Blood visible on satellite photos. RSF rebels massacre civilians in Sudan

The Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) at Yale University reported on Tuesday that an analysis of satellite images of Sudan's Al-Fashir indicates that RSF rebels are committing a “massacre” in the city. On Wednesday, the Sudanese government accused the RSF of attacking mosques and Red Crescent facilities.

HRL experts said image analysis “confirms evidence that massacres continued in the 48 hours after the Rapid Reaction Forces (RSF) occupied the city.” According to the American institute, RSF partisans carried out “regular executions” on the fortification ramparts east of the city.

On Sunday, after a siege lasting approximately 18 months, RSF troops captured the last of five key towns in the Darfur region in western Sudan. Al-Fashir is also the capital of North Darfur province. The report published on Tuesday, quoted by AFP, emphasized that of over 1 million people who lived in Al-Fashir before the outbreak of the civil war in Sudan in April 2023, less than 180,000 remain in the city. people. Furthermore, it is estimated that over 33,000 since Sunday people fled for fear of escalating violence.

According to Sudanese government forces, RSF rebels are attacking mosques and facilities of the Red Crescent, the equivalent of the Red Cross in Muslim countries. According to observers, RSF troops already control all of Darfur (over 490,000 square kilometers), the area of ​​which is over 25%. entire Sudan (1.886 million square kilometers).

Also on Wednesday, the UN World Food Program (WFP) announced that the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had ordered the organization's two most senior officials to leave the country within 72 hours. No reason was given why the WFP country director and emergency coordinator were to leave Sudan.

“The decision to expel came at a critical time. The humanitarian needs in Sudan have never been greater, with more than 24 million people struggling with acute food insecurity,” WFP said in a statement. Both the representatives of the Program and the UN submitted a protest against this decision to the Sudanese authorities.

The civil war in Sudan is being fought by former allies who overthrew the Western-backed government in 2021 and took power. Two years later, the dispute between the country's leader, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who headed the RSF and was an important commander in the Sudanese army in the past, turned into a civil war.

According to the UN and local authorities the conflict has already claimed the lives of over 20,000 people. people and forced the displacement of 14 million inhabitants of the country. Experts from American universities estimate the number of deaths at around 130,000.

WHO: over 460 people killed in hospital in North Darfur

More than 460 people died in a hospital in the city of Al-Fashir in North Darfur, which was occupied by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) last weekend, said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), on Wednesday.

The head of WHO said in a statement that the Organization was “appalled and deeply shocked” by reports of the deaths of 460 patients of the Saudi Maternity Hospital and their relatives. He appealed for a “ceasefire”.

A medical group monitoring the war in Sudan, the Sudan Doctors Network, said RSF fighters “in cold blood killed everyone in the Saudi Hospital, including the patients, their companions and everyone else present in the wards.”

The war in Sudan broke out in 2023 when the Sudanese military and Rapid Support Forces, once allies, turned on each other. This led to an eruption of violence on a massive scale.

According to the World Health Organization, at least 40,000 people have died as a result of fighting in Sudan. people, although this is probably an underestimate. The UN estimates that almost 12 million Sudanese have been forced to flee their homes, including 4.2 million who have taken refuge in neighboring countries.

The World Food Program, operating under the auspices of the United Nations, published a report in September in which it calculated that 24.6 million Sudanese, or about half of the population, suffer from acute food shortages. (PAP)

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