N’DJAMENA (Reuters) – Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the United States envoy to the United Nations, arrived in Chad on Wednesday to meet Sudanese refugees who have escaped ethnic and sexual violence in Darfur. She expressed that the current situation in Darfur is reminiscent of the atrocities committed 20 years ago, which the United States declared a genocide.
Thomas-Greenfield, a member of President Joe Biden’s cabinet, plans to visit Chad’s border with Darfur in western Sudan to draw attention to the worsening conflict and the growing humanitarian crisis. The war in Sudan broke out on April 15 after the ousting of former President Omar al-Bashir by a popular uprising. The conflict escalated between the army (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who jointly staged a coup in 2021, over a plan for a transition to civilian rule.
“We certainly have reached a level of serious atrocities being committed and it is very reminiscent of what we saw happening in 2004 that led to the genocide determination,” said Thomas-Greenfield prior to her arrival in Chad. She also shared accounts of brutal gang rapes, village raids, and aerial photos revealing mass graves.
In the early 2000s, approximately 300,000 people were killed in Darfur, according to the United Nations, when “Janjaweed” militias (from which the RSF emerged) aided the army in suppressing a rebellion by predominantly non-Arab groups. Sudanese leaders are wanted by the International Criminal Court for genocide and crimes against humanity.
“Once again, Darfur is descending into an abyss without mercy or hope,” stated U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths. He condemned the unlawful targeting, rape, and murder of civilians.
Thomas-Greenfield previously visited Chad’s border with Darfur in 2004 as a senior State Department official, during the same year the United States declared the violence in the region as a genocide.
“I went before the genocide was declared, but saw all of the evidence that a genocide was happening,” she mentioned. “I had witnessed that before, having gone into the refugee camps in Goma (Democratic Republic of Congo) after Rwanda and seeing the tortured look on people’s faces, the terror on their faces.”
In 1994, Rwanda experienced a genocide where ruling Hutu majority extremists killed over 800,000 minority Tutsis and Hutu moderates within a span of 100 days.
The United Nations reported that since the start of the Sudan war in April, around 380,000 refugees, mostly women and children, have sought refuge in Chad. Hundreds of thousands more have fled to the Central African Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, and South Sudan.
The U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR) appealed for $1 billion in funding to provide aid and protection to more than 1.8 million people expected to flee Sudan this year. Inside Sudan, nearly 7.1 million people have been displaced, according to the International Organization for Migration.
Griffiths warned that those who managed to escape the violence in Sudan now face the threat of starvation. He highlighted the highly food insecure situation faced by the population in West, East, and South Darfur.
The United Nations has managed to deliver aid into West Darfur from Chad, but clashes are preventing assistance from reaching other parts of the region. “Darfur’s people are caught in a state of near total deprivation. Our message is urgent: Stop the fighting and let us through,” urged Griffiths.
In Sudan, the U.N. estimates that half of the country’s 49 million people require assistance. A funding appeal of $2.6 billion has been made, yet only 26% of the required amount has been secured so far. The United States is the largest donor, followed by the European Commission, Germany, and Canada.
The ongoing fighting in Sudan has resulted in a “humanitarian catastrophe,” according to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ report to the Security Council. Guterres expressed concerns about the increasing ethnic mobilization and ethnically motivated attacks, warning that they could ignite a full-blown civil war with devastating consequences for Sudan and the surrounding region.
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Grant McCool)
Credit: The Star : News Feed
