West Darfur activists: ‘237 patients dead in RSF attacks’

The El Geneina Resistance Committees in West Darfur corroborated alarming findings from an unpublished UN Security Council Panel of Experts report on Darfur, which has already been widely circulated. The report, confirmed by a statement on the committees’ official Facebook page yesterday, details how assaults by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) resulted in the deaths of 237 patients. Among them, 37 women who died due to obstetric complications, along with 200 dialysis patients.

The committees assert that the RSF, alongside allied gunmen, targeted health facilities and hospitals in El Geneina, ransacking and destroying them, thereby debilitating the city’s crucial health and treatment services.

Eyewitness testimonies further allege the execution of patients within clinics during the attacks.

In their statement, the resistance committees vehemently condemned the havoc and loss of life caused by the RSF, underscoring the dangerous impact on healthcare provision in the area.

Human Rights Watch states that the unpublished report names Abdelrahman Juma, the RSF West Darfur commander identified in the panel report, was confirmed to have been in El Geneina during the crucial period of abuses from April to June.

Juma was accused of being responsible for the killing of Khamees Abakar, governor (wali) of West Darfur. Video footage on social media shows Abakar being held by a group of men wearing RSF uniforms and entering an office. Later, Gen Abdelrahman Juma was identified as the leader of the group.

The RSF have been invited to respond to these allegations.