The report from the five-member UN Panel of Experts highlights war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the RSF and allied Arab militias in Darfur region.
It says “in El Geneina alone, between 10,000 and 15,000 people were killed.”
The experts, the report stated, held several meetings and conducted phone interviews with a number of interlocutors, including representatives of Sudan’s acting government, both warring parties, Darfur rebel movements, civil society, the displaced people, refugees as well as UN agencies operating in the region.
The UN Panel of Experts also visited United Arab Emirates, the country accused of supporting the RSF, in addition to several other African and European nations.
The UAE has, however, denied any involvement in the ongoing conflict in Sudan.
The panel, in its report, identified three main RSF arms supply routes “still active to date”, via eastern Chad, southern Libya, and the Central African Republic (CAR).
The UN Panel of Experts further said it received information that “up to 50 companies associated with the RSF were directly or indirectly funding the force”.
The report which Sudans Post obtained, says the “disproportionate and indiscriminate attacks on civilians, mistreatment of civilians (torture, rape, killing, mass arrests and detentions), forced displacement, pillaging and destruction of critical civilian infrastructure, including humanitarian assets and attacks on personnel” constitute war crimes. Some may amount to crimes against humanity”.
The RSF offensives against the SAF in West and South Darfur received assistance from several Arab communities “recruited and armed for these operations” and were involved in attacks on individuals, burglaries, looting, and theft of vehicles”.
“The attacks were planned, coordinated, and executed by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and their allied Arab militias,” partly reads the 47-page document.
Meanwhile, the UN Panel of Experts appealed to the parties to the conflict in Darfur to adhere to their obligations under international humanitarian law.
It further reminded the warring parties and those who facilitate the transfers of arms and military materiel to Darfur of their obligations to “comply with the arms embargo measures as stipulated in paragraph 7 and 8 of resolution 1556 (2004)”.
The Panel of Experts on the Sudan was established by the UN Security Council in resolution 1591 (2005) on 29 March 2005. The Panel was originally comprised of four experts and was based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Since 2012 the Panel has been home based. By resolution 1713 (2006) of 29 September 2006, the Council added a fifth expert to the Panel to enable it to better carry out its work. The Council has, however, extended the Panel’s mandate on a number of occasions, the last time in March last year, through March 12 this year.
