♦ Sudan: This week’s news in brief ♦

DABANGA SUDAN – June 14, 2023

A compact digest of the past week’s most-read highlights, from the heart of Sudan. Subscribe to receive this digest weekly in your inbox.

More than 1,100 dead in besieged El Geneina, West Darfur
 
EL GENEINA – June 12, 2023. Activists reported from El Geneina, capital of West Darfur, that at least 1,100 civilians died in the town since attacks started on April 24. People who are still present in El Geneina are unable to leave because the town is almost entirely besieged since Wednesday, when large groups of gunmen, supported by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) renewed their attacks on the already mauled city. “Government forces and police are nowhere to be seen,” one source said.
 
The West Darfur Doctors Union stated that “what happened in Rwanda [in 1994] is now being repeated in El Geneina”. One month ago, the Sudanese Women of Change organisation estimated that as many as 2,000 could have been killed in the violence up until that time and wrote that a “Rwanda genocide scenario is happening now” in El Geneina “and the world is just watching”.

‘What happened in Rwanda is now being repeated in El Geneina’

‘Inconceivable suffering’ in West Darfur
 
EL GENEINA / ED DAEIN – June 8, 2023. The Deputy Governor of West Darfur, El Bukhari Abdallah, said at least 850 died and over 2,000 were left wounded in the devastating violence that has engulfed the region over the past few weeks. The official mentioned countless examples of razing and arson, which have left hundreds of homes and markets completely destroyed. 

In an interview with Radio Dabanga, Abdallah said that “the magnitude of suffering is inconceivable in El Geneina. Our communications have been cut off, we have no food, no drink, and no shelter.” “The desperate humanitarian situation has been the result of militiamen deliberately targeting resources, looting markets, and drying up water resources.” El Geneina was declared a “disaster city”.

Nearly 180,000 flee from Sudan capital to Nuba Mountains
DALAMI / DELLING – June 14, 2023. Nearly 180,000 people who fled the fighting between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces in Khartoum arrived in areas controlled by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North led by Abdelaziz El Hilu (SPLM-N El Hilu) in South Kordofan. Authorities in Delling do not allow their buses to continue to Kadugli, saying the area is too insecure.
 
Relatives of Masalit sultan killed in renewed attacks on West Darfur capital
EL GENEINA – June 14, 2023. The brother of the sultan of the Masalit tribe and 16 others were killed in the West Darfur capital El Geneina on Monday. The following day, 17 people died when a force of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) shelled El Jamarik neighbourhood.
 
White Nile state struggles with large numbers of Sudanese displaced
KOSTI – June 13, 2023. New shelters have been opened in White Nile state as more displaced people arrive from Khartoum. The state is witnessing significant shortages of medical supplies, food, and humanitarian aid.
 
Hundreds at risk as Khartoum cut off from food and medical supplies
KHARTOUM – June 13, 2023. Fighting continued in Khartoum, where nearly 30 civilians died in shelling and bombardment. Medicine shortages and lack of food are threatening hundreds of lives in the city.
 
North Darfur: more people die in Kutum, fears for forced closure of El Fasher hospital
KUTUM / EL FASHER – June 12, 2023. At least 35 more people were killed in Kutum last week. Activists warn that the Southern Hospital in El Fasher may have to close its doors because of continued power outages. Darfur Governor Minni Minawi called for an international investigation.
 
Young Misseriya targeted, 12 more rape cases reported in Sudan capital
KHARTOUM – June 12, 2023. Army soldiers in Khartoum are reportedly targeting young Misseriya tribesmen as they consider them supporters of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). According to the Sudanese Combating Violence Against Women Unit, the rape cases registered by the unit “represent only two per cent of the actual numbers”.
 
MSF: West Darfur capital ‘one of the worst places on earth’
EL GENEINA – June 11, 2023. Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières – MSF) says at least 500 people have been killed in West Darfur since the outbreak of the war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on April 15.
 
Darfur: renewed attacks on El Geneina, chaos in Kutum
EL GENEINA / KUTUM – June 9, 2023. El Geneina, capital of West Darfur capital, witnessed new attacks since Wednesday. Paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are killing and raping people in Kutum, North Darfur.