Community leaders have discovered 30 hidden mass graves in West Dafur, containing an estimated 1,000 bodies of people, reported to have fallen victim to the ongoing attacks on the state capital El Geneina, since fighting started four months ago, Radio Dabangareports.

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been accused by Saleh Arbab Suleiman, the representative of the Masalit tribe El Farsha, of deliberately obscuring evidence of war crimes committed in El Geneina by burying bodies in hidden locations and forcing the Sudanese Red Crescent Society (SRCS) to hand over bodies.

The Coordination of Resistance Committees confirmed the reports and said that several bodies are still on the roofs of houses, or inside buildings.

At least 90% of the El Geneina residents have sought refuge in Chad. Thousands of people have died and four million people displaced since the fighting restarted.

The Coordination of Resistance Committees confirmed such reports and said that several bodies are still on the rooves of houses or inside buildings and have not been buried or dealt with.

El Farsha made several other informed accusations against the RSF, including his reports that the RSF are demolishing all camps for the displaced, including Abu Zar camp and Ghabat El Neem camp.

This was also reported by the resistance committees, who listed at least five camps that were being demolished.

El Geneina and the rest of West Darfur were targeted because regional leaders refused to respond to the RSF request for support in their attack on Sudan, according to El Farsha

He explained at a press conference in Port Sudan that the RSF mobilised more than a hundred thousand soldiers from neighbouring countries before the war started and added: “we informed the leadership of the state of this matter in a timely manner”.

The RSF and militias are holding civilians in various localities hostage, preventing them from leaving the country and forcing them to pay a ransom, he said.

He also referred to the deaths of residents and lawyers in Kerending 1 and 2 and explained that at least 50 lawyers fled from El Geneina to Chad.

Up until two days before the killing of the West Darfur governor, commonly mentioned as a moment after which the situation got even worse, five thousand people had already been killed and at least eight thousand had been wounded in El Geneina. Many more lost their lives on the roads between El Geneina and Ardamata or between El Geneina and Adré in Chad.

At least 600 died of their wounds inside treatment centres, El Farsha reported.

Appeal

The representative called on the army to speed up the liberation of El Geneina and “arrest those involved in the crimes before they flee abroad”.

He also called on the commission of inquiry set up by the Chairman of the Sovereignty Council, Army Commander Abdelfattah El Burhan, to quickly make their way to Chad to hear the testimonies of survivors.

He further demanded the appointment of a new governor to fill the administrative vacuum in the state so that it can receive its share of aid supplies.

Uninhabitable

El Geneina has become uninhabitable, with at least 90 per cent of the residents having sought refuge in Chad. There, they suffer from the rainfall and lack of shelter.

Community leaders indicated that refugees in Chad are ready to return to El Geneina and the rest of the cities of West Darfur when it is safe to do so.

The resistance committees also said that medication and food are scarce, also in Ardamata where many residents fled to.