by Lt. Gen. Abakar M. Abdallah[i]
The Security situation in Darfur is volatile and worsening as Rapid Support/Janjaweed (RSF/Janjaweed) carried out attacks against villages throughout Darfur. The toll is over 120 dead, 93 injured. These attacks were carried out by the RSF Janjaweed to implement Arab Coalition plan adopted by the former Bashir Khartoum regime completing the ethnic cleansing of indigenous African people of Darfur seeking to occupy the region by 2020. The RSF/Janjaweed attack villagers in their farms, homes, markets and in UNAMID Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps. Within the last two weeks of July 2020, there have been killings in Fato Borno, the attacks on farmers in Abu Dilect on the outskirts of al Fashir, the Northern Darfur State Capital in which two people were killed and 16 others wounded. That was followed by the attacks on Abu Dus Village in South Darfur on July 23, 2020 during RSF/Janjaweed troops killed 7 villagers injuring 19 others. The RSF/Janjaweed militias continue to conduct murderous attacks throughout the volatile region of Darfur.
The Misterei attacks in the Western Region of Darfur began in the second week of July 2020 when protesters demanded the government provide security so that the villagers could cultivate their farms. As the RSF/Janjaweed militias occupy Darfurian villagers’ farms they have been opposed by protesters. They attempted to disperse peaceful protesters killing 2 people, injuring 6 others. They attacked protesters in al Geneina killing six people.
On Sunday, July 26, 2020 the RSF/Janjaweed militias organized a large-scale attack on Misterei, killing 61 people, wounding 48. The armed militias attacked the town from four directions. They robbed and burned homes. Several people fled to al Geneina, the Western Darfur State Capital and Chad, seeking sanctuary. The transitional government of Khartoum has been silent while the killing continues throughout Darfur. The RSF/Janjaweed is under the direct command of General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo also known as Hemeti. He is Deputy Chairman of the Temporary Sovereignty Council.
Additionally, 4 villagers, including a 14-year-old boy were killed, 6 others injured in Saraf Omra, North Darfur. The RSF/Janjaweed militias attacks in Darfur are intensifying terrorizing the indigenous people of Darfur. Therefore, we urge the international community to dispatch security forces to protect civilians in Darfur, disarm the extremist Janjaweed militias and remove foreign Arab recruits from Darfur.
[i] Lt. Gen. Abakar M. Abdallah is Chairman of the Sudan United Movement. He is a Native of Kutum, North Darfur who served as a senior intelligence officer and Pan Sahel Counterterrorism unit commander in the Republic of Chad Army. He is a graduate of the US Army Intelligence and Security School and the US Army War College, He is co-author of Genocide in Sudan: Caliphate Threatens Africa and the World, JAD Publishing, 2017.