260,000 people on the brink of massacre in

With the seize of El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur in Sudan, by the Rapid Support Forces militia, the battle in Sudan has entered a terrifying new chapter. Avaaz, a nonprofit group, put up an emergency appeal for donations for Sudan, stating that “260,000 people in North Darfur are on the brink of a massacre.”

RSF captured El-Fasher after an 18-month siege that trapped tens of 1000’s of civilians.

Will Davies, Campaign Director at Avaaz, said his group had been “sounding the alarm for 18 months, saying El-Fasher is going to be a bloodbath,” but “no one cared until it was too late and tens of thousands of people were being slaughtered, all civilians.”

In April 2023, a civil conflict between the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces started after a energy battle between the two forces, and the battle rapidly unfold across the nation.

Famine, death, and displacement in Sudan

According to the U.N., an estimated 150,000 people have been killed as of June 2024, and 12 million people have been displaced as of July 202, including 7.7 million internally displaced individuals (IDPs)—more than half of them youngsters.

The International Organization for Migration estimates that 81,817 people have been displaced in North Darfur since RSF took control of Al-Fasher.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, the main worldwide authority on starvation crises, declared early November that areas of the war-torn nation face catastrophic shortages of food, water, and medication. IPC declared a famine in El-Fasher and the city of Kadugli, in the southern South Kordofan province, in a new report.

The IPC analysis confirmed that roughly 21.2 million people in Sudan – 45 per cent of the population – are going through high ranges of acute food insecurity.

Despite the scale of atrocities, “there’s a lack of familiarity with Sudan [for people in the West], and two other huge conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine have dominated the headlines”, Will said.

Avaaz has been amassing testimonies from people on the ground, but since the seize of El-Fasher, communication with residents in the metropolis “went dark.”

“The thing that’s really difficult to gather testimony on is the gender-based violence there’s the scale of rape is enormous. If you go to any of the camps in Chad or in South Sudan, it’s hard to find a woman who hasn’t got their own story of rape; it’s just widespread”, Davies told Daily Express U.S.

“In Al-Fasher, people have been telling us for months now about how they’re living under constant shelling, they have to dig their own bunkers, and they spend all day in a hole in the ground, sheltering from the shells without any food either”, he added.

Avaaz shared testimonies of Sudanese fleeing conflict with the Daily Express U.S. Amira*, a mom from El-Fasher, initially fled to Korma, a city 25 miles northwest of El Fasher, described a “devastating” scale of mass rape.

“No one would help you,” she told Avaaz. On their means out of El Fasher, her 15-year-old son noticed RSF troopers slaughtering males. “We wake up shivering from fear, images of slaughter haunt us,” she said.

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“Testing ground for global weapons industry”

Davies said the country has become a “testing ground for the global weapons industry”, adding that “what’s also being tested in Ukraine is making its way into Sudan, particularly with drone warfare.”

On Monday, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office released a statement condemning “Atrocities and Violations of International Humanitarian Law in Sudan.”

“The British respond with statements of condemnation, followed by small gestures of additional funding for humanitarian efforts, which is honestly not significantly more than what we are spending on humanitarian aid, and we’re a small non-profit”, Davies said.

Diplomats and senior U.N. figures speaking at the Security Council session last week condemned mass killings by the RSF in El-Fasher. The world must act immediately to halt the “horrific atrocities” in Sudan’s El-Fasher, the U.N. rights chief told AFP Monday, urging countries not to wait until a “genocide” was declared.

UAE’s support to RSF

The RSF descended from the Janjaweed militias, infamous for the slaughter of black Africans in Darfur two decades ago. Since its emergence in 2003, it has become one of the most heavily armed irregular armies on the continent.

RSF’s leader, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, is a former camel trader from the countryside of Darfur. While the UAE has denied arming the RSF, U.N. investigators and human-rights monitors say they keep finding patterns.

In April, a leaked report by U.N. experts revealed that several transport planes from the UAE had deliberately evaded detection while flying into bases in Chad — a crucial smuggling route into western Sudan. The UAE, however, maintained that the flights were solely for delivering humanitarian aid.

According to a New York Times investigation published in September 2023, satellite imagery and official sources indicated that flights to Chad had been taking place almost daily since June.

“On the RSF side, it’s the Emirati pressure. The Emiratis’ tentacles are everywhere. Examine the trade deals these countries are striking, including those worth billions of dollars in weapons. They don’t want anything, including a genocide, disrupting that trade relationship. It’s also a diplomatic relationship”, Davies told Daily Express U.S.

Anwar Gargash, the UAE’s top diplomatic adviser, called for a ceasefire last week. “This is what we want: we want negotiations, we want transition to civilian rule and most importantly we need a ceasefire.”

“The RSF would not be able to conduct its genocide without the UAE’s support.”

However, the UAE isn’t the only international participant with stakes in the battle.

“The Saudis and the Egyptians are arming the Sudanese armed forces, which are committing plenty of their own atrocities and war crimes”, Davies said.