Sudan has been mired in civil war for over a year. Now the USA is warning of a huge massacre in the city of Al-Fashir.
The USA warns of a huge massacre in the North African country of Sudan. The background is the siege of the city of Al-Fashir in the west of the country by the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and other allied militias. This emerges from reports from several US media outlets.
Accordingly, the US ambassador to the United Nations (UN), Linda Thomas-Greenfield, warns that the city is “on the brink of a large-scale massacre”. Thomas-Greenfield called on the RSF to end the siege and to refrain from any offensive plans. “A crisis of epic proportions is brewing in Al-Fashir,” the ambassador said, according to US broadcaster ABC News.
“Civilians are trapped in the city”
On April 14, violence escalated between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary group RSF and its affiliated militias as they began advancing on the town of Al-Fashir. At least 43 people have died since then, according to ABC News. In addition, several villages west of the city were destroyed in the course of the violence. “Both parties have reportedly carried out indiscriminate attacks on residential areas using explosive weapons with large-scale effects, such as mortar shells and missiles from fighter jets,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk.
Türk also warns of imminent actions by the RSF. “Civilians are trapped in the city, the only one in Darfur (affected region in Sudan, Anm. d. Red.), which is still in the hands of the Sudanese armed forces, and are afraid of being killed if they try to escape,” Turk said.
This situation is being exacerbated by a severe shortage of essential goods, as the delivery of commercial goods and humanitarian aid has been severely restricted by the fighting. Delivery trucks are not able to drive unhindered through the area controlled by RSF, as Türk continued.
“Worst humanitarian disaster in recent history”
The city of Al-Fashir, located in the north of Darfur, is one of the largest cities in Darfur. According to the United Nations, an estimated 800,000 people live in the besieged city, including many displaced by the civil war. This has been raging in the region for more than a year. The city is also an important humanitarian hub for the West Darfur region – home to around a quarter of the Sudanese population.
Since civil war erupted in Sudan in April last year, the country has been experiencing the “worst humanitarian disaster in recent history,” with eight million people displaced, according to ABC News. Here you can read more about it. According to ABC News, humanitarian organizations report “catastrophic” circumstances. In Zamzam camp, for example, which is located about 16 kilometers south of Al-Fashir, around 30 percent of the children are said to be suffering from malnutrition, while the number of war-wounded people is steadily increasing.
