tag

Satellite images from Sudan have played a crucial role in uncovering the atrocities committed during paramilitaries' takeover of the last army stronghold in the western Darfur region.In an interview with AFP, Nathaniel Raymond of Yale University's Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) said the aerial images were the only way to monitor the crisis unfolding on the ground in the city of El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur.On October 26, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have been fighting a brutal war with Sudan's army for more than two years, claimed full control of the city they had besieged for nearly 18 months.Close-up satellite images have emerged showing evidence of door-to-door killings, mass graves, red patches and bodies visible along an earthen berm -- findings consistent with eyewitness accounts.On October 28, HRL published footage from El-Fasher's maternity hospital showing "piles of white objects" that were not present before and measured between "1.1 to 1.9 metres" -- roughly the size of human bodies lying down or with limbs bent.It said there were "reddish earth discolourations" on the ground nearby that could have been blood.The following day, the World Health Organisation announced the "tragic killing of more than 460 patients and medical staff" at the hospital.The images released by HRL, which had been tracking the situation in El-Fasher throughout the siege, became "a spark plug for public outrage", said Raymond.Since the start of the siege, HRL has been alerting the United Nations and the United States to developments on the ground, with its reports becoming a reference point for tracking territorial advances in the area.Population movements, attacks, drone strikes and mass killings have been closely monitored in the city, where access remains blocked despite repeated calls to open humanitarian corridors.Satellite imagery has become an indispensable tool for non-governmental organisations and journalists in regions where access is difficult or impossible -- including Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan.Several companies specialising in satellite imaging scan the globe daily, hindered only by weather conditions.Depending on the sensors onboard, satellites can clearly distinguish buildings, vehicles and even crowds.HRL then cross-references the images with other material including online footage, social media and local news reports, according to Yale's published methodology.Raymond said that after El-Fasher's fall paramilitaries "started posting videos of themselves killing people at the highest volume they ever had", providing more material for analysis.The team cross-checked these videos with the limited available information to identify, date and geolocate acts of violence using satellite imagery.Raymond said the lab's mission is to raise the alarm about the atrocities and collect evidence to ensure the perpetrators of war crimes do not escape justice.He referenced similar aerial images taken after the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, which eventually helped bring charges against former Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladic.An international tribunal sentenced him to life imprisonment for war crimes and genocide.The images from El-Fasher have triggered international outcry.The prosecutor's office at the International Criminal Court said on Monday that the atrocities there could amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes.The public outrage was followed by a significant reduction in the amount of footage posted by paramilitaries on the ground, according to the HRL.Of the videos still being shared, "very few, if any, have metadata in them", said Raymond, who noted that the researchers had to count the bodies themselves.He said they were not counting individual remains but tagging piles of bodies and measuring them as they get bigger.He added, however, that the researchers' workload has not decreased with the reduction in videos. Instead, they are now focusing on the grim task of tracing "the perpetrator's transition from killing phase to disposal"."Are they going to do trenches? Are they going to light them on fire? Are they going to try to put them in the water?"

Sudan's defence minister said on Tuesday that the army would press on with fighting the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces after the country's security and defence council met to discuss a US proposal for a ceasefire."We thank the Trump administration for its efforts and proposals to achieve peace," Hassan Kabroun said in a speech broadcast on state television, adding that "preparations for the Sudanese people's battle are ongoing.""Our preparations for war are a legitimate national right," he said, following the council meeting in Khartoum.No details of the US truce proposal have been made public.The war, which has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions more over the past two years, has spread to new areas of Sudan in recent days, sparking fears of an even greater humanitarian catastrophe.After mediating in other conflicts in Africa and the Middle East in recent months, the US administration under Donald Trump is now pushing for a ceasefire in Sudan.The army-aligned authorities had rejected an earlier truce proposal under which both they and the paramilitaries they are fighting would be excluded from a transitional political process.The latest discussions follow an escalation on