouration, not observed in prior images.”

"The rapes were gang rapes. Mass rape in public, rape in front of everyone and no one could stop it," said Amira to AFP, who escaped the be El Fasher and is staying in a makeshift camp in Tawila, around 70 km west of El-Fasher. She still suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and wakes up in shock and trembles the whole day. Nearly 24 million people are facing food insecurity. Doctors without Borders has claimed that more than 3000 survivors of sexual violence have sought help from them in the town of Tawila.

“Humanitarian partners reported that at least 25 women were gang-raped when RSF forces entered a shelter for displaced people near El Fasher University. Witnesses confirm RSF personnel selected women and girls and raped them at gunpoint, forcing the remaining displaced persons - around 100 families - to leave the location amid shooting and intimidation of older residents, " said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on October 31.

Sudanese Civil War

The Sudanese Civil War started in April 2023, when the RSF besieged the North Darfur capital, El Fasher, against the SAF. Notably, these two have together seized control of the Sudan following a coup in October 2021.

The RSF are a paramilitary force also known as Janjaweed militias, and was formed under the control of Omar-Al-Bashir, the Sudanese dictator who was indicted in the International Criminal Court for ethnic cleansing and genocide of non-Arabs such as Fur, Zaghawa, and Masalit communities. RSF was primarily made up of African-Arabs and some Bedouin; it was a state-controlled force used during the War in Darfur against the non-Arab population. SAF, on the other hand, is an internationally recognised armed force of Sudan. SAF systematically assisted RSF in mass murder and sexual violence during the war in Darfur against the rebel forces who were fighting for non-Arab populations. After Bashir was ousted, RSF increased its international participation by joining the Yemeni Civil War and, with the Russian Wagner group, to gain prominence. It became extremely wealthy, controlling gold mines in Darfur. But under international pressure, RSF signed a framework to be integrated into the Sudanese Army. Soon, a power struggle started between the RSF leader Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo Musa and Abdel Fattah al-Burhan of SAF. The army wanted an integration within 2 years, RSF wanted a time of 10 years and autonomy, so a war broke out. The SAF controls most of the Khartoum, East and central Sudan, backed by Egypt, while the RSF controls vast regions of Darfur, Kordofan and is backed by the United Arab Emirates.