Researchers: War crimes are being committed in Sudan

Researchers at Yale University have warned that war crimes are being committed in the Sudanese city of El-Fasher, according to a BBC News report on October 15th.

The Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) claims to have reviewed satellite images that reveal the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are violating international law in Sudan.

The paramilitary group has been accused of targeting civilians in El-Fasher, which is North Darfur’s state capital, which has been under an RSF-imposed siege since May 2024.

In a statement released on October 14th, the El-Fasher Resistance Committee, comprising local citizens and activists, stated, “There is nothing left to eat today – all food supplies have run out.”

Severe food shortages as a result of the siege led to at least 63 people dying from starvation between August 3rd and August 10th; famine was first identified in Sudan in 2024, and the number of children suffering from malnutrition has doubled since then.

The Committee added that “We write, we scream, we plead, but it seems our words fall into a void. There are no aid planes, no humanitarian airlifts, no real international movement and no ground efforts to break the siege.”

Community kitchens in El-Fasher were forced to shut down on October 5th after food ran out, as RSF drone strikes exacerbated the food shortages by bombing alternative markets that residents relied on for survival.

Speaking about the rising death toll, the HRL’s Caitlin Howarth said that “We’re looking at the growth of an entire new burial area with over 60 new mounds that have been built in just a two-week period.”

According to Howarth, the satellite footage showed “air-deployed munitions – this could be a combination of drone and artillery that came in… through the roofs, exploding on impact and then burning everything that was within those structures.”

The HRL report stated that “These incidents include only those that HRL corroborated through either remote sensing, open source documentation, or a combination of both methods and are likely an undercount. These actions are prima facie war crimes and may rise to the level of crimes against humanity.”

The HRL previously issued an emergency alert on September 29th after satellite images showed that the RSF had amassed a fleet of 43 attack drones in the Darfur region, representing a “sign of imminent attack.” The buildup was said to be a “clear and present danger to civilians, critical infrastructure, and humanitarian aid access.”

On July 10th, the International Criminal Court (ICC) stated that there was evidence that war crimes were being committed in Sudan’s Darfur region. This statement came after a UN official warned on June 23rd that there was a “very high” risk of genocide occurring due to Sudan’s civil war, which started in April 2023.

Darfur was previously the site of a genocide between August 2003 and March 2004, which was perpetrated by the Janjaweed militias, who targeted ethnic Africans who staged an uprising against the oppressive Arab Sudanese government.  The Janjaweed translates to “Devils on Horseback” and was a feared paramilitary organisation from which the RSF is an offspring.

BBC News, Maghrebi.org