SUDAN - Armed groups fighting alongside the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) have been intentionally targeting civilians, an international NGO on human rights says.
In a report released on Tuesday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said forces aligned with the military government have attacked villagers in central Sudan and committed acts that may amount to war crimes, and urged an investigation. International human rights organisations have repeatedly accused SAF’s opponent, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), of carrying out ethnic cleansing and even genocide during 20 months of vicious civil war. But reports of abuses by the army have also been common. In the report, HRW said SAF-aligned groups, including the Sudan Shield Forces, the al-Baraa Ibn Malik battalion and local militias, may also be committing war crimes.
“Armed groups fighting alongside the Sudanese Armed Forces have carried out violent abuses against civilians in their latest offensive in Gezira state,” Jean-Baptiste Gallopin, senior crisis, conflict and arms researcher at HRW, said. The HRW report documented that in an attack on January 10, the Sudan Shield Forces attacked the village of Tayba, in the Gezira state, killing at least 26 people, including a child, and injuring others. Witnesses said armed fighters who spoke of their chief as Abu Aqla Keikel, leader of the Sudan Shield Forces, shot indiscriminately at residents and went from house to house looking for men and boys to execute. They were also reported to have looted the village and set buildings on fire. The survivors’ accounts were corroborated by satellite imagery, photographs and videos verified by HRW, which said the incident was one among several attacks against communities perceived to be RSF supporters in the region after the army recaptured them from the paramilitary group last month.
The SAF has condemned the abuse and pledged to hold the perpetrators accountable. However, it insisted that the actions were “individual transgressions”. Tayba residents said government investigators had visited the site and interviewed key witnesses, and added that the Joint Force of the Armed Movements, an SAF-aligned coalition, had deployed forces to protect the population. However, HRW noted that SAF generals, including General Yasir al-Atta, who sits on Sudan’s ruling Sovereign Council, have publicly appeared with Keikel since January 10, and praised his contribution to the war effort.
