The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and their affiliated militias persist in committing egregious crimes, including looting and terrorizing the population in regions of Omdurman under SAF control, Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said in a statement on Tuesday.
The RSF statement comes on the heels of an army attack in southern part of Khartoum on Sunday that killed close to 50 civilians and injured scores more.
“Civilians living in SAF-controlled zones frequently face ethnically and tribally based assaults and abuses. They are often victims of murder, theft, and humiliation, with their basic human dignity under constant threat.”
“In historic neighborhoods of Omdurman, residents areas subjected to rampant violence by the SAF and its allied militias linked to the extremist former regime. Brazen acts such as daytime robberies at gunpoint are now a common occurrence and are witnessed regularly by the local community,” statement said.
The Sudanese group accused army chief Abdul Fattah al-Burhan of ordering the attacks on civilians.
“These extremist attacks on defenseless civilians — launched by the SAF and its allied militias under the instruction of General Abdul Fattah al-Burhan — have persisted since the very first days of this war.”
RSF said that it had prevented many “heinous acts in the capital of Khartoum,” and added that it had encircled the SAF and its allied military in the capital.
Individuals who have witnessed the atrocities carried out by the SAF and the extremist elements associated with the former regime experience intimidation and receive threats and “fear sharing their accounts with the regional and international community,” RSF said.
The statement added that RSF had an “unwavering commitment to removing these criminals,” and ensure “Sudan’s transition to a nation of freedom, peace, and justice.”
According to a cautious assessment by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, approximately 7,500 individuals have tragically lost their lives in the nearly five months of ongoing conflict.
It is widely believed that the actual number of casualties is significantly higher, given the complete cutoff of access to many areas and the lack of official declarations of losses by the warring factions.
The conflict, primarily centered in Khartoum and the western Darfur region, has resulted in the displacement of nearly five million individuals, as reported by the United Nations.
Multiple international efforts have failed to mediate a ceasefire in the conflict.