agencies
Khartoum
In a disturbing discovery, a mass grave containing at least 87 bodies has been unearthed in Sudan’s West Darfur state. The revelation comes as Egypt hosts a regional summit aimed at finding a resolution to the ongoing crisis in Sudan.
The United Nations human rights office released a statement on Thursday, asserting that it had credible information pointing to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as responsible for the grave. This revelation coincided with the commencement of the summit in Cairo.
The UN report highlighted that the mass grave consisted of victims from the Masalit ethnic group, indicating the presence of ethnically motivated violence in the state. Since April 15, Sudan has been grappling with a conflict between its army and the RSF. The bodies were buried between June 20 and June 21 near the city of el-Geneina, according to the UN statement. Numerous rights groups have already documented attacks by the RSF and Arab militias targeting the non-Arab Masalit population in the region.
Expressing grave concern, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, condemned the killings and the disrespectful treatment of the deceased and their families. Turk called for a thorough investigation into the matter.
While the RSF denied any involvement in the graves, a senior official claimed that the force was not party to the conflict, characterizing it as a tribal dispute. Another RSF source stated that accusations against the force were politically motivated and pledged their cooperation with any investigation, including the surrender of any members found to have violated the law.
The ongoing violence in Darfur has reignited fears of a repetition of the atrocities that occurred in the region after 2003, resulting in the loss of over 300,000 lives in what amounted to ethnic cleansing.
Simultaneously, at the Cairo summit, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi presented his plan to resolve the conflict. The plan entails a three-month ceasefire, the establishment of safe passages for aid, and improved communication between the warring factions. El-Sisi emphasized the importance of Sudanese unity and urged the country to safeguard its politics from external interference driven by narrow interests.
Given Egypt’s historical ties with the Sudanese army, their plan received widespread support. During the summit, leaders from the Central African Republic, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Libya, and South Sudan discussed the possibility of deploying troops to Sudan to protect civilians.
While the Egyptian plan garnered approval from most attendees, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed suggested aligning it with the proposal put forth by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), an East African regional body. Abiy stressed the importance of not complicating the fragile situation and refraining from imposing external wisdom on Sudan, citing the need for neighbouring countries to focus on addressing their own internal challenges.
