The Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the United States and United Nations to apply additional sanctions on Sudanese warring leaders, as well as those “responsible for the atrocities and crimes against humanity” in Darfur.
The New York-based rights group, which made the call on Friday, described the “atrocities” being committed in the country since clashes broke out April between the army loyal to Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commanded by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, as unacceptable and evidence of “scorched-earth attacks.”
In a news release issued by Tirana Hassan, Executive Director at Human Rights Watch, the group called on Washington to impose targeted sanctions to “ensure that the U.N. Security Council finally acts to protect civilians and to hold those responsible for the atrocities to account.”
The HRW said that at least seven villages and towns had been almost completely burned to the ground or destroyed in West Darfur alone, including Habilla Kanari, Mejmere, Misterei, Molle, Murnei, Gokor and Sirba.
“The world should not stand by as town after town in West Darfur is burned to the ground, sending tens of thousands of civilians fleeing for their lives,” Hassan said.
“In Sudan’s western Darfur region, the scene of genocidal war in the early 2000s, the conflict has morphed into ethnic violence, with RSF and allied Arab militias targeting African communities,” she said.
“Some 260,000 people have fled Darfur into neighboring Chad after fighters and militias stormed a number of cities and towns, burning houses and driving out residents.”
The call by the group is also coming days after Amnesty International accused both warring parties of “committing extensive war crimes, including deliberate killings of civilians and mass sexual assault.”
The AI report had noted that the RSF abducted 24 women and girls, some as young as 12, and held them “for several days during which they were raped by several RSF members.”
Only in June, the US had imposed sanctions against four key companies either linked to or owned by the warring factions, and also placed visa restrictions on the army and RSF officials, as well as on leaders from the former government led by Omar al-Bashir.