Sharp Rise in Ethnically-Targeted Violence in West Darfur
Eric Reeves, January 22, 2021
The December 2019 massacre in West Darfur killed almost 100 defenseless non-Arab civilians. The current violence–both in West Darfur (particularly the El Geneina area and displacement persons camps (notably the two Krinding camps)–and in South Darfur has seen more than three hundred people killed, some 100,000 newly displaced, and tremendous suffering for lack of humanitarian capacity. The number of wounded–many seriously–is also very high, and medical capacity is overwhelmed. Many more will die.
The large attack on El Geneina and the Kinding camps was clearly premeditated, coming from multiple directions and comprising large numbers of heavily armed militiamen. How many were Rapid Support Forces out of uniform? How many were in the loosely organized Arab militias tolerated by the RSF.
The attack on the Fellata village of El Tawil in South Darfur also raises the question of RSF involvement. Fallata spokesman for the region, Ibrahim Mousa, declared to Radio Dabanga:
… that the armed attackers, were driving cars and riding horses and camels.
The attack was preceded by large gatherings of Rizeigat fighters who then headed east in the direction of El Tawil village, Mousa said. He criticised the failure of the government forces to intervene, despite the fact that the army garrison is only five kilometres away from where the attack took place.
Mousa expressed his surprise about the heavy weapons used by the attackers. He further noted that paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) participated in the attack.
I attach below (in reverse chronological order) my brief comments about this violence from my Twitter account, along with the dispatches they speak to. As I noted today, the question seems not whether there will be another ethnically-targeted militia attack on non-Arab civilians, but when. I conclude with the warning I posted on December 31, 2019 in the wake of the massacre that had occurred shortly before in West Darfur:
