RSF violence in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains and El Gezira continues

In new attacks by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Habila in South Kordofan, dozens of people were killed, 15 women were abducted, and over 40,000 people fled the town, Nuba organisations say. Attacks on Jebel El Dayir left many more dead. 13 young women went missing. The Wad Madani Resistance Committees issued a list of 53 villages in El Gezira raided by the RSF since mid-December.

The RSF attacks on Habila town on Saturday caused the displacement of 6,721 families (40,326 people), Nuba civil society organisations reported.

Majeed Kabbashi, spokesperson for the Nuba Mountains International Authority, told Radio Dabanga that the RSF killed dozens of people in Habila and took 15 young women to an unknown destination.

He said that the people fled to surrounding villages. “The situation was bad already, and many children and elderly are malnourished. They need urgent intervention.”

Habila came under RSF control on January 4. They reportedly left again on February 9, when armed men affiliated with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North under the leadership of Abdelaziz El Hilu (SPLM-N El Hilu) attacked the town. 

RSF troops raided several villages near Habila that day. The attacks killed 24 people and wounded dozens of others. Three villages burned to the ground.

The RSF attacks on the villages of Kamla, Farla, Sabah, and El Hejeirat in Jebel El Dayir in mid-February, also left dozens of people dead, Nuba civil society organisations (CSOs) reported yesterday.

In a joint statement, they said that the paramilitaries liquidated seven unarmed young men and killed 10 others. They abducted 13 young women, kidnapped four herders, and stole more than 800 cows.

The CSOs strongly condemns “this barbaric behaviour” and hold the RSF “legally and morally responsible for the lives of the abducted women and the young people with the purpose of extortion or forced conscription”.

The area of Jebel El Dayir, on the border with North Kordofan, is under control of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North faction led by Abdelaziz El Hilu (SPLM-N El Hilu), whose fighters also were attacked by the RSF in El Tukma.

Terrorised

The resistance committees in the capital of El Gezira reported yesterday on social media that RSF soldiers have raided 53 villages in the state since they took “full control” of Wad Madani on December 19.

The paramilitaries “committed the most heinous crimes” in El Gezira, “crimes that can be considered war crimes or crimes against humanity”.

The Wad Madani Resistance Committees said that despite the difficulty of accessing information because of the insecurity in the state and the interruption of the communications networks for more than three weeks, they will continue “monitoring all human rights violations carried out by the RSF in El Gezira”.

The villages attacked are Wad El Balila, El Suriyaba, Abu Gouta, Tabit, Ed Doha,  Shabounat, Um Dawana El Ahameda, El Feteis, Wad Keri, El Manaseer, El Kobor – Abdelrahman, Tabit El Sheikh Abdelmahmoud, El Agda El Maghriba, Moeijena, El Galamouna, Um Meleiha, Abu Adara, Um Jereis, Ghareigana, Goz El Raheid, El Fereijab, El Sedeira, El Eikoura, El Magarein, El Nidyana, Marioud, Fenoub, El Sariha, El Azrag, Shubra, Wad El Sawi, El Khojalab, Fares El Kitab, Jubeiliya Village, El Kashamer, El Zubeirat, Um Boosha El Siddig, Um Boosha Abdelbagi, Wad Hussein El Khawalid,  El Shareef Mukhtar, Wad El Baseer, El Taleeh El Khawalda, Um Odam, Berenko, Wadi Shaeer, El Marbaeeya, Wad El Nabeehi, El Musalamiya, Kambo El Jumou’iya, El Saadab, and Abdeljalil.