‘RSF kill six in Nuba Mountains’: Observatory

The Nuba Mountains Observatory for Human Rights has condemned violent practices of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) against civilians in El Abbasiya Tagali in South Kordofan. The observatory claimed the serious violations of human rights take place in an area where there are no military operations.

In an interview with Radio Dabanga, El Fadil Saeed Sanhuri, the Director-General of the Nuba Mountains Observatory for Human Rights, said that they received reports on 7 January that members of the paramilitary RSF had robbed a number of shops in the main market of El Abbasiya Tagali. In the first week of January, the militiamen killed six people, raped five women and wounded 17 people, after they arrived in the area on their way to the battlefront in the Nuba Mountains. One of the rape victims is an elderly woman.

“Men in military uniforms of the Rapid Support Forces robbed and terrorised civilians, and indiscriminately opened fire.”

The observants reported that paramilitaries robbed and terrorised residents, and indiscriminately opened fire in the area from the first until the third of January. El Abbasiya locality is in the northeastern part of South Kordofan.

According to Sanhuri, these are “significant violations of human rights and robbery against civilians, carried out by men wearing military uniforms that belong to the RSF, that operates under the Sudanese security apparatus”.

In addition, the Director-General urged the Sudanese government through Radio Dabanga to stop the recruitment of children and involve minors in the Rapid Support militias. “Also the African Union, the international community and other organistions must pressure Khartoum to halt its military operations that target civilians, and allow urgent humanitarian aid to people in the Nuba Mountains.”

The United Nations' office for humanitarian affairs (OCHA) reported in October 2015 that 52,000 people had been displaced in government-controlled areas in South Kordofan since January that year. Additionally, in this state and Blue Nile state, OCHA estimated that humanitarian organisations were unable to reach 90,000 to 250,000 displaced people in areas that are controlled by rebel groups.