the ground, with the paramilitary RSF appearing to prepare an assault on the central Kordofan region after it captured El-Fasher, the last army stronghold in the vast Darfur region.People forced to flee El-Fasher have described to AFP intimidation and violence from the RSF.Mohamed Abdullah, 56, told AFP he was stopped by RSF fighters while fleeing El-Fasher on Saturday, just hours before its fall."They demanded our phones, money, everything. They kept searching us thoroughly," he said of the RSF.On his way to Tawila, about 70 kilometres to the west, he saw "a body left on the street that looked like it had been eaten by a dog".Trump's envoy to Africa, Massad Boulos, held talks in Sudan's neighbour Egypt on Sunday with Cairo's Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and then on Monday with the Arab League.During the discussions, Abdelatty stressed "the importance of concerted efforts to reach a humanitarian truce and a ceasefire throughout Sudan, paving the way for a comprehensive political process in the country", according to a foreign ministry statement.According to the Arab League, Boulos met the regional body's chief Ahmed Aboul-Gheit and briefed him on recent US efforts in Sudan to "halt the war, expedite aid delivery and initiate a political process".The so-called Quad group, comprising the United States, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, has been engaged in months of diplomacy aimed at securing a truce in the more than 30-month conflict in Sudan.In September, the four powers proposed a three-month humanitarian truce, followed by a permanent ceasefire and a nine-month transition to civilian rule, but the army-aligned government immediately rejected the plan at the time.In the aftermath of the RSF's assault on the key city of El-Fasher, reports emerged of mass killings, sexual violence, attacks on aid workers, looting and abductions during the offensive.The International Criminal Court on Monday voiced "profound alarm and deepest concern" over the reports, adding that such acts "may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity".Speaking at a forum in Qatar, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday called on the warring parties to "come to the negotiating table, bring an end to this nightmare of violence -- now"."The horrifying crisis in Sudan... is spiralling out of control," he added.At a protest in Sudan's capital Khartoum, which is under army control, children took part in an anti-paramilitary protest on Monday.One pupil held up a handwritten sign that read: "Do not kill children, do not kill women.""The militia is killing the women of El-Fasher with no mercy," read another sign.Both sides in the brutal war have been accused of committing atrocities.Meanwhile, the Sudanese army has received support from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iran, according to observers.The fall of El-Fasher gave paramilitaries control over all five state capitals in Darfur, raising fears that Sudan would effectively be partitioned along an east-west axis.The RSF now dominates Darfur and parts of the south while the army holds the north, east and central regions along the Nile and Red Sea.

Darfur city fell to paramilitary force after long siegeFate of many of those who remained in El-Fasher is unclearWitness says he saw bodies strewn along the roadAt a clinic in Sudan's North Darfur where dozens of bony children lie on cots and men with bandaged wounds await surgery, patients described a desperate escape from the city of El-Fasher as it was captured last week by a paramilitary force.They are among up to 10,000 people who arrived in the town of Tawila after fleeing the capture of nearby El-Fasher by the Rapid Support Forces, and are now being treated at the clinic run by international aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres. Famine-stricken El-Fasher was the final stronghold of the Sudanese army in the vast, western Darfur region before it fell to the RSF after an 18-month siege. Witnesses have reported mass killings following the RSF takeover and many of El-Fasher's residents are unaccounted for. The city's capture marked a turning point in a two-and-a-half-year-old war between the RSF and the army. The siege had cut off food supplies, forcing many locals to eat animal feed as they sought shelter from drones and shelling.**media[377473]**In addition to those who reached Tawila, more than 60,000 others are believed to have escaped El-Fasher, according to the International Organisation for Migration, though their whereabouts are unclear. As many as 200,000 people may still be trapped inside the city, according to estimates of the city's population towards the end of the siege. The head of the RSF has called on his fighters to protect civilians and said violations will be prosecuted. Rights groups and U.S. officials have accused the RSF and allied militias of ethnic cleansing in Darfur earlier in the conflict.The dire conditions inside El-Fasher were described by two patients at the MSF clinic, in accounts obtained by a local journalist who has previously provided verified material for Reuters.**media[377472]**One, who gave her name as Fatuma, said she was entrusted with the care of three children orphaned when their parents and brother had been killed by a drone strike as they fetched a meal.The youngest, a thin infant just 40 days old, lay crying in her arms. His sister, sitting nearby, had suffered a leg injury when shrapnel hit her as she ran into a dugout shelter.**media[377468]**Fatuma took the children out of the city on a donkey cart with other injured people just before El-Fasher fell, but came across RSF soldiers on the road. "They made us lay the baby on the ground and made all of us get down on the ground, and took everything we had," she said. She was eventually able to bring the baby to the MSF clinic.Some 170 other children arrived in Tawila unaccompanied, said Sylvain Penicaud, MSF project coordinator, and all the children screened by the agency were malnourished. "People are arriving extremely emaciated," he said. On Monday, a global hunger monitor found that El-Fasher had been experiencing famine prior to its fall, conditions expected to persist until January. Mouna Hanebali, another member of the MSF team, said the clinic received almost 1,000 trauma cases stemming from attacks on the road, but also from inside El-Fasher. The city's last-standing hospital was under constant attack and deprived of antibiotics and gauze, leading to unstable fractures and infected wounds that need new surgeries. A second patient, Abdallah, said he had escaped El-Fasher amidst intense shelling and gunfire on the day of the takeover."People left in chaos, carrying children, some in wheelbarrows, some on donkey carts, some on their feet," he said. "No one walking around was untouched, everyone was injured." Abdallah, awaiting surgery in the MSF clinic after being shot multiple times, said he saw what he estimated to be more than 1,000 bodies on the road.**media[377471]**"Some were killed by thirst, some by exhaustion, some by their injuries, the bleeding," he said. Reuters could not independently verify his account.With only a fraction of those who remained in El-Fasher arriving in Tawila, medical supplies are still plentiful but water and latrines less so, the MSF staff said. Cholera had ravaged Tawila during the rainy season, and Penicaud said a new case had been recorded on Sunday, though it was unclear if it was isolated or the result of a new outbreak of the disease.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday called for a halt to fighting in Sudan, warning that the crisis was rapidly deteriorating after paramilitaries overran a key city.Guterres urged the warring parties to "come to the negotiating table, bring an end to this nightmare of violence -- now"."The horrifying crisis in Sudan... is spiralling out of control," he told reporters on the sidelines of the World Summit for Social Development in Doha.At the end of October the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), at war with the Sudanese army since 2023, seized control of the strategic city of El-Fasher, following an 18-month seige.Reports have emerged of executions, sexual violence, looting, attacks on aid workers and abductions in and around El-Fasher, where communications remain largely cut off."El-Fasher and the surrounding areas in North Darfur have been an epicentre of suffering, hunger, violence and displacement," Guterres said."And since the Rapid Support Forces entered El-Fasher last weekend, the situation is growing worse by the day," he added."Hundreds of thousands of civilians are trapped by this siege. People are dying of malnutrition, disease and violence."Guterres also said there were "continued reports of violations of international humanitarian law and human rights".The UN chief also warned against violations of the ceasefire in Gaza that halted two years of war in the Palestinian territory.Hamas reported fresh Israeli strikes in Gaza on Saturday, after Israel said three bodies it received from Gaza did not belong to hostages.That came after Israeli attacks killed more than 100 people last Tuesday, according to the Hamas-run territory's civil defence agency. Prior to that, strikes on October 19 killed 45 people, the agency said.Guterres on Tuesday said he was "deeply concerned about the continued violations of the ceasefire in Gaza."They must stop and all parties must abide by the decisions of the first phase of the peace agreement."

The prosecutor's office at the International Criminal Court warned Monday that atrocities committed in the Sudanese city of El-Fasher could constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.The ICC prosecutor's office (OTP) voiced "profound alarm and deepest concern" over reports from El-Fasher about mass killings, rapes, and other crimes allegedly committed.After 18 months of siege, bombardment and starvation, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) seized control of El-Fasher on October 26, dislodging the army's last stronghold in Sudan's western Darfur region."These atrocities are part of a broader pattern of violence that has afflicted the entire Darfur region since April 2023," said the OTP in a statement."Such acts, if substantiated, may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute," the founding text of the ICC.The UN said more than 65,000 people have fled El-Fasher, including around 5,000 to nearby Tawila, but tens of thousands remain trapped.Before the final assault, roughly 260,000 people lived in the city.Since the RSF takeover, reports have emerged of executions, sexual violence, looting, attacks on aid workers and abductions in and around El-Fasher, where communications remain largely cut off.The RSF traces its origins to the Janjaweed, a predominantly Arab militia accused of genocide in Darfur two decades ago.Reports since El-Fasher's fall have raised fears of a return to similar atrocities.

Over 36,000 Sudanese civilians have fled towns and villages in the Kordofan region east of Darfur, according to the UN, as the paramilitary warned that its forces were massing along a new front line.In recent weeks, the central Kordofan region has become a new battleground in the two-year war between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).Central Kordofan is strategic because it is located between Sudan's Darfur provinces and the area around the capital Khartoum.The widening of the war comes just over a week after the RSF took control of El-Fasher -- the army's last stronghold in Darfur.The RSF has set up a rival administration there, contesting the pro-army government operating out of the Red Sea city of Port Sudan.In a statement late Sunday, the UN's migration agency said an estimated 36,825 people have fled five localities in North Kordofan between October 26 and 31.Residents on Monday reported a heavy surge in both RSF and army forces across towns and villages in North Kordofan.The army and the RSF, at war since April 2023, are vying for El-Obeid, the North Kordofan state capital and a key logistics and command hub that links Darfur to Khartoum, and hosts an airport.The RSF claimed control of Bara, a city north of El-Obeid last week."Today, all our forces have converged on the Bara front here," an RSF member said in a video shared by the RSF on its official Telegram page late on Sunday, "advising civilians to steer clear of military sites".Suleiman Babiker, who lives in Um Smeima, west of El-Obeid, told AFP that following the paramilitary capture of El-Fasher, "the number of RSF vehicles increased"."We stopped going to our farms, afraid of clashes," he told AFP.Another resident, requesting anonymity for fear of reprisal, also said "there has been a big increase in army vehicles and weapons west and south of El-Obeid" over the past two weeks.Awad Ali, who lives in al-Hamadi on the road linkinig West and North Kordofan, said he has seen "RSF vehicles passing every day from the areas of West Kordofan toward El-Obeid since early October".Kordofan is a resource-rich region divided administratively into North, South and West Kordofan.It "is likely the next arena of military focus for the warring parties," Martha Pobee, assistant UN secretary-general for Africa warned last week.She cited "large-scale atrocities" perpetrated by the RSF, adding that "these included reprisals against so-called 'collaborators', which are often ethnically motivated."She also raised the alarm over patterns echoing those in Darfur, where RSF fighters have been accused of mass killings, sexual violence and abductions against non-Arab communities after the fall of El-Fasher.At least 50 civilians, including five Red Crescent volunteers, were killed in recent violence in North Kordofan, according to the UN.Both the RSF, descended from Janjaweed militias accused of genocide two decades ago, and the army face war crimes allegations.The United States under Joe Biden in January this year concluded that "members of the RSF and allied militias have committed genocide in Sudan".But international action on Sudan has largely been muted and peace efforts have failed so far.The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced nearly 12 million more and created the world's largest displacement and hunger crises.

More than a year of siege in the western Sudanese city of El-Fasher has forced some civilians to turn to animal skins for food as the country's war grinds on.El-Fasher is the last major holdout in the vast western Darfur region against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), at war with the regular army since April 2023.With the RSF's nearly 18-month siege cutting off humanitarian aid to the city -- home to 400,000 trapped civilians -- El-Fasher has run out of almost everything."After not eating for three days, three of my neighbours and I roasted cowhide," said Salah Abdallah, 47."Even then, it was difficult to get firewood to light a fire."Soup kitchens, until recently run by volunteers, have closed for lack of supplies.A civilian group documenting the civil war's abuses, the El-Fasher resistance committee, posted a video on social media on Wednesday showing rolls of animal skin sizzling on a small wood fire."The people of El-Facher are now eating cowhide to survive because there isn't even any animal fodder left," the committee wrote.Livestock feed, once used as a meal of last resort, has become scarce and exorbitantly priced.On X, a user who shared the video said they were "old skins" used to stave off hunger.Since August the RSF has stepped up its artillery and drone bombardments in an attempt to take the strategic city.In recent weeks the paramilitaries have seized control of several sectors of El-Fasher, and are wearing down the army's last strongholds bit by bit.After fleeing his Awlad Al-Rif neighbourhood in El-Fasher, which fell to the RSF in recent weeks, Salah Adam found refuge in a reception centre in the city's Daraja Oula quarter."My family left the city three months ago. I stayed behind to keep an eye on our home," the 28-year-old university student explained."In the first two days after the soup kitchens shut down, I shared one bowl of corn porridge without salt with another family," he said, adding that he had not eaten since Wednesday."I will leave the city, no matter the danger."According to satellite images analysed by Yale University's Humanitarian Research Lab, the RSF have dug nearly 68 kilometres of earthwork embankments around the city. A corridor just three to four kilometres wide is the only exit.The war in Sudan was triggered by a power struggle between two former allies: General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the army commander and de facto ruler of Sudan since a 2021 coup, and General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, head of the RSF.The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced millions and pushed nearly 25 million into acute hunger.According to the United Nations, more than one million people have fled El-Fasher since the war began, accounting for 10 percent of all internally displaced people in the country.Among them is Ibrahim Osman, who now lives in Tawila, around 70 kilometres west of the city."I had decided not to leave it at all, despite the never-ending bombardment, but the fear of dying of hunger pushed me to leave," the 36-year-old said.The population of the city, once the region's largest, has decreased by about 62 percent, the UN's migration agency said.If El-Fasher falls to the RSF, the paramilitaries will have control of the entire Darfur region, where they have sought to establish a rival administration.The army holds the country's north, centre and east, while the RSF holds sway in the west and parts of the south.