UN Mission Accuses RSF Of Genocide

The United Nations fact-finding mission has found that Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) committed acts constituting genocide during the siege and capture of Al-Fashir in North Darfur, accusing the paramilitary group of mass killings, widespread sexual violence, abductions and the deliberate starvation of civilians.

The report was released Wednesday. Investigators found evidence that the RSF and allied forces intentionally targeted civilians, including mass killings, gang rapes, forced disappearances and blocking humanitarian aid.

The pattern of abuses amounted to a coordinated policy to destroy part of the civilian population, it said, adding that it met the legal threshold for genocide. The RSF also committed the war crime of starvation by besieging Al-Fashir for months and blocking food and humanitarian supplies from entering, investigators found.

The findings follow up on an earlier UN investigation published in February that said the attacks on non-Arab communities during the fall of Al-Fashir bore the hallmarks of genocide.

The latest report said new evidence was consistent with the conclusion that widespread killings, sexual violence and deliberate starvation were carried out as part of an intentional campaign.

The mission also warned of similar risks in Al-Obeid, where the RSF has escalated military operations. The UN Human Rights Council has just approved an investigation into alleged abuses in the city, and the mission chairman, Mohamed Chande Othman, has urged the international community to act quickly to avoid another humanitarian catastrophe.

The RSF has denied charges of genocide and other violations of human rights.

SOURCE: Reuters