'Tragedy in the making in central Sudan'
Port Sudan, Sudan (PANA) - A human tragedy is unfolding before the eyes of the world as bitter fighting in Sudan's Darfur region is exposing thousands of civilians to high risks and untold suffering.
The endless fighting in Darfur region’s El Fashir town, near the border with Chad and Libya, is leading to civilians either killed or poisoned.
Gunshots, poisoning and outbreaks of diseases have plagued central Sudan’s Hilalia region for the past 10 days, where there is siege and revenge attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), according to reports and documented statements by locals and the UN and International Non-governmental Organisations (INGOs).
Committees in the Hilalia area, East Gazira region, have produced a list of 255 civilians who died following repeated attacks by the RSF.
The victims are mainly women and children, as confirmed by a grouping of local doctors’ league. The list is accompanied by pictures of columns of new graves in a new graveyard in Hilalia, about 120 kms southeast of Khartoum, the national capital.
While about four in every ten people have been described as killed by gunshots, most of others died of poisoning and disease outbreak in the besieged regions. The explanation was that people had consumed sorghum and wheat which were prepared from improved seeds for cultivation, mixed with pesticides and herbicides.
“This is wheat grains the RSF distributed to people who, being under siege and not aware of its hazard, started consuming it. This has resulted in poisoning and death,” a blogger filing from Hilalia said. He said that what was going on in the region was not unique to this area.
Hilalia is the epicenter for the incubators of the RSF leader who defected on 20 October to join the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), seen as a huge huge blow to the paramilitary militia, as he was their senior commander in the region with profound knowledge of the terrain and popular support from his ethnic groups. This has turned into a curse for the population.
According to the Doctors Interim Commission, 47 cases of rape have been ascertained in the various villagers and localities in Gazira region, during the last two weeks.
“The International community is alarmed about the protection of civilians and displacement in eastern Gazira state as 119,400 people flee their homes,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported this week.
Unofficial reports say some 400 villages out of the region’s 514 villages have been displaced.
Despite this grim picture the US Special Envoy for the Sudan, Tom Perriello, said he has “found reasons for hope” about solving the crisis from the last two days of meetings with Sudanese in Cairo, including Sufi leaders, various political coalitions, youth leaders focused on transitional justice, and humanitarian experts hoping to get food and medicine to all 18 states of Sudan.
A report by the UK–based Human Rights Watch said killing, rape, shooting and humiliation of civilians have been documented and verified in the region.
A report issued on Monday, the rights group has called for the deployment of international forces if the atrocities were to be halted and tragedies stopped.
-0- PANA MO/MA 11Nov2024
