UN investigators provide additional evidence of genocide by RSF in Sudan’s el-Fasher
GCC News
The United Nations Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan (FFMS) on Wednesday released a new tranche of survivor testimony from the fall of Darfur’s el-Fasher, in evidence corroborating a recent report accusing the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of commiting genocide against non-Arab communities.
In a conference room paper, the mission said its evidence base had grown to 333 survivor interviews, up from 320 in February, and that the new material “reaffirmed” its conclusion that the RSF’s October takeover of the North Darfur capital “bore the hallmarks of genocide”.
The FFMS is an independent investigative mechanism established by the UN Human Rights Council to document violations of international human rights and humanitarian law committed during Sudan’s war, which broke out between the RSF and Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in April 2023.
Regional Impact
The mission reaffirmed that three of the underlying acts of genocide were “overwhelmingly present” in and around el-Fasher: killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm, and deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to destroy the group.
It again found that genocidal intent could be inferred from the scale of the killing, the ethnically charged language used by commanders and fighters, and the pattern of sparing Arab civilians while killing, raping or detaining non-Arabs.
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The mission added that it was now examining whether the pattern of mass rape, forced pregnancy and denial of reproductive healthcare could amount to a fourth genocidal act, measures “intended to prevent births within the group” under Article II(d) of the Genocide Convention.
The mission additionally set out the potential complicity of states that continued to arm or otherwise support the RSF.
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