In the course of ethnic violence perpetrated by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied Arab militia in Sudan’s West Darfur region, an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 individuals lost their lives in the city of El Geneina last year, according to a United Nations report presented to the U.N. Security Council. The toll, ascribed to intelligence sources, contrasts with the U.N.’s broader estimate of approximately 12,000 deaths across Sudan since the eruption of war on April 15, 2023, between the Sudanese army and the RSF.
Independent U.N. sanctions monitors, in their report, affirmed the credibility of accusations asserting that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had provided military support to the RSF “several times per week” through Amdjarass in northern Chad. A senior Sudanese general had previously accused the UAE of supporting the RSF’s war efforts in November. In response, the UAE communicated to the monitors that 122 flights had delivered humanitarian aid to Amdjarass, aiding Sudanese refugees fleeing the conflict. The U.N. notes that approximately 500,000 people have sought refuge in eastern Chad, several hundred kilometers south of Amdjarass.
The monitors detailed that between April and June of the previous year, El Geneina witnessed “intense violence,” with the RSF and allied forces targeting the ethnic African Masalit tribe in attacks that may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity. The monitors underscored that these attacks were orchestrated and executed by the RSF and their allied Arab militias.
The RSF’s ascendancy in Darfur, as outlined by the monitors, relied on three pillars of support: Arab allied communities, intricate financial networks, and new military supply lines traversing Chad, Libya, and South Sudan. The U.N. missions for Chad, Libya, and South Sudan did not immediately respond to inquiries.
Complex web of conduction
The report highlighted the RSF’s establishment of complex financial networks before and during the war, enabling them to acquire weapons, pay salaries, fund media campaigns, lobby, and garner support from other political and armed groups. Proceeds from a pre-war gold business facilitated the creation of a network of up to 50 companies across various industries. The report also noted a shift in gold smuggling routes from the UAE to Egypt since the onset of the conflict, significantly impacting the balance of forces.
The RSF, bolstered by new firepower, achieved military gains, seizing control of Wad Madani, a major Sudanese city, and consolidating its dominance in the western region of Darfur. In December, the United States formally declared that warring parties in Sudan had committed war crimes, with the RSF and allied militias implicated in crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.
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As a consequence of the ongoing conflict, nearly half of Sudan’s 49 million people require aid, over 7.5 million individuals have been displaced, constituting the world’s largest displacement crisis, and hunger is escalating. Despite multiple mediation tracks and entrenched positions of the warring parties, the monitors informed the U.N. Security Council that peace efforts had yet to halt the war, establish a political settlement, or address the humanitarian crisis due to competing regional interests